Home-based start-up costs

The answer, of course, depends upon:

- The type of business you're starting
- Whether you will be operating your business full-time or part-time
- What you business and personal income requirements are or will be.

One of the best rules of thumb is if the business is full-time and your main income source, you should have six months of personal and anticipated business expenses put away. If business income begins streaming in right away, you have a nice nest egg; if it doesn't, you have some time to fine tune your marketing efforts.