Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Money matters

Find financial and money-saving discussions including debt and pension chat on our Money forum. If you're looking for ways to make your money to go further, sign up to our Moneysaver emails here.

Original poster

Disagreement with DH over investing in a mate's new business - how to resolve??

19 replies

TheBlonde · 05/04/2006 08:58

My DH wants to invest in a mate's new business
It is retail, selling primarily online
I think the whole thing is v risky and even if successful we will not seen any returns for 5 years

DH wants to invest 3 mths worth of his take home pay
I am horrified but can't seem to convince him not to invest so much
I am a SAHM and have no income of my own

Help!

OP posts:
milward · 05/04/2006 09:09

If you lose all the cash will it be a big effect on your family?

queenrollo · 05/04/2006 09:22

have you had a proper business plan to read through?
dp and i are in the process of setting up a new business, and our funding has come from a friend. we sat down and talked the whole thing through.....in this he is our business partner which means we gave him a full business proposal to read through. eventually he agreed and we had contracts drawn up.

we know that we can keep friendship and business seperate.....we would never have asked for his input otherwise.

you need to be able to assess the risks of investing, you need to see his market research and business projection.
if your dh insists he wants to invest in this business then make sure you consult a solicitor and have things laid out in black and white.

Original poster
TheBlonde · 05/04/2006 09:28

If we lost the cash it would not have a huge impact but we would notice it

I have seen the business plan, the financials, talked to the guy at length

OP posts:
zippitippitoes · 05/04/2006 09:47

Has he had a business before?

Has he had a similar business before?

If he is starting a new venture with no experience then where has he got his figures from? Figures in a business plan with an inexperienced entrepreneur will be fairly meaningless.

Original poster
TheBlonde · 05/04/2006 10:00

Has he had a business before? no

Has he had a similar business before? no

Zippi - I agree the figures are all theory

I don't know how to convince DH to put less cash in

OP posts:
zippitippitoes · 05/04/2006 10:05

retail is a harsh environment and the web is full of retailers (I'm one)

presumably it's a niche product he has?

If you aren't happy then it could cause a lot of stress between you and dh (as you already know)

How are people going to find him on the internet? I find advertising very expensive, although I am in the top ten searches on google for some of my prime keywords it's not enough.

Original poster
TheBlonde · 05/04/2006 10:09

They have a reasonably large ad budget

I am finding it difficult to argue when it's DH who is earning the money

OP posts:
zippitippitoes · 05/04/2006 10:14

Do you worry a lot?

If you and dh are natural risk takers then this venture could be fun, but if you would characteristically like the money to be in an isa you will hate it.

edam · 05/04/2006 10:27

Why does dh want to invest in this business? Because he wants to help out a mate? Or because he thinks there's a good return to be made? If you pin him down on this, you might be able to work out something between you.

Tbh, even if he is the one who works outside the home, it is family money. It's your joint livelihood. He can only earn this money because of your input. So IMO you both have to be happy with the plan.

Is there any other funding for the business eg from a bank? If he's persuaded a business organisation to invest, I'd be more inclined to join in. If it's all private money, then it's riskier, IMO.

kitegirl · 05/04/2006 11:12

Don't do it. Tell him he shouldn't do it. For two reasons
a) online retail - just don't go there. 95% certainty that it will fail. Trust me, have been there too many times to mention.
b) if and when it fails, it will probably screw up your dh's friendship with his friend. This happened to my dh, him and this guy haven't spoken for 3 years as dh lost a lot of money (I kept quiet as I thought he should make his own mistakes... that was dumb of me). Don't mix friends and money.

I'd put my foot down if I was you. good luck!

zippitippitoes · 05/04/2006 12:01

don't suppose you can give us a clue what kind of product?

Have you imagined yourself as the customer and checked out the competition?

Original poster
TheBlonde · 05/04/2006 13:43

DH thinks it if successful the return will be very good
The product is good and compares favourably with the competition

I have spoken to DH again and have managed to reduce the amount he wants to put in by nearly 20%
I can live with losing the new amount

Thanks for all your help

OP posts:
HRHQueenOfQuotes · 05/04/2006 13:48

What sort of product is it (just out of interest)

Original poster
TheBlonde · 05/04/2006 17:39

Menswear

OP posts:
eefs · 05/04/2006 17:54

is DH investing his money or joint money? Is his salary his money or joint money? Is it saved money that is the equivilent of 3 months salary or actually 3 months salary?

Original poster
TheBlonde · 05/04/2006 18:04

Equivalent to 3 mths salary

All money is joint although not necessarily in joint account

OP posts:
zippitippitoes · 05/04/2006 18:40

menswear sounds even harder,Good Luck

ThePrisoner · 05/04/2006 22:29

My dh and I put some money into another friend's (shop) business. She was looking for extra money to top up what she already had, and didn't ask us for help.

We decided that whatever amount we loaned her, it had to be such that, if the business closed, it wouldn't affect us (ie. we could "afford" to lose the money). It certainly wasn't 3 months' worth of take-home pay!

Her business did close down after 18 months; she intends to pay all the money back (and has returned some), but we have no expectation to get it, and certainly don't hold any grudges.

I definitely wouldn't invest anything if you can't afford to lose it.

honeyflower · 05/04/2006 22:45

If his take-home pay is your only family income, then it's the family's money, not his. I would be more worried about his underlying attitude - that it's OK for him to fling that money around regardless of your views - than of the validity of this particular investment. That horrifies me, frankly. But as an adult I have never for a moment contemplated being financially dependent on another person, so that may skew my perspective on this.

I do think you need to give him a hard time about it though, and perhaps try to get him to take responsibility for the money - e.g., he has to put a substantial proportion of it up himself out of his personal spending money, rather than out of your shared money. That might cool his ardour for the project.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread