Pros and cons to three hot topics
Invited to be officer on the board—flattering or dangerous?
Officer and director liability is staggering. If a friend of yours is starting a company or charity and she asks you to sit on the board, carefully make your decision to accept or decline the position. If a mistake happens and the shareholders file a lawsuit, you could be named in the lawsuit because you're a director or officer of the company; you are also personally liable for the salary of any salaried employees (if you're an officer of a company). Before you casually accept an offer to become an officer or director of a company, make sure you have insurance, which is called "director of liability policy." If you're not pursuing the position and it's something you're invited to accept, you may want to ask them to pay the premiums on your insurance.
Limited partnership vs. general partnerships
Limited partnership: Your liability is limited to the amount of your investment
General partners: You have unlimited liability. Because you have the day-to-day control of the company, the trade off is more liability.
Smile. Some debt can be great
Good debt verses bad debt is another way to say credit verses debt. Not all debt is bad. Credit that entitles you to invest is good, such as your home mortgage (assuming your house has appreciated), starting a business, or purchasing investment properties. What determines if it's good or bad is what you do with it. If you're buying depreciating assets, you're not incurring good debt.
During my years of law school, I completed an internship with a New York Supreme Court Justice and second legal internship with a law firm and also began investing in real estate. Immediately upon graduating law school and passing the bar exam, I opened my own law practice. From 1988 to 2001, I practiced with my partner under the name Miles and Gillard, where I concentrated in the area of real estate and business law.
Drew Miles
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