Author: Tony Novak
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Status of Paycheck Protection Program application?
This comes from a real email exchange today: CLIENT: Subject: Re: status update on Payroll Protection Program Tony, I don’t believe I heard anything back from this? Has xxxxxx responded to our request? ME: Correct. No response after initial confirmation of application more than two weeks ago. I did attempt to contact the officer who…
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Brilliant small business strategy for post-shutdown recovery
Early Sunday morning a few weeks ago I received a text and phone call1 asking me to form a new nonprofit group. I had a long history of forming and working with grassroots nonprofit groups in the seven years after super storm Sandy turned our world upside down. Sandy recovery projects led me to the…
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Change to client services agreement
This is a template for a new letter to be used beginning today: CHANGE TO CLIENT SERVICES AGREEMENT The past six weeks have been unlike anything I’ve experienced in the past 33 years of serving in the advisory profession. I responded by increasing my average daily client caseload from 3 to 5, increasing hours and…
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Armchair epidemiology
This is one of those times when a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous and frustrating thing. I’ve had some formal training in epidemiology, virology and public health policy and worked as an intern in a high profile medical research lab but never pursued this as a career. My most recent formal education comes…
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Still don’t have a financial plan?
This blog post is a reprint and revision of an article originally posted in 2011. The current pandemic underscores that many people, including many of my small business owner clients, do not have access to any type of financial planning document to serve as a basis of strategy, communication and decision-making. I’ve recently decided to…
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Inability to update electronic banking with IRS
Self-serve Options It seems that some of us were given inaccurate information about the ability to update personal bank accounts for the purpose of the Economic Impact Payment. As of today, this is what is posted on the IRS web page: “If we don’t have your direct deposit information from your 2018 or 2019 return…
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Small business roundup of crisis response news
The past day generated more financial news affecting U.S. small businesses than any previous day of this pandemic. While the learning curve is steep, typically 1-2 hours each day, the time requirement today and for the rest of this week will be substantially more. No doubt that after I speak with some small business clients…
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CARES Act triggers online and telephone scams
Please be aware of the increase in scams related to the CARES Act Programs. The Small Business Administration, Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Department of the Treasury will NOT CONTACT ANYONE DIRECTLY related to the various relief programs. In addition, bank employees will never ask for your social security number or other sensitive information via…
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Small Business Crisis Management Plan B
The new ’employee retention credit’ is a refundable payroll tax credit for 50% of qualified wages up to a maximum wage of $10,000 per employee. Wages paid starting March 13, 2020 through December 31, 2020 are eligible, even retroactively. The best way to take advantage is to integrate this cash flow benefit directly with your…