Category: Financial Planning
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Working with noncompliant businesses
For the world outside of law and accounting, let’s be clear that the our use of the word “noncompliant” here is an academic spin on “illegal”, although this is not the platform to discuss the legal or ethical concepts. From this same academic perspective, there is also a possibility that “noncompliant” could simply mean “novel”.…
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Six reasons why inflation is good
Inflation pushes us to make smarter decisions and often increases our real net worth. It seems like Republicans are stoking fear that inflation is our worst enemy. I notice misinformation and misunderstandings daily. I’m old enough to have lived through two cycles of major inflation and can credit these with much of my financial success.…
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My blessed and winding career in 7 tweets
My blessed, winding and interesting career in 7 tweets: 1- On 2/1/1997, the investment banking firm Drexel Burnham Lambert took out a two page advertisement in The Wall Street Journal listing the names of every one of its thousands of employees. My name was included. I enjoyed life flying from home Ocean City to NYC…
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The importance of recognizing peak performance and planning what to do next
Today’s WSJ carried this front page article (I shared the screenshot because of recent comments that links are not always viewable behind a paywall). The real lead story, buried in the article, is that corporate profits have been higher lately than any other time in our lifetime. That is unsustainable. It can’t stay that way…
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Where have the good investments gone?
“Where have the deals gone?” This was the title of a podcast yesterday looking at layoffs at America’s most powerful investment firms. They don’t expect the economy to generate enough good deals to keep investment bankers busy. The point is that investment management is a lot tougher right now than any time in the past…
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Four personal reflections at the end of tax season
One week past the most demanding tax deadline of the year and I’ve caught up with the most urgent post-season demands, and I feel that this allows my mind to return to a more normal and healthy reflective state. Three reflections come into focus: 1) I see myself as an organized, logical, likable, responsive and…
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Revised ‘Best Practices’ in accounting services engagement agreement
I revised the Best Practices section (the wordy section) of my engagement agreements effective September 1, 2021 with a number of small changes but the major change is meant to accommodate the growing portion of clients who prefer an ongoing service agreement rather than repeatedly starting and ending shorter duration services. As before, a sample…
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Ignorance among professionals is a growing problem
Is it just me? I’m increasingly shocked with the collective level of ignorance surrounding us. In my work, naturally, I see it most often among people who call themselves tax and financial professionals. The details of behavior described as the Dunning-Kruger effect make the problem worse. Back in the 1980s and early 90s when professional…
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Tax strategies for high income individuals
Of all the services I offer to high income clients, no other has such a rate of return on investment of time and money as income tax planning. Applied consistently year after year as part of an overall financial plan, it can easily add hundreds of thousands of wealth that would otherwise be paid as…
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Overview of American Rescue Plan Act of 2021
Background In February 2021 the U.S. Senate, The House of Representatives and the Executive Branch led by the White House took a series of actions designed to address the pandemic recession by allowing a huge proposed economic stimulus bill to move through to approval without relying on Republican party votes. The Democratic Party members of…