Sina has just completed his first year of university (most of his classes were related to business administration) and is now in the midst of making a major career decision. Since his life savings have been depleted on tuition and housing costs, he has decided to take some time off from studies to work back home in Mission, BC.

Sina's current plan is to work full-time (six hours per day with Sundays off) as a server at a local restaurant called Paulie's. Sina worked at Paulie's in high school, so he has a good idea of what he can expect to earn. With tips, a $19.50 per hour average rate is reasonable for Monday through Thursday. On the weekends, higher tipping typically increases the hourly rate by 12%.

While he won't have to pay full rent while living with his parents, Sina still expects his living costs to total $1,200 a month. To try to save up faster for three more years of college, Sina is planning on also growing his part-time online retail business. In the last year, he started painting cartoon portraits of students at the college campus, earning $60 per painting. The business concept started slowly, during a drunk Friday night with his friends in a dorm room of an art student. After a few other people approached his offering to pay for paintings of themselves, Sina decided to put some flyers up around campus. He believes he ended up selling 135 paintings at an average price of $60 each (he hasn't kept track of the exact numbers).

Sina's plan, in the absence of young people/potential customers all around, is to market his services online under a catchy name, Snazzy Sina's Swirls. He plans on having friends and family follow, perhaps even share, photos of his work on social media which would hopefully help attract new customers. Being a day away from the new year, 2023, Sina has put together some projections for next year. Because of shipping costs, he is planning to increase his price to $75 per portrait. Each portrait will cost, on average, $10 to package and ship (and take an hour of Sina's time). Additionally, Sina estimates that the supplies for creating 100 paintings last year totaled $1,700. he expects this trend to continue. Sina's expectation is that he will sell 250 paintings in 2023 and a 8%-10% annual growth rate is realistic until December 31, 2025. Sina is open to advice on this business, especially the online elements.

Sina is also wondering about the importance about maintaining accurate records. His Uncle Mahmoud, a successful businessman, has warned his to not neglect saving and organizing paperwork. Sina also wants to make sure he has a solid understanding about how to perform important calculations to analyze profitability over the long-term, what analytical tools are most helpful, and how these tools can improve his business.

While Sina typically despises nagging from his uncle, he did get a potential career opportunity from his yesterday. Cenk, the current owner of the local Spritzy Gas Station, is retiring. Hal, a friend of his, has agreed to buy a 50% share for $300,000 and Sina's uncle is willing to buy the other 50% share for $310,000. However, he will only close the deal if Sina agrees to work at the station for a minimum of two years. Sina's uncle is willing to pay his half of the profits he is entitled to, or 25% of the gas station's annual profit, if Sina's works 30+ hours a week (paid to Sina as bi-weekly salary). Sina is wondering how his hourly rate may compare to his other options.

Hal has insisted that, since he is managing the inventory and fuel supplies, Sina should manage the bookkeeping. Sina knows the accounting basics but isn't sure about some of the intermediate concepts, such as depreciating the fuel terminals. Considering that the terminals are used regularly but business is heaviest in the summer months and December due to the holiday season, Sina is wondering what an appropriate depreciation policy might be. Also, he isn't sure what a depreciation journal entry looks like and how it ties into financial statements.

Mahmoud expects to see the 2022 numbers before completing the deal and says the gas station expects to tally up annual revenues of $424,000. The expenses, with the business owners working full-time, are ballparked at 45% of revenues. In 2021, the revenues totaled $428,600 and expenses were $181,300. For 2023, Hal and Mahmoud have discussed possibly hiring a part-time employee which would allow Sina and Hal to work fewer hours. However, this would push expenses up to about 56% of revenues. Sina is wondering if he should urge his uncle to hire the part-time help, as it would allow his to continue his painting business. With full working hours at the gas station (no part-time employee) and bookkeeping tasks to complete at home, Sina would not continue his art business.

Sina believes he can invest his savings in a mutual fund and earn a 6.5% annual return. Since it is significantly more than earning 3.75% annually by entering an agreement to deposit $500 monthly into a guaranteed savings account for at least 18 months, Sina is leaning towards the mutual fund option. He wants advice on the risks and benefits of each investment strategy and a recommendation on which direction to proceed in.

Sina's parents have advised him to stay in school and take student loans to finance his studies since he doesn't have to pay interest until after graduating. Sina's agrees that the interest rate is low at 3.15% (0.50% below the current market lending rate), but he is still hesitant to borrow an estimated $25,000 per year to study for three more years. he is especially concerned that he isn't sure about his career direction at this point. While getting a steady employment offer seems appealing in some respects, it is still difficult for Sina to imagine himself being committed to a career for a prolonged amount of time, even if the expected starting salary is $40,000 with 4% average annual growth for ten years afterwards.

Sina wants a detailed analysis of his career options. He wants advice on ethics, business strategies, tax implications, and other relevant matters. Sina welcomes any recommendations, as well as any questions to his which will help you better analyze his options.