Dear Quentin, My sister is two years older than me. We both are married and have incomes in the low six figures, and our husbands have similar earnings. When she was in her 20s, my sister and her husband accumulated a lot of credit-card debt, which my parents paid off (twice). I think it was around $50,000 each time. I have always been fiscally responsible and never needed my parents to bail me out.
My father, may his memory be a blessing, invested in oil and gas partnerships around that time, and created a corporation with me and my sister as shareholders. In consideration of the fact that they had paid off my sister’s credit-card debt, my parents set up the company so that I had a slight majority of the shares. We get hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties. So, the slight difference in our percentages of the company means that I have received more dividends than her. I have not done the math, but I imagine it’s in the tens of thousands of dollars ($100,000 or more).
“‘I am the president of the company with the majority of shares. I can make all of the decisions for the entity. I oversee a bookkeeper and keep abreast of necessary correspondence.”
My father passed away several years ago and my mom no longer wanted to be involved in the company. At this point, I am the president of the company with the majority of shares. I can make all of the decisions for the en …