Archive for June 2009
Do the subcontractors you hire provide a certificate of insurance proving they carry their own workers compensation coverage? If you are not requesting a certificate for every subcontractor you are putting your company at substantial risk. Many insurance companies and states require a company to include subcontractors under their workers compensation policy if the subcontractor can’t prove they maintain their own coverage.
Depending on the length of the project its a good idea to check during the project period that the coverage is still in force. While the original certificate may indicate a term of coverage that exceeds the project period, lack of payment or some other factor may cause the policy to be cancelled.
Failure to pay attention to maintaining certificates can result in substantial, unplanned for premium increases. In the event of injury, the subcontractor may not be covered and your company may be sued to cover medical costs. Both possibilities are something to be avoided.
See Anita Campbell’s June 20th post at Small Business Trends for a discussion as to why this is important to know.
A recent article in the Boston Globe, College by the Numbers, reported that college students hold 4.6 credit cards on average with a combined average balance of $3,173. With the new law, The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act, this is a thing of the past.
Unless the parents of children under 21 years of age want to co-sign for the credit card or the child has independent financial means to repay the credit, no credit card will be issued. Keep in mind that being a cosigner of another’s debt means you are agreeing to pay it all off if they don’t pay and their payment habits will reflect on your credit.
Now is the time to give your children lessons on how to budget on a limited amount of cash because with no credit cards they will need to know. On the News & Resources page I list several sources of financial literacy information to help you and your children become financially savvy.
