More money, fewer problems...the government is working hard to keep money in our pockets. I love it!
The Internal Revenue Service, on behalf of the Treasury Department, worked to quickly begin delivery of the third round of Economic Impact Payments authorized by Congress in the American Rescue Plan Act in March 2021. Here are answers to some common questions about this set of stimulus payments.
#EIP #Freemoney #stimuluscheck
Let me tell you this:
When it comes to the call of buying things for the sake of buying them –
and going into deep debt for the sake of appearance – but why?
We’ve all got somebody we look up to and try to emulate, but
does it really pay off?
No. Not ever.
What it does do is to create a situation where we all start
to look the same, sound the same, dress the same, and drive the same thing –
all financed at low interest rates that will never let you truly pay it all
off.
The point in this is simple:
We’re all bombarded daily with marketing designed to get us to buy
things and many people are living at the extreme limit of their income budgets. We all saw it last year in the mass layoffs
and closed businesses, too.
People who didn’t have even the smallest of cash reserves to
weather a few days, much less months.
Now, my point today isn’t about judging someone’s
financials, but rather, about helping people to think about what is truly
important.
So that brings me to an exercise I’d like you to do today –
and maybe, do it tonight with the family around the dinner table.
Take a clean sheet of paper and at the top, write down a 2-3
things as “headers” along the top of the page.
These are things that you’d really like – they could be goals,
aspirations, and yes, even tangible items.
Now, with the first one, ask yourself “why?” As in, “Why is this important to me?”
Write down your answer.
Now, with that answer, ask “Why?” again – what is it about
that answer that makes it a “real” answer in your eyes.
You guessed it. Ask
“Why?” again with respect to your second answer.
In my experience, after about 6-8 times of asking the
question, you’ll get to your real answer.
Not the reasons you might tell one another, but the REAL
reasons.
Let this answer drive your motivations, whether for a new
car, a bigger (or smaller) house, or even why you want your kid to go to a
certain college or follow a certain career path. And your answer isn’t “right” or “wrong,” but
it IS real.
Wouldn’t it be powerful for your son or daughter to know how
to drill down into their own minds to see they really don’t want a PS5, they
just want to be “cooler” than the kid down the street?
Wouldn’t it be powerful to know you only wanted that big
screen to impress your cousin?
Some of you are going to get to the “real” answer much
faster, but in my experience, the older you are, the harder it is. What’s important, though, is that you do NOT
as a way to escape spending money, but to ensure that the money (and time) you
spend is utilized for reasons that truly will make you happy.
Hey, it's Wayne with W Scully CPA PC
focused on fixing America's tax problems. I am excited to unpack some of the
relief covered by the brand spanking new
AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN Act just signed by president Biden: here are a few
highlights:
No matter how much success you enjoyed last year (with all
the challenges), I have to ask you to do one thing for me in 2021:
Dare to grow.
It’s my belief that, long term, we’ll see more millionaires
and household names created from entrepreneurs who took the chance and choose
to expand in the pandemic, so I want to challenge you to think like that, too.
Maybe it’s moving your business to a full online store.
Maybe it’s building an automated training program.
Maybe it’s opening up a completely unrelated business that
you never saw a need for until last year.
Whatever “it” is, I want you to do it!
There’s never going to be a more forgiving time in our
lifetimes – money is cheap to buy and a lot of people do have cash reserves,
and, quite frankly, they’re growing tired of the constant negativity of the
news and social media.
They’re looking for new ways to do old things, and smart
entrepreneurs are tapping into those needs and wants.
Or, to put it another way:
do you want to make “enough” and build a company that is little more
than a job you can never sell or do you want to create generational wealth and
a brand that will live far beyond your own life?
Here’s the thing:
Both of those require the same amount of time!
Don’t believe me?
Think about this: You have 86,400
seconds today and at the end of the day, those are gone.
You can build something of value in that time or you can
simply watch videos of kittens online and complain about how slow business
is.
Take that one day and look at it over the course of months
and years, and I think you’ll see my point.
Ray Kroc began operating McDonalds in the 1950s and
thousands of other men and women opened their own restaurants at that time,
too.
Yet only McDonalds is still around today.
Every one of those entrepreneurs had the same 86,400 seconds
in their days, yet only a handful are remembered today.
No matter how good or bad you think last year went, 2021 can
be a great year, and I want you to really stretch your entrepreneurial muscles
this year.
Expand your business, open a new one, or simply find new
ways to make your money go to work for you everyday – just recognize that it’s
never too late to grow and expand and make this the best year ever.
IMPORTANT: Our firm specializes in tax resolution. We serve clients virtually so don't hesitate to reach out. If you want an expert tax resolution specialist who knows how to navigate the IRS maze, reach out to our firm, so we can schedule a confidential consultation to explain options to permanently resolve your tax problem Make an appointment here! Or, call Toll-free 1-855-254-1892.
While there are plenty of people who genuinely love their
jobs, there's no denying the main reason why most of us are currently in the
work force: to make money. Doing the same job for $50,000 a year, as opposed to
$45,000, is nearly always a better deal IF you do your research and due
diligence.
So how do you ask for more money in your current job or discuss
money in an interview? Let’s look at a
few ways I’ve seen clients use to put more money in their pockets.
First, do plenty of research. Before
you come up with a figure, make some calculations based on real research. Talk to people in the field, use the computer
to look at how similar jobs and industries pay, and be sure to research the
average salary for your target position, the average salary at this specific
company, and in the area.
Next, know your value to the company. Remember,
you and your skills have far more value than the actual job you’re doing or
the one you’re interviewing for. A
"senior marketing manager" with 10 years of experience, an
entrepreneurial background, and proficiency in both graphic design and basic
programming is going to be worth more than a "senior marketing
manager" with five years of experience and not much else on the table. All
those secondary skills, related industry experience, and, honestly, just the
act of living has an objective value, so don't neglect to include them in your
calculations.
Ignore what you previously made. One
critical mistake many people make – and I’ve seen this happen time and again - is
to use their previous salary as a base. Unless absolutely nothing has changed
about you and you're working for the same company at the same position, this is
simply wrong. NEVER base any of your
calculations on your old salary or even what you made for the same company last
year. The world is changing rapidly as a
result of both technology and COVID, and a lot of companies are being forced to
rethink how they base employee’s pay rates.
Don’t confuse the “old” world
with the real world.
Be bigger than base salary. Negotiation
is a numbers game, but be ready to negotiate for more than just a base salary.
For example, you may have a specific number in mind, but would you be willing
to lower that number by $2,500 a year in exchange for a more robust health plan
or a retirement plan? Many of these peripheral benefits are negotiable in a job
– don’t be afraid to negotiate!
Remember, the world is different now, and your salary should
be, too. Maybe things haven’t changed
that much, but the fact is, most companies aren’t going to simply give you a
raise you’d be happy with – don’t be afraid to go into that conversation
well-armed and with solid facts and expectations.
You’ll likely never get a raise waiting on your boss to give
you one…
IMPORTANT: Our firm specializes in tax resolution. We serve clients virtually so don't hesitate to reach out. If you want an expert tax resolution specialist who knows how to navigate the IRS maze, reach out to our firm, so we can schedule a confidential consultation to explain options to permanently resolve your tax problem Make an appointment here! Or, call Toll-free 1-855-254-1892.
The truth is simple:
a lot of people got a lot of benefits from the government, and while
that might scare you with the idea you’ll be “on the hook” for income you
didn’t plan on, you really shouldn’t worry about it.
Why?
In the grand scheme of things, the truth is, anything you
received last year – from the PPP, various stimulus payments, and so on – was a
fluke that you couldn’t plan for.
In other words, don’t sweat it.
What I really want you to do is this: determine the things that happened last year
that always seem to happen – at least in terms of taxes, timing, and payments –
and let’s plan for them in 2021.
Seriously! We see the
same things sooo many times with entrepreneurs.
Poor planning in respect to growth, little or no thought being given to
partnerships or distributions, men and women who refuse to pay themselves a
salary and keep taking money from the company in ways that wave red flags, and
TONS of account mixing with no documentation as to where monies originate and
where they move to.
If this sounds like you, then my advice is simple, and I’m
begging you to take it:
Let’s get together and create the bookkeeping and accounting
systems and processes that will make life easier and far more cost effective
for you from both a tax preparation and monthly bookkeeping perspective.
Seriously!
Now, I completely understand that the total amount of work
needed to handle a year’s worth of business accounting might seem the same
regardless of whether you do it in one dramatic flurry of activity in the
Spring or you dedicate time each week or month to handle it.
…But the truth is, the amount of time needed is considerably
longer if you wait.
By handling taxes and bookkeeping duties monthly, you limit
the amount of accounts and statements you could possibly have to look at, so the
chances of making a mistake are far lower, and the sheer volume of entries to
do is far less.
As a result, you and your team can keep things organized and
easier by eating the elephant one bite at a time instead of trying to do far
too much too late.
If you’re sick of scrambling and tired of paying too much,
then TODAY is the day to make time to get organized and set up your systems for
2021. You’ll be faster, more accurate,
and likely spend far less money to have better results.
Go ahead and schedule a call for us to see how easily you
can create systems to make life easier!
IMPORTANT: Our firm specializes in tax resolution. We serve clients virtually so don't hesitate to reach out. If you want an expert tax resolution specialist who knows how to navigate the IRS maze, reach out to our firm, so we can schedule a confidential consultation to explain options to permanently resolve your tax problem Make an appointment here! Or, call Toll-free 1-855-254-1892.
Between this message and my last one (“Why NOT To Use the Equity In Your Home”), I’m not trying to strike a somber tone, just a realistic one. The COVID pandemic has changed many people’s financial pictures, and with tax season knocking on the door, most folks are more worried than ever before.
Not a day goes by without a call here in the office asking about tax payment options, worries about judgments, and so on.
With that in mind, I’ve also had many people sharing with me how they “discovered” experienced financial accounts they’d forgotten about, they are now pulling money from to pay off bills or consolidating with other accounts.
These might be accomplished 401(k)s from earlier jobs, IRAs given from parents to new graduates, and various others, but the point of all this is simple: the institution that handles that account is going to make it sound far harder to close than it is.
One example recently shared with me was a client who had been given a tiny IRA from his parents as a 21st birthday gift. He’d never “forgotten” about it, but the bank that had originally handled the transaction had been bought and sold three times since that time. The total value wasn’t anything to write home about, and after he studied the various options he had to put these monies to work, he decided to close the account, cash it out, and invest it elsewhere.
To hear him tell it, the first three people he talked to in the bank made it appear as though he was trying to drill their teeth! My client kept calm, continued to explain his wants, and finally got through to someone who could help him.
Nearly forty-five minutes of being on hold, being transferred, and generally being told how dumb he was for doing this, when he got to someone who could actually help him, the transaction ended up taking only about fifteen minutes.
(As an aside, Hew took those funds, invested in the crypto market, and had already gained a larger return in four months than the account had produced in the last four years…)
The moral of the story is this: if you have lazy financial assets (or simply ones that you need to reallocate), you don’t always need to listen to the people at the bank. Yes, there are often financial or tax liabilities that come from closing a retirement account, but those aren’t impossible to sort out.
It’s your money, you have access to it whenever you need it! If you’ve got an account like this and aren’t sure about what – or how – to proceed, then feel free to reach out to me or my team and let’s discuss what might be the best game-plan.
IMPORTANT: Our firm specializes in tax resolution. We serve clients virtually so don't hesitate to reach out. If you want an expert tax resolution specialist who knows how to navigate the IRS maze, reach out to our firm, so we can schedule a confidential consultation to explain options to permanently resolve your tax problem Make an appointment here! Or, call Toll-free 1-855-254-1892.
For years now, when I converse with small business owners, I’ve heard the common complaint, “we can’t make any money, and we’re busier tha...
