4 steps to starting your own business

Before you ditch your job to become your own boss, remember this: Entrepreneurship is time consuming, stressful and draining - and that's before you even launch. Take these steps first; then you can walk out the door.

Keep your benefits coming
Keep your benefits coming
Don't forget to hold on to your health insurance; under COBRA rules you can extend corporate coverage for 18 months on your own dime. By then your company should be robust enough to afford a policy. Once you hire one person, you'll qualify for a group policy, which is almost always cheaper than an individual plan. You can leave your 401(k) behind at your former employer, but you may want to roll it over into an IRA. Then when you open your business' retirement plan, you'll have a relationship with a fund company or an investment manager.
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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.