The surfers sit and look at the horizon and anticipate the size of the waves. It’s not an exact science, but they make their choice and then, the most important part, they proactively paddle like crazy toward the oncoming wave crest, well ahead of its arrival. This allows them to meet the wave on their own terms, rather [...]
It seems like everywhere I go, there are cars on the side of the road and the unmistakable buzz of people with “yard sale face” rushing to see what hot deals they can find. It’s nice to see some post pandemic normalcy. It’s always been a summer ritual, and as badly as we all crave [...]
Some do it often, while others hold on all year for that one great week and live day by day until that magical start date on the calendar! A new wave in our digital age is to only take three or four day weekends, but do it more often. However you “vacation”, they do have [...]
Ever had a “light bulb” moment? I have been driving for many years. I’ve driven at least a million miles and I own a few cars (I collect certain types), and when driving my spouse’s car or one from the collection that I haven’t driven in a while, inevitably it’s time to gas up. I [...]
When people save for retirement they almost automatically use accounts that avoid tax now. IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, 457s, all pretax retirement savings plans. Certainly, long term savings uninterrupted by withdrawals and the effect of compounding interest on interest earned is unarguably valuable, but doing that in pretax accounts is NOT the only way to have [...]
Although currently very little has actually changed tax rules wise, many things are proposed. Under an executive order a few things have actually changed around child credits, so if you have children there are benefits starting now for many Americans in the lower tax brackets. Also, one item that affects many small business owners is [...]
It’s May and the 2020-2021 tax filing season is finally coming to an end, and for many with a familiar recurring moooooan and grooooooan of having paid too much in taxes. Now is the time to take your preventative medicine and avoid the pain next year! Being human, we all form habits. Some good. Most [...]
Everywhere I go, like the dandelions popping up all over my lawn, no matter hard I work at their extermination, there are cars on the side of the road and the unmistakable buzz of people with “yard sale rush” masks, rushing to see what hot deals they can find. It’s a Spring/Summer ritual and its [...]
Generally speaking, there are three “waves” of tax filers. The first contains the people with W-2 jobs, kids and daycare and they have had taxes withheld that when refunded are a big part of their income. They generally file in late January and early February, as soon as possible so they can get their refund, [...]
We use the term “Tax Planning” often, but we are aware that many people are not sure what it really is. Some people think “That means off shore accounts and citizenship shell games ending with jail time. No thank you!”. That is not tax planning; that’s tax evasion, and it’s not at all what we [...]