A14 • THE HALF HOLLOW HILLS NEWSPAPER • JULY 2, 2015
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BUSINESS An Entrepreneur’s ‘Suite’ Next Step Photo/Suite Pieces
By Danny Schrafel dschrafel@longislandergroup.com
Huntington Station resident and do-it-yourself guru Amanda Peppard is at it again. On June 24, she branched out with a third vintage furniture and decorative paint boutique shop – where crafty minds can learn the tricks of the trade. The Massapequa store, at 569 Broadway, joins her shops in Brooklyn and at 1038 New York Ave. in Huntington Station. Peppard launched Suite Pieces in 2012, when she started renting space in Artists in the Attic, located in the third floor of the Yankee Peddler Antiques shop. She opened her first stand-alone store in 2013 in Brooklyn and signed a 10-year lease in March 2014 to operate the Yankee Peddler, which became home base for her business. The antique shop was incorporated and rebranded as The Shops at Suite Pieces. In February, she relaunched Suite Pieces’ website as a fully-function e-commerce hub. Even Peppard, who said she has always been an entrepreneur with dreams of inventing, is surprised by Suite Pieces’ rapid success. “I had no idea that this is what it was going to be,” she said. “I’ve always had really big dreams for the business; I still have big dreams. I had no idea that it would grow this quickly.”
Suite Pieces founder Amanda Peppard, pictured at her most recent grand opening June 24, said her do-it-yourself business has enjoyed rapid growth in the last three years. Suite Pieces features do-it-yourself workshops, regular installments of the popular Pinterest Live! Series, which offers crafters refreshments while they replicate a trending craft; as well as an array of Chalk Paints by Annie Sloan and Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint; do-it-yourself supplies and vintage furniture. Already, she’s using her new store to do good deeds. Peppard on June 27 hosted “Designing For
Des,” a daylong fundraiser during which she led the overhaul of a bedroom furniture set for a 33year-old Patchogue mother Desiree Vermeulen, who is recovering from a debilitating stroke. In true Suite Pieces fashion, volunteers and donors joined in, helping to paint the set and create something one-of-a-kind. She credits a sluggish economy for piquing the public’s interest in do-it-yourself crafts. “People were forced to become a little bit creative with how they spent their money. People became really keen on repurposing,” she said. As her business grows, Peppard is preparing to make her television debut. She’ll be featured in a July 26 episode of HGTV’s “Flea Market Flip,” which features two teams in a battle for a $5,000 prize in which they buy from a flea market, transform their purchase and sell it. The biggest profit wins the prize. Peppard teamed up with Homeroad.com owner Susan Stevenson, also a dealer at Suite Pieces. Peppard is hoping Suite Pieces will be a model for others in Huntington Station as business and town leaders pursue long-awaited revitalization efforts. “I envisioned that the Huntington Station would be the anchor store for this revitalization and I’m really proud that we have something that’s been successful,” she said.
Tips On How On How Long You Should Keep Documents By Jon L. Ten Haagen, CFP asktheexpert@longislandergroup.com
Last time, I reviewed a list of documents that you should shred sooner you might think – freeing up your closets for whatever you’d like. That list included pay stubs, credit card statements, monthly bills investment documents, personal credit receipts, banks statements and ATM receipts. Here, let me review with you what to keep and for how long. • Medical bills, prescriptions, insurance statements and hospital bills: Maintain for five years from the date the services were performed. I would shred these because of personal information. • Utility bills: If you are writing them off for business keep for a year. Otherwise keep for three months. • Satisfied loans: Hold onto for seven years. • Permanent documentation: Birth certificates, education records, pro-
fessional license records, death certificates, adoption paperwork, divorce decrees, military records. These are documents you NEVER discard. • Charitable contributions: Donation receipts and acknowledgement letters should be held until you do your yearly tax fillings. • Home repairs: Keep a log or journal as long as you own the property so you can show the cost of improvements upon sale. Keep warranty paperwork until one year after the warranty ends. • 401k (403b, 457) statements: Review statements when they come in against the last statement received (i.e. your June statement vs. the May one) and then hold on to the year-end statement for tax purposed. Keep the annual statements until the account is closed out. • Non-deductible IRA contributions: Maintain until the account
funds are totally withdrawn. • Insurance: Keep all insurance records until the asset is sold and a minimum of five years. For auto, house, umbrella, business continuation, etc. • Auto records: For as long as you own the vehicle. • Tax returns and associated documents: Generally for seven years. The IRS has three years to audit a tax return. However, underreported income greater than 25 percent has a six-year statute of limitation and fraud has no limitations. •Home purchase: Keep the documentation for the purchase cost of the house and any capital improvements – repairs and upgrades – until the house is sold. Records of a new roof, painting, additions, etc. • Mortgage: Hold as long as the mortgage is not fully paid. When
ASK
THE EXPERT
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Huntington’s Jon L. Ten Haagen, CFP*, runs Ten Haagen Financial Services, Inc., a full-service independent financial planning firm – and now, he is here to answer your questions! In this bi-monthly column, Ten Haagen will answer your financial questions and help you with his expert financial advice. Don’t be shy – our expert is here for you, so feel free to ask away! E-mail your questions to asktheexpert@longislandergroup.com today, and let our expert help you. *Ten Haagen is an Investment Advisor Representative offering securities and advisory services offered through Royal Alliance Associates, Inc., member of FINRA/SIPC, and a registered investment advisor. He is also an active community member, serving on several nonprofit boards and as executive officer of the Greater Huntington Boating Council. ** NEW OFFICE LOCATION: Due to a fire in the office building, the offices of Ten Haagen Financial Services, Inc. are now at 12 Bayview Ave., Northport.