Investing - from personal or company savings?

[perrita]

I need some advice please! My husband and I have a company together and my husband is thinking about starting another one with a colleague in addition to the one we have. This second company will require a capital investment. If the company requires a £10,000 investment and we have £10,000 in our first company and £10,000 in savings, where is it better to take the money from? My husband wants to take it from our savings (effectively it will be all our savings) but I want to take half and half. My husband is worried that if we take money from our existing business for the new one, the two companies will somehow be "linked" which he doesn't want but has no reasons as to why not.

Does anyone have any advice about what the best thing to do would be? Which would be better - taking from our own savings, or taking from the company savings? Is there anything that could happen to our company if the second company had problems because we'd put money in?

This is a really complicated question and you really need professional advice. To start with, when you say 'take the money from' you appear to be asking 'who should invest'. The company money is not yours. A company is a separate 'legal person'. If the company buys shares, the company will own them, not you (which would definitely link the companies, but depending on what you mean by link, they may well be linked even if you invest personally). Is it buying shares you want to do, or put in a loan? Or are you asking 'should we take money (dividends or salary) out of the first company to invest in the second?

You shouldn't be involved in company investments without access to professional advice about stuff like this, OP.

If you own the first company together and that company invests in a second company then you will both own the second company too (by proxy).

If he takes money from your joint savings and invests it in the company he can do it in only his name if he wishes.

Advantageous if he is the lower earner.
Problematic if he decides to bugger off.
Very very problematic if he decides to bugger off and you are not legally married. (I know you called him your husband but people sometimes say that when they mean "partner I've been with for 20odd years and think of as husband but we've never got round to having a wedding.")