Normally this time of year I encourage all my business owner clients and faithful readers take a goodlook at what you’ve accomplished so far this year, to accelerate your efforts so you can finish the year strong, and to plan for what you want to have happen next year. This time I’m going to address how those plans can change wildly from what you thought was going to happen and applaud contingency planning.
Tax planning is the process of looking at various tax options in order to determine when, whether, and how to conduct business and personal transactions to reduce or eliminate tax liability.
There is a growing trend among companies to pay later and later. What was 30 days to pay is now becoming 45. Those previously at 45 are going to 60. Worse, small companies are typically targeted first. Here’s what you can do to speed up clients who pay slowly:
September is Life Insurance Awareness Month. Sadly, Financial Planning only gets a day and it’s different in each state. That’s just not fair! But life insurance is important for your family goals, so here are the important things to consider before buying life insurance.
In case you didn’t already know, I have the travel bug. It started in College when I got the opportunity to visit my UK pen pal and her family in London. Even more than the tourist destinations, I love seeing how people live differently around the world. Staying with her family allowed me a front row seat to the daily activities of a different culture. Another example is the time I went with the Rotary to Guatemala to commemorate a well to provide fresh water that they had donated to an orphanage.
Perhaps in our grandparents generation retirement look like quitting your job, having a retirement party, then proceeding to a new phase of watching TV, yardwork, traveling to visit friends and generally being helpful to the extended family. In the generation of clients that I’m working with now, there is as many individual approaches as I have clients. I’ll share a few of their stories to spur your own imagination about your vision for retiring.
If you have kids in college, the Fall tuition bill is on its way to your mailbox in June-July. If you have a first time starting Freshman, this is your first REAL experience with paying for college. If your kids are younger, now is the perfect time to get serious with college planning how you and/or your kids will pay college expenses.
Although all families are different, here are a few ways families prepare:
In the lyrics of "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)" by the famous Lennon, he says "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." As a financial planner, it’s amazingly rewarding to plan successful retirements, education, legacy and your other life goals. And it is also my job to help you mitigate for the things that might hurt those plans, like job loss, disability, business downturns, and death.
What happens to your stuff when you are gone? Usually when people pass away, there is a huge focus on the things they owned and who gets what. But a legacy isn't only about leaving what you’ve earned, but also what you’ve learned.
The notion that you can have a lasting legacy by handing down ideas and values may be a totally new way to look at it. Here are some ways you could pass on the things and ideas, as well as your wealth.
Since age 17, I’ve read every Money Magazine, Wall Street Journal and every other sensible financial publication and book I could handle. My parents were so poor they had to sell a cow to pay each car insurance or college bill. By the time I had my first child at age 32, I was no longer struggling. I had saved 10 percent of every paycheck since my first year after college. I raised my two boys with every bit of wisdom I could muster with intentions of imparting the awesomeness of savings and compound interest to my children.
Having not yet been kicked out of any Young Professionals’ clubs, there’s a couple more decades of experience under my belt than the next generation of young professionals. As a personal investor and financial planner with over 30 years of experience, here’s some ageless wisdom for young professionals in your 20’s and 30’s.
If you are in your early 50s and just buying a home, you may be paying that mortgage in your 80s. Most financial planners believe this could lead to disaster down the road because seniors don’t usually have the income to support debt repayment in addition to monthly expenses, so they may run out of money way too soon. Yikes! You need a better plan other than being a Wal-mart greeter to pay for it. Here’s a few ways this may not destroy your retirement:
We deserve it. Everyone else gets one, why not us? My husband, who works a ‘straight’ job gets three weeks of vacation a year. My boss (me!) told myself for several years, “no vacation.” We’re too busy. We can’t afford it. Who will help our clients?
So I sat down with my boss (me!) and set her straight. I want four weeks of vacation a year. My company name is Good Life Financial and I should practice what I preach. So there!
My husband and I have started, owned, and grown four businesses in our 24 years of marriage and are starting a fifth. In that time, we have owned four homes. Although the majority of our business has been conducted outside the home, most were started at home or involved the use of our home in numerous ways. If you are a business owner or ever think you’ll be one, below are questions to think about when buying a home.
If we want next year to be better than this year (and who doesn’t), we need to develop a plan to make that happen. As business owner, business coach and financial planner I use the following wrap up/ramp up process to build my own progress and recommend these steps to my business-owner clients as well.
