News About IRS And Tax: January 2017

Tuesday 31 January 2017

Where’s My Tax Refund? How to Check Your Refund Status

With refund season well underway and the average tax refund being close to $2,800 last tax season, we are hearing the common tax season question: “Where’s My Refund?” We know that you work hard for your money and often a...

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source http://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/tax-refunds/wheres-my-tax-refund-how-to-check-your-refund-status-18855/

#FASuccess Ep 005: Mark Tibergien On The Rise Of The Professionally Managed Financial Advisory Firm

Welcome back for the fifth episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast!

One of the things I’m enjoying the most about this podcast is that it gives me an opportunity to reach out to people I’ve admired for their expertise throughout my career, and invite them to be a guest and share their insights with all of you.

And today’s guest is a perfect example: Mark Tibergien. Most people today know Mark as the CEO of Pershing Advisor Solutions, a major – albeit slightly less known – RIA custodian that competes with Schwab, Fidelity, and TD Ameritrade, particularly for larger RIAs that focus on serving an ultra-high-net-worth clientele.

But I first became familiar with Mark’s work in his prior role – as a Principal for Moss Adams, where for almost 15 years, he led their practice management consulting group for advisors, and pioneered the first financial advisor benchmarking studies going back to the 1990s. In fact, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Mark is the godfather of financial advisor benchmarking and practice management consulting!

In this podcast episode, you’ll hear Mark tell his own story of how he landed in financial services after starting out as a journalist, and share his collective 30 years of knowledge on practice management, as we cover everything from the four stages of an advisory practice – which Mark calls the “wonder, blunder, thunder, and plunder” phases – to the walls that advisory firm owners will hit as the business grows, and why standardization of the firm doesn’t commoditize its value but actually makes it feasible to better offer the client a customized experience! And be certain to listen to the end, where Mark shares his own perspective on where he sees the financial advisory profession going in the coming years, and where the challenges and opportunities are.

So whether you’re an experienced financial advisor and business owner trying to figure out how to take your firm to the next level and get over a wall, or are newer to the business and trying to figure out your own career/business trajectory, I hope you enjoy this latest episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast!

Monday 30 January 2017

Financial Advisor Checklists To Enhance The Client Meeting Prep Process

Client meetings are one of the most important touchpoints we as financial advisors can have with our clients. A well-executed client meeting is an opportunity to build clients’ trust and confidence in us. And one of the best ways to ensure the meeting is well-executed is through preparation. The caveat, though, is that the more clients we have, the less time there is, and the harder it may be to ensure that a thorough process is in place for preparing for client meetings… which can lead to a feeling of always scrambling from one client meeting to the next, struggling to keep track of all the relevant details of each clients’ situation.

The way forward through this challenge is to systematize the process using checklists, which both help to ensure that nothing slips through the cracks, and makes it easier to free up time by delegating key preparation tasks. In this guest post, Teresa Riccobuono of Simply Organized (a professional organizer who consults with financial advisors about how to get more organized by creating systems and process!) shares some of her own thoughts, tips, and best practices for creating a client meeting prep process, as well as some templates to get started with your own meeting prep checklists.

And so whether it’s creating checklists regarding the preparation of tasks related to financial planning, investment management, administrative tasks, timelines to coordinate staff preparation, or even planning for follow-up items in advance… the reality is, checklists can help you stay on top of your client meeting prep process and deliver a higher level of service to your clients that will make you more referable. So if you’re looking for ways to improve your meeting prep process and get more marketing value out of impactful client meetings, I hope that you find this guest post from Teresa to be helpful!Read More…

source https://www.kitces.com/blog/client-meeting-prep-checklist-for-financial-advisors/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=client-meeting-prep-checklist-for-financial-advisors

Sunday 29 January 2017

Is My State Tax Refund Taxable and Why?

For itemizers, it’s one of the stranger parts of the tax code. First you get to take a deduction of your state and local taxes, then all of a sudden the next year you get a 1099-G from your state...

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source http://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/is-my-state-tax-refund-taxable-and-why-90/

Saturday 28 January 2017

5 Smart Ways to Spend Your Tax Refund

If you’re expecting a tax refund or yours has recently been deposited into your bank account, you may be wondering what is the best way to spend the money. While you can use your tax refund in myriad of different...

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source http://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/tax-refunds/5-smart-ways-to-spend-your-refund-19505/

W-2 Arrival: All You Need to Know about Tax Forms

If you were employed during 2016, you should receive your Form W-2 (officially known as the Wage and Tax Statement) from your employer by the January 31, 2017. If you were self-employed, or worked on a contract basis with no taxes...

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source http://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/tax-planning-2/w-2-arrival-all-you-need-to-know-about-tax-forms-20996/

Friday 27 January 2017

Health Insurance Marketplace Open Enrollment is Ending – Here’s What You Need to Know

Time is running out! With the end of 2017 Health Insurance Marketplace open enrollment period approaching, now is the time to make sure you’re complying with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to avoid getting a tax penalty when you file...

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source http://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/health-care/health-insurance-marketplace-open-enrollment-is-ending-heres-what-you-need-to-know-21070/

Week of Free is Back with Even More Giveaways!

Filing your taxes for free + getting your maximum refund is already pretty great, but why stop there? To celebrate free tax Federal and state filing with Absolute Zero, we’re kicking off our second annual #WeekOfFree January 30 – February 3!...

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source http://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/turbotax-news/week-of-free-is-back-with-even-more-giveaways-29694/

Weekend Reading for Financial Planners (Jan 28-29)

Enjoy the current installment of “weekend reading for financial planners” – this week’s edition kicks off with the interesting buzz that TD Ameritrade, long recognized as the open-architecture-with-little-proprietary-product platform for RIAs, might now be considering becoming less open and begin offering more TD-branded products under its new CEO (which will surely be part of the buzz with TD Ameritrade’s national RIA conference coming up next week!). Also in the news this week was coverage of the growing number of regulators and legislators adopting rules that will make it easier for financial advisors to report financial abuse of seniors (with much debate about whether advisors will be required to make reports).

From there, we have a few technical planning articles, including a reminder that now is the time to review (and if necessary, get corrections) on Form 1099-Rs being sent to clients, a look at how indexed annuities are getting more and more complicated and the concerns of new “exotic” volatility-managed indices, the risks and potential rewards of ESG-based investing, and how on average dollar cost averaging is a worse deal than just allocating a lump sum but may still be a good idea when P/E ratios are high (as they are today).

There are also a couple of practice management articles this week, from tips on how to better “program” clients to give regular referrals, how to better qualify prospects and have fewer “wasted” prospect meetings (where the prospect never follows through after the meeting), and how to actually run a first-time meeting with a new prospect to improve your chances of actually turning them into a client.

We wrap up with three interesting articles: the first covers the recent Consumer Federation of America report that a number of large Financial Institutions are holding out to the public as (fiduciary) advisors while representing to regulators and the courts that they’re just (suitaility-based) salespeople, emphasizing that the real battle is not about fiduciary vs suitability, per se, but whether salespeople should even be allowed to hold out as advisors; the second is an interesting look at Sanctuary Wealth Services, a platform for breakaway brokers transitioning to independent RIA that is shutting down after 8 years, and sends an ominous signal to the community of advisor support platforms that it’s still a challenging business; and the last is a discussion of whether the rise of call-center-based virtual financial planning solutions (like Vanguard Personal Advisor Services and the coming Schwab Intelligent Advisory) will become the future entry-level career path for financial advisors, and pondering whether that’s a bad way to train the next generation of financial planners, or actually a great improvement (at least compared to the past, where it was all about getting new business by “smiling and dialing” while reading cold-calling scripts!).

Enjoy the “light” reading!

Happy Earned Income Tax Credit Awareness Day! Are You Eligible?

Today is National Earned Income Tax Credit Awareness Day! The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a huge benefit to taxpayers with low to moderate income and has helped lift millions of people out of poverty. Make sure that you...

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source http://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/tax-deductions-and-credits-2/happy-earned-income-tax-credit-awareness-day-are-you-eligible-18892/

Thursday 26 January 2017

Transitioning From An Advisor Practice To A (True) Financial Advisory Business

The fundamental constraint that every financial advisor eventually faces is that there are only so many hours in the day and week, and therefore only so many clients that can be served, before you hit a wall. At that moment, you reach the maximum capacity of a financial advisory practice, and have to make a decision about whether you will stay that size – with what may be a very good income – or grow into a business, a true business, that goes beyond your individual capacity to serve clients as a financial advisor.

In this week’s #OfficeHours with @MichaelKitces, my Tuesday 1PM EST broadcast via Periscope, we discuss the dynamics of transitioning from a practice to a business, and the challenges you may encounter along the way, including building a team, letting go of client responsibilities, and most significantly… changing your mindset!

The first change you need to acknowledge is that when making the transition from a practice to a business, you, personally, can no longer spend your time primarily servicing clients. This is partially due to the wall you will naturally hit from trying to service too many clients, but even more importantly, you need to recognize that if you spend all of your time working in the business, you won’t have any time to work on the business. You may still keep a small set of clients – if for no other reason than to remember what’s it’s like to sit across from the client and hear their needs and concerns – but the first step in the transition for most advisors is bringing on an associate advisor who can gradually take over client relationships and work with all new clients going forward. And as you add more clients, you’ll simply add more advisors (who aren’t you!).

The second thing to recognize is that if you’re going to be doing all that hiring over time (from advisors to operations and back-office staff) as the business grows, you’re going to need to really focus on developing your people (instead of acquiring new clients). In fact, since the financial advisory business is a service business, finding and developing people will arguably become your number one job as you make the transition from a practice to a business.

But the biggest challenge to transitioning from a practice to a business is that you’re also going to have to completely change your mindset. Because you may have started out as a financial advisor giving advice, but going forward you are no longer trying to do financial planning… you’re trying to build a business that does financial planning. This will mean an endless set of changes as your business grows and your role changes to reflect the new challenges you face, as well as real financial sacrifices as you hire staff and try to find economies of scale as the firm grows.

Ultimately, the path to being a business owner is not for every advisor. Many are quite happy to continue doing the client work as a solo advisor – and that’s okay! – but for those who do wish to build their practice into something bigger than themselves, it will require a complete mindset shift to vision a business that truly goes beyond your individual ability to serve clients and instead is all about getting other great financial advisors to serve the clients in your business!

Wednesday 25 January 2017

6 Tips to Help You Plan for Next Tax Season Now

The tax season is under way and if you have already filed your 2016 taxes ,congratulations! So wait, why should you still care about your 2017 taxes (the ones you will file in 2018)? Believe it or not, what you...

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source http://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/tax-planning-2/6-tips-to-help-you-plan-for-next-tax-season-now-19699/

Adopting A Two-Dimensional Risk Tolerance Assessment Process

The process of assessing an investor’s risk tolerance is all about determining his/her willingness to take investment risk, and financial capacity to bear risk, and blending it together to match to an appropriate investment portfolio. Most commonly, this is done with a risk tolerance questionnaire that posits a series of questions about time horizon and need for income, and attitudes about risk and market volatility, to calculate a “risk score” and determine the portfolio that goes with it.

The caveat to this one-dimensional approach, however, is that by averaging together risk tolerance and risk capacity scores, the advisor can unwittingly end up in situations where clients with extremely low risk tolerance (or risk capacity) end up with portfolios that are far too risky for their situation. In other words, the low risk tolerance (or capacity) should have acted as a constraint to the investment policy statement, but didn’t.

So what’s the alternative? Simply put – risk tolerance and risk capacity should be measured separately, and then scored on a two-dimensional scale that considers the contributing role (and limiting nature) of each (rather than a single continuum that merely averages the two together).

Fortunately, there are numerous risk tolerance software solutions specifically designed to assess “pure” risk tolerance on a standalone basis, including FinaMetrica and Riskalyze. And for comprehensive financial planners, the reality is that the financial plan itself is a measure of risk capacity, as reflected in the Monte Carlo probabilities of success and failure.

For those who don’t do full retirement planning projections for every client, a recent alternative software solution is Tolerisk, which is designed to perform a two-dimensional risk tolerance assessment by separately gathering information about the client’s risk attitudes and their basic financial goals.

The bottom line, though, is simply to recognize that risk tolerance and risk capacity are two different dimensions of the client’s overall risk profile, and must be assessed and ‘scored’ separately to properly recognize the constraining role that each can have on the appropriate investment policy statement!

Tuesday 24 January 2017

5 Popular Tax Myths, Busted

With the tax deadline around the corner we thought it would be fun to look at crazy tax myths on April Fool's Day. Ginita Wall shares 5 tax myths that you should be aware of.

source http://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/tax-planning-2/5-popular-tax-myths-busted-15753/

#FASuccess Podcast Ep 004: Deb Wetherby On Building The Team Of A $4.5B RIA Serving HNW Clientele

Welcome back for the fourth episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest this week is Deb Wetherby, founder of Wetherby Asset Management, a $4.5B independent RIA based in San Francisco that serves ultra-high-net-worth clientele. So if you’ve ever been curious about how a fee-only firm with a whopping $10 million minimum is staffed and operated, this podcast will not disappoint.

And Deb’s journey into the role of being a financial advisor, entrepreneur, and ultimately business executive, is a fascinating one. She started out working in the private bank division of a major wirehouse in the 1980s – as one of only 14 females around in the globe in her department – before eventually deciding that the conflicts of interest inherent in private banking of the day were just too much. The end result was launching her firm, and bootstrapping it from scratch, running three full years just to reach breakeven, while racking up substantial credit card debt to stay afloat!

Now, 23 years later, Wetherby Asset Management managed $4.5B of AUM for almost 500 clients, with 66 staff members. And Deb shares how the growth of the firm ultimately forced her to evolve from being “just” a financial advisor, into a leader of the business, with a primary focus on establishing and maintaining the culture of the firm. In fact, Deb has one of the most unique and intensive processes I’ve ever heard of, to both vet and onboard new team members – which she graciously shares in today’s podcasts.

So if you’re running a financial advisor firm and struggling with how to make sure your growing team is all marching to the same drummer, or simply aspire to grow a large advisory business in the future, I hope you enjoy this latest episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast!

Monday 23 January 2017

Three Tax Credits for Your Family

As parents, we work hard to provide our children with the best education, a roof to sleep under and food to eat every day. This valiant effort is not overlooked by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Here are some tax credits that are available when you prepare your tax return, that help you with the financial support of your home and children.

source http://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/tax-deductions-and-credits-2/three-tax-credits-for-your-family-12778/

E-File is Now Open: Why You Should File your Taxes Early

Today, January 23, the IRS officially kicked off the opening of the 2017 tax season, and is now accepting e-filed tax returns. However, as we all know, some taxpayers wait until last minute to file their taxes. But if you...

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source http://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/tax-news/e-file-is-now-open-why-you-should-file-your-taxes-early-21087/

5 Razones Para Comenzar Sus Impuestos Temprano

Hoy 23 de enero, el IRS da inicio a la temporada de impuestos 2017 y comienza a aceptar declaraciones de impuestos electrónicas. Sin embargo, todos sabemos que muchos contribuyentes esperan hasta el último minuto para declarar sus impuestos. Pero si...

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source http://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/tax-planning-2/5-razones-para-comenzar-sus-impuestos-temprano-29714/

The Bottom Dollar Effect And The Behavioral Advantage Of AUM Pricing Over Retainers

As financial advisors, we’re well aware that behavioral biases influence our clients’ decision making. However, it’s sometimes easy to forget that biases influence the consumption of financial planning services as well, which may have an impact on client satisfaction, retention, and our ability to grow and sustain our business.

In this guest post, Derek Tharp – our new Research Associate at Kitces.com, and a Ph.D. candidate in the financial planning program at Kansas State University – explores the “Bottom Dollar Effect” and its varying influence under different financial advisor business models.

The “Bottom Dollar Effect” refers to the tendency of consumers facing financial hardship to transfer negative emotions associated with their hardship onto the last few products or services that, at the margin, they perceive as straining their budget. The unfortunate consequence of this effect is that consumers may become dissatisfied with a purchase based not on their actual satisfaction with the goods or services purchased, but instead, on the timing of that purchase and the resources they happened to have available at that time.

Within the context of financial planning, various business models – from hourly or retainer fees, to charging on assets under management – possess different degrees of potential susceptibility to the Bottom Dollar Effect, driven primarily by the various “mental accounts” that client fees typically come out of. In addition to being highly salient and possessing some other negative behavioral characteristics, hourly fees are particularly prone to the Bottom Dollar Effect, as planning fees tend to be relatively large, irregular, and funded through current income (thus, more likely to strain a client’s budget). On the other hand, AUM fees have low susceptibility to the Bottom Dollar Effect, given that fees come out of a long-term mental account tied to a dedicated goal (retirement) that is insulated from current income fluctuations. Retainer fees vary in their susceptibility to the Bottom Dollar Effect based on their design, including especially their size relative to client’s income and net worth, and from what account(s) the fees are paid.

The fundamental point, though, is simply to understand that decisions about how to pay advisory fees are subject to behavioral biases as well, and those biases may influence both your ability to succeed as an advisor and your clients’ inclination to retain your services (particularly in bear markets, when they may need your help the most!). In order to maximize the chances of establishing a relationship that benefits both you and your clients long-term, behavioral biases – including the Bottom Dollar Effect – should not be ignored!

Saturday 21 January 2017

10 DAYS to the Self Assessment Tax Return Deadline!

There are just 10 days left in which to file your Self Assessment tax return with HMRC. Miss the deadline (11.59pm on 31st January 2017) and you'll straight away be in for a £100 fine from HRMC, so don't delay — contact Taxfile TODAY to book an appointment with one of our helpful tax advisors and accountancy experts. We'll make filling in and filing your tax return a breeze and what's more, we're currently open 6 DAYS A WEEK from now until the end of January (Saturday mornings by appointment). Don't leave it to the last minute, though, as there is always a bottleneck for those who do — so come in as early as you can this week. It doesn’t matter if you have zero tax to pay – you still need to submit your tax return on time! You also need to have paid HMRC any tax due for the 2015-16 financial year by the same 31 January deadline. So get our professional help with filing of your tax return — you can book an appointment online, drop by the Tulse Hill shop to book one, send us an email message via our contact form or, better still, simply call us on 0208 761 8000 and we'll book you in and help sort out your tax return accurately and on time. Don't delay — time is quickly slipping by!

source http://www.taxfile.co.uk/2017/01/days-to-tax-return-deadline/

Friday 20 January 2017

Weekend Reading for Financial Planners (Jan 21-22)

Enjoy the current installment of “weekend reading for financial planners” – this week’s edition kicks off with a flurry of news about the DoL fiduciary rule, including a letter from Senator Elizabeth Warren asking major financial institutions that have already been working to comply with the rule if they’re now willing to support it (since they’re already almost done implementing the necessary compliance processes), a major report from the Consumer Federation of American finding that 25 of the leading financial services firms are holding out to consumers that they provide advice as an “essential service” even as they content to regulators and the courts that they are merely in the business of selling products, and a review of the latest set of fiduciary rule FAQs released by the Department of Labor (which cleared a major concern about using fee-offset revenue-sharing arrangements in 401(k) plans).

From there, we have a few more articles delving deeper into the fiduciary rule as its applicability date looms, including: an analysis by Ron Rhoades of why ultimately most Financial Institutions will probably eschew the BICE rules and just become level fee fiduciaries using fee-based advisory accounts instead; criticism that the DoL still hasn’t sufficiently defined its “due diligence” expectations of how advisors should analyze the investments they’re recommending; and a look from Cliff Asness of AQR at some of the potential “unintended consequences” of the DoL fiduciary rule (such as whether in the long run, consumers will end out trusting financial advisors too much, let their guard down, and ultimately allow even more harm to be caused down the road).

There are also a couple of practice management articles this week, from a review of the record-breaking pace of mergers and acquisitions amongst RIAs last year (though the total number of deals is still miniscule relative to the total number of advisory firms), to a look at how 1/3rd of the major RIAs last year actually saw a decrease in AUM as retirement withdrawals and even client deaths of their baby-boomer-centric clientele are beginning to take a toll, and a discussion of the blocking point amongst advisory firm owners that will cause most of them to fail to achieve their own long-term vision for their business.

We wrap up with three interesting articles: the first is a discussion of whether investment managers, from mutual funds to even RIAs, should consider adopting “fulcrum fees” in lieu of the traditional AUM fee, as a way to better align the interests of the manager and the client; the second is a look at the research on why ethical people end out making unethical choices, and the recognition that it’s creating a toxic employee culture that is the most common driver of employees making “bad” decisions; and the last is an interesting discussion from Bob Veres that even as advisors who work at broker-dealers complain that the media is maligning them as salesperson (when they’re really trying to give advice and act in their clients’ best interests), it’s actually the broker-dealer companies themselves, and their lobbying organizations, who are stating to the regulators and the courts that their “advisors” are really just mere salespeople and not advisors (and thus contend they shouldn’t be held to a fiduciary duty)… which means if you’re at a broker-dealer and want to be recognized as an advisor, you’ll have to start by convincing your own company to truly recognize you as such!

Enjoy the “light” reading!

Thursday 19 January 2017

It’s National Get To Know Your Customers Day!

Today is National Get to Know Your Customers Day! Being self-employed has been a wonderful experience. I not only get to work from home and have more time for my family, but I also get to work with clients and customers...

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source http://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/self-employed/its-national-get-to-know-your-customers-day-25603/

When Do You Actually Have To Register As A Financial Advisor?

With more and more people looking to become a financial advisor – given both the rewarding nature of helping people and the income potential it brings – questions about when you actually have to register as a financial advisor are becoming more common. Does any financial advice trigger a requirement to register? What kind of license do you need to become a financial advisor? And can you wait until you get clients, before you go through the process?

In this week’s #OfficeHours with @MichaelKitces, my Tuesday 1PM EST broadcast via Periscope, we discuss the exact rules that determine when you have to get a license to become a financial advisor – or technically, to register as an investment adviser by creating an RIA and becoming an IAR (investment adviser representative) of that business.

The core requirement under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 is that it’s “being in the business of giving investment advice for compensation” that triggers the need to register. While there are forms of financial advice that may not require registration, such as “financial coaching”, the reality is, almost anyone who’s holding themselves out as a financial advisor – particularly as a CFP certificant – is likely giving some form of investment advice, and consequently will need to register.

Registration as an investment adviser can happen one of two ways: either registering with the primary state in which you do business, or registering with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). However, registering with the SEC requires a minimum of $100M of regulatory AUM, or doing business in 15+ states; as a result, most advisors just starting out will initially register the RIA at the state level, and then become an IAR (investment adviser representative) of that RIA.

Notably, though, to become an IAR, you must also pass the Series 65 exam (or have the Series 7 and 66 if you are coming from a broker-dealer). Most states will waive this requirement for those with an advanced certification such as the CFP, CFA, CHFC, or the AICPA’s PFS. But ultimately that means to get started, you must both pass the Series 65 exam (or possess one of the requisite designations), and go through the registration process.

And the registration process in the advisor’s home state itself should be done before actually going into business. As the financial advisor adds clients in other states, and crosses more than five clients (for most states), it’s also necessary to extend the registration in those states. But soliciting the first client requires the advisor to at least create the initial RIA in their home state, first.

Fortunately, it’s still fairly inexpensive to get up and running as a financial advisor (at least relative to the income potential it brings, and the cost of starting a business in other industries). However, that doesn’t mean it’s easy to make the transition – because the real challenge is not just the startup cost to become a financial advisor, but filling the “income gap” of launching a business with no clients or revenue, and needing to build up to the point where you can actually pay yourself a fair wage! On the other hand, in the long run, successful financial advisors still have the potential to make many times the average household income in the US!

Wednesday 18 January 2017

How Cutting Your Monthly Subscriptions Can Help You Save

No matter the time of year, it’s always smart to look at your budget to make sure it’s helping you reach your goals. If you’re looking for a painless way to save money every month, a good place to start is reviewing...

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source http://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/tax-planning-2/how-cutting-your-monthly-subscriptions-can-help-you-save-25550/

Social Security Full Retirement Age Increases For First Time Since 2005

Under the original rules for Social Security, workers upon reaching their “full retirement age” of 65 became eligible for a retirement benefit, with a slight increase in benefits if the worker delayed to as late as age 70. Later, prospective retirees also got the option to start benefits as early as age 62. Thus, under the current framework, those eligible for benefits can choose any starting age between 62 and 70, with an actuarial adjustment to benefits for starting earlier or later than full retirement age.

However, full retirement age itself is a moving target, as part of a multi-decade phased increase in the full retirement age from the original age 65, up to age 67 instead. For the past decade, upon reaching age 62, prospective retirees were all faced with a full retirement age of 66, but beginning in 2017, those turning age 62 this year are not actually eligible for full benefits at age 66. Instead, the full retirement age has shifted to age 66 and 2 months, and by 2022 will rise all the way to a full retirement age of 67 (for everyone born in 1960 or later).

Since the adjustment to full retirement age is based solely on birth year, the reality is that those who are impacted cannot necessarily “do” anything to change the outcome at this point – which is to effectively cause a slight decrease in the value of Social Security benefits, as the prospective retiree must wait a little longer to get the full benefit (or take a reduction to keep claiming it at the previous full retirement age of 66). Fortunately, the total reduction is barely more than a 1% haircut, growing to a maximum reduction of about 7% once the full retirement age shifts all the way to age 67.

And notably, while the full retirement age is now later – which means starting benefits at age 62 is “even earlier” and causes more of a reduction, while delaying until age 70 is “less” of a delay and doesn’t give as much of an increase – the relative value of delaying Social Security benefits isn’t substantively changed. For those who are optimistic about life expectancy, concerned about market returns, or wanting to hedge against inflation, the value of delaying Social Security remains about the same. However, because of how early benefit reductions are calculated for survivor benefits, the new rules actually do substantially reduce the value of delaying widow(er) benefits for surviving spouses – at least, if they’re not also facing the Social Security Earnings Test!

Tuesday 17 January 2017

2 WEEKS to the Self Assessment Tax Return Deadline!

There are only 2 weeks left in which to file your Self Assessment tax return with HMRC. Miss the deadline (11.59pm on 31st January 2017) and you'll straight away be in for a £100 fine from HRMC, so don't delay — contact Taxfile TODAY to book an appointment with one of our helpful tax advisors and accountancy experts. We'll make filling in and filing your tax return a breeze and what's more, we're currently open 6 DAYS A WEEK from now until the end of January (Saturday mornings by appointment). Don't leave it to the last minute, though, as there is always a bottleneck for those who do — so come in as early as you can this week. It doesn’t matter if you have zero tax to pay – you still need to submit your tax return on time! You also need to have paid HMRC any tax due for the 2015-16 financial year by the same 31 January deadline. So get our professional help with filing of your tax return — you can book an appointment online, drop by the Tulse Hill shop to book one, send us an email message via our contact form or, better still, simply call us on 0208 761 8000 and we'll book you in and help sort out your tax return accurately and on time. Don't delay — time is quickly slipping by!

source http://www.taxfile.co.uk/2017/01/2-weeks-to-the-tax-return-deadline/

#FASuccess Podcast Ep 003: Julie Littlechild On Becoming A More Referable Advisor

Episode 003 Julie Littlechild

Welcome back for the third episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast!

This week, we’re changing it up a little bit – rather than speaking with a financial advisor, my guest is Julie Littlechild, a speaker, writer, and researcher focused on understanding and improving financial advisors’ engagement with their teams and their clients. She is now the founder of Absolute Engagement, a firm that is conducting ongoing research into personal, client, and team engagement in advisory firms, and has also done extensive research on generating client referrals.

In this episode, Julie shares what she’s learned from her real-world research about what works – and what doesn’t – for financial advisors, including why asking clients for referrals is generally a terrible way to actually get referrals, and how to reposition yourself to become more referable. Julie also shares her research on how advisors can get more energized and re-engaged in their practices, and how her own experience of building and then selling her coaching business gave her perspective on the challenge of staying engaged in the business you’ve built.

So whether you’re a financial advisor trying to generate more and better client referrals, or feel like you’ve hit a wall and need to get re-energized in your own business, I hope you enjoy this latest episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast!

Monday 16 January 2017

The DoL Fiduciary Class Action Lawsuit That Will Really Transform Financial Advice

With the implementation date of the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule looming large in April, all attention has been focused on how financial advisors and their Financial Institutions are making adjustments to manage their compensation conflicts of interest, to avoid breaching the fiduciary’s fundamental duty of loyalty to act in the client’s best interests.

However, the reality is that being a fiduciary actually entails two core duties: the first is the duty of loyalty (to act in the client’s best interests), and the second is the duty of care (to provide diligent and prudent advice, and only in areas in which the advisor is competent to provide such advice). After all, a fiduciary obligation is relatively meaningless with only a duty of loyalty, if there’s no expectation of competency; otherwise, consumers would still be harmed by unwitting negligence, even if there was no intentional (or conflicted) self-enrichment.

And the distinction matters, because the Department of Labor’s Best Interests Contract Exemption attaches a fiduciary obligation to the Financial Institution itself, including the potential for a class action lawsuit against the institution for failing to meet its fiduciary obligations. Which means a Financial Institution could face a class action lawsuit not only for systemic breaches of the fiduciary duty of loyalty (e.g., by utilizing too much conflicted compensation), but also by systemically breaching the fiduciary duty of care but not sufficient training their advisors.

In other words, Financial Institutions face the risk that they will be sued in a class action lawsuit for failing to put their financial advisors through the training and education (e.g., professional designations) necessary to ensure that the advisor would even know what the “best” advice for the client was in the first place!

Unfortunately, right now there actually is no universally accepted minimum competency standard for financial advice (or in the case of DoL fiduciary, retirement advice), though certainly recognized rigorous designations that include both education and an advice process – such as the CFP Board’s CFP certification, and RIIA’s RMA designation – provide a likely path of safety for Financial Institutions. Which means in the coming year, there may soon be explosive growth in programs like the CFP and RMA, as Financial Institutions recognize and then try to minimize their exposure to a class action lawsuit for failing to meet the fiduciary duty of care.

Friday 13 January 2017

Real Talk Series: I Don’t Have Health Insurance, but I Can’t Afford a Penalty

Q. I missed the window to sign up for health insurance in 2016, and I can’t afford to pay the penalty. How will this affect my taxes? A. If you were unable to get 2016 health insurance and are worried...

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source http://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/health-care/real-talk-series-i-dont-have-health-insurance-but-i-cant-afford-a-penalty-25715/

Tips on Finding New Physicians if Your Insurance Changed This Year

If your insurance changed this year, you may be faced with finding new physicians. This can be especially wrenching if you have had seen doctors for a long time who know you and that you trust; however, you can ease...

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source http://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/health-care/tips-on-finding-new-physicians-if-your-insurance-changed-this-year-25542/

Weekend Reading for Financial Planners (Jan 14-15)

Enjoy the current installment of “weekend reading for financial planners” – this week’s edition kicks off with the SEC’s latest 2017 list of RIA exam priorities, which for the first time will explicitly include delving into so-called “electronic investment advice”, which appears to include both “robo” advisors, and heavily tech-automated human advice services (e.g., Vanguard Personal Advisor Services and the future Schwab Intelligent Advisory).

Also in the news this week is a lot of discussion of changing share classes for mutual funds and variable annuities, as the industry approaches the home stretch for the rollout of DoL fiduciary – including the rise of a new T-class mutual fund share that will likely replace A-shares together over time (with a uniform lower upfront commission across all types of funds), the decline and near disappearance of L-share variable annuities, and the emergence of a new I-share (advisory share class) variable annuity (which represented more than 50% of all new variable annuity filings last year).

From there, we have a few articles on practice management around the theme of hiring and retention, including a look at how it’s just as important to create a career development plan for employees as a financial plan for clients, a discussion of whether financial incentives are really an effective motivation (or not), and how crafting a bona fide career track is becoming essential for long-term employee retention.

There are also a couple of technical planning articles this week, including a discussion of why it is that almost no retiree can actually start Social Security right at age 62 (instead, it’s 62 and 1 month in most cases), the issues to consider when weighing an NUA distribution decision, and the role advisors can play in helping clients coordinate financial surrogates in the event of incapacity (given that more and more companies are coming up with their own process to name surrogates, which means there may be multiple people sharing the role with a ‘traditional’ attorney-in-fact under a durable Power of Attorney!), and what to watch out for regarding investment issues when reviewing a new client’s tax return.

We wrap up with three interesting articles on the theme of charity: the first is a look at how behavioral finance research is now being applied to our charitable giving (and finding that we can be just as irrational about our charitable endeavors as our investment portfolios!); the second delves into the reality that in some cases people give for bona fide charitable purposes, and in others it’s for social recognition, and while arguably the “true” measure of charity is whether you give so much you must actually make your own sacrifices, the more effectively a financial planner helps a client live modestly, the more room there is to give without further impinging on lifestyle; and the last is a look at the rise of pro bono financial planning in particular, with a growing number of financial planners engaging in such activities (often through local FPA chapter activities), and the rise of the Foundation for Financial Planning, a grant-making organization that supports pro bono financial planning primarily through donations from financial planners.

Enjoy the “light” reading!

Thursday 12 January 2017

Who Can I Claim As a Dependent?

The question “Who can I claim as my dependent?”, has remained a confusing topic for many taxpayers and an area where tax deductions are often missed or misstated on tax returns. Did you know, you may be able to claim...

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source http://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/tax-deductions-and-credits-2/family/who-can-i-claim-as-a-dependent-7658/

The 4 Different Types Of Fiduciary Financial Advisors

While the looming DoL fiduciary rule has heightened consumer awareness of the concept of fiduciary duty, the reality is that being a “fiduciary” (or not) isn’t actually a singular concept. While conceptually, it’s about acting in the interests of the client, and honoring the fiduciary duties of loyalty and care, not all regulators define (nor enforce) those terms consistently.

In this week’s #OfficeHours with @MichaelKitces, my Tuesday 1PM EST broadcast via Periscope, I explore four different types of financial advisor fiduciaries, including RIAs that are SEC fiduciaries, DoL fiduciaries serving retirement investors, CFP fiduciaries providing financial planning, and voluntary fiduciaries who decide to step up to honor private/third-party fiduciary standards.

One reason for varying fiduciary standards is the fact that different industry channels are regulated by different overseers – each of which defines fiduciary obligations in their own way. Registered Investment Advisers (RIAs) are overseen by the SEC and state regulators, which have both adopted a disclosure and transparency oriented approach to fiduciary duty, but only to investment advice and investment management. While the DoL fiduciary rule impacts anyone giving advice on retirement accounts (and not taxable investment accounts), but is more stringent in its limitations on conflict of interest. And the CFP Board requires that certificants often adhere to a fiduciary duty, but the requirement depends on specifically whether the certificant is actually doing “finanical planning” for a client.

And organizations with voluntary fiduciary standard for their advisor members – like NAPFA and the XY Planning Network – have their own definitions of when a fiduciary duty applies, and what conflicts are and aren’t permitted. In addition, RIAs who are struggling to differentiate as fiduciaries – now that DoL fiduciary will apply the rule to more advisors in the future – are looking to even more stringent versions of voluntary fiduciary rules, such as the new Fiduciary Registry from the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard, or CEFEX certification.

The bottom line, though, is simply that there are many different definitions of fiduciary duties, and two advisors who are both “fiduciaries” might still have very different fiduciary obligations. And unfortunately, given the research showing that consumers struggle even to understand the difference between fiduciary and suitability standards, it’s not likely most will grasp the nuances of the many different types of fiduciary duties anytime soon.

Wednesday 11 January 2017

How To Manage Your Self-Employment Deductions Year Round

It’s tax time once again, and now is the right time to manage your self-employment tax deductions for the year behind and, even better, also for the year ahead. The job of managing and tracking business deductions is a little...

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source http://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/self-employed/how-to-manage-your-self-employment-deductions-year-round-25589/

Squaring-The-Survival-Curve And What It Means For Retirement Planning

It’s become a well-recognized phenomenon that life expectancies are on the rise, and have been for more than a century now. For many, this leads to the “inevitable” conclusion that someday we’ll all be living to age 150 and beyond, and that we need to plan for drastically longer retirement time horizons – or even that retirement itself will be transformed (or become irrelevant) if medical breakthroughs allow us all to enjoy 100+ years of active lifestyles. However, a fresh look at the data reveals that this may not actually be the likely outcome.

In this guest post, Derek Tharp – our new Research Associate at Kitces.com, and a Ph.D. candidate in the financial planning program at Kansas State University – delves into the nuances behind the changes in mortality rates over the past century and in recent decades, and what they imply about the future.

Because the interesting phenomenon of recent advances in life expectancy in particular is that while overall life expectancies have been rising, most of the gains are attributable to people living closer to the maximum human lifespan (rising up towards about 115 years), and not as much from increases in the maximum age itself. And in the past two decades, the empirical data suggests that the maximum lifespan of human beings has stopped increasing altogether, peaking out around age 115. As a result, future medical advances may simply make us more and more likely to live to that maximum age, but there’s little evidence to suggest that anyone is ever going to live to 150 and beyond… a phenomenon known as “squaring the (survival) curve”.

The significance of rising life expectancy being due primarily to an increasing likelihood of living to maximum age, but not increasing the maximum age itself, is that retirement planning may need to adjust for a longer active phase of life… or more pessimistically, for prolonged periods of substandard health as what might have killed us in the past now simply slows us down! The potential for continued squaring the curve may also dramatically change the pricing and even the relevance of various types of insurance products, as long term care insurance becomes less necessary (if we’re healthy for more of our lifespan), and annuity mortality credits become less available (because people die close together at the end of their maximum lifespan).

But the fundamental point is simply to understand that the ongoing rise in life expectancies doesn’t necessarily mean that someday everyone is going to live to age 150 and beyond. It may simply mean that more of us will live to approach what appears to be a “maximum” human lifespan around age 115… and in fact, recent shifts in who is living longer (and who is not) suggests that we may have already hit that longevity wall.

Tuesday 10 January 2017

Nyc Estate Tax Expert

It’s that time of year to prepare your income taxes. We enjoy giving recommendations to tax experts we’ve had success with. John Slattery & Company in Pearl River is a year-round tax preparation company, with all taxes prepared by an enrolled agent – a tax pro licensed by the IRS. Call J. Slattery & Company today 845.735.2511 or visit on the web at: http://www.slattax.com

source https://slattax.wordpress.com/2017/01/10/nyc-estate-tax-expert/

Taxes Done Smarter, Together

When it comes to your taxes, “do it yourself” doesn’t mean you’re alone. Today, TurboTax announced it’s getting even more personal with its expert human help on-demand where you can get assistance through a one-way video connection to a live...

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source http://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/turbotax-news/taxes-done-smarter-together-25596/

#FASuccess Podcast: How Ron Carson Built Carson Wealth & Carson Institutional

Episode 002 Ron Carson

Welcome to the second episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

In this episode, I spoke to Ron Carson, a veritable legend in the world of financial planning. Not only has he been the top-ranked advisor at LPL for 25 years running(!), and is regularly recognized at the top of lists like Barron’s for the size of his advisory business Carson Wealth, but Ron is also the founder of the Peak Advisor Alliance, and Carson Institutional… in addition to founding his own charitable endeavor, the Dreamweaver Foundation.

It’s taken Ron considerable energy and determination to get where he is today, and this interview sheds light on all the hard work he’s done to build such an impressive career. While it may seem like successful people simply spring into existence, I hope these interviews show you that all financial advisors, even those who have been incredible successful, still struggle at times.

And Ron Carson is no exception. In this episode, Ron talks candidly about his humble beginnings and the moment of physical, emotional, and professional burnout – when he was about to give up after failing to break $30,000 of GDC after six years – and how the actions he took in his moment of desperation actually turned into his career-making opportunity. He also shares the mistakes he’s made along the way, including his slow adoption of technology, and struggles to delegate and invite other (über-talented) people into his business’s inner circle. We also discuss Ron’s thoughts on making your employees into shareholders, how he juggles the advising, mentoring, and charitable businesses he’s founded over the years, and more!

I hope you enjoy this second episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast! Please share your comments here on the blog of what you think, and I hope you’ll leave us a review on iTunes as well (which is important as iTunes looks to reviews to decide which podcasts to make most visible for other financial advisors who are searching!).

Monday 9 January 2017

Nyc Tax Accountant

It’s that time of year to prepare your income taxes. We enjoy giving recommendations to nyc tax experts we’ve had success with. John Slattery & Company in Pearl River is a full-time tax preparation company, with all taxes prepared by an e.a. – a tax pro licensed by the IRS. Call J. Slattery & Company today 845-735-2511 or visit them online at: http://www.slattax.com

source https://slattax.wordpress.com/2017/01/09/nyc-tax-accountant/

The Latest In Financial Advisor #FinTech (January 2017)

Welcome to the January issue of the latest news in Financial Advisor #FinTech – where we look at the big news, announcements, and underlying trends and developments that are emerging in the world of technology solutions for financial advisors and wealth management!

This month’s edition kicks off with the big news of the early 2017 rollout of Schwab Intelligent Advisory, a new service that was initially dubbed another “robo” but in reality is a financial advice solution powered by human CFPs who will simply leverage MoneyGuidePro financial planning software and virtual client meetings using telephone, video chat, and email to service clients… but at a “robo” price of just 28bps with a $25,000 minimum. The new Schwab Intelligent Advisory service is likely intended as a play to capture mass affluent consumers as the DoL fiduciary rule impacts and disrupts at least some broker-dealers… but in the process may also pose a serious competitive threat to the independent RIA community, including a large number of advisory firms that currently custody their assets at Schwab!

From there, the latest highlights also include:

Smarsh acquires MobileGuard to expand their text message compliance archiving services.
eMoney Advisor launches a new data gathering and client onboarding solution, threatening independent players like PreciseFP.
Orion Advisor Services launches a fee benchmarking tool to help advisors substantiate their pricing as “reasonable compensation” under DoL fiduciary.
Finicity raises a $42M Series B to expand their account aggregation capabilities after completing the takeover of the old Intuit Financial Data API.
Blucora’s Tax Act partners with Legg Mason’s robo-advisor Financial Guard.
Personal Capital blows through its VC growth targets and earns its remaining Series E ahead of schedule.
Will digitization of financial advisor business metrics eventually create fully automated tools to provide advisory firm valuations?

You can view analysis of these announcements, and more trends in advisor technology, in this month’s column, including a look at the new national sponsorship arrangement between the FPA and Betterment for Advisors, how XTiva is trying to create a marketplace for enterprise “sales management” solutions for wealth management firms, and the recent rollouts of TD Ameritrade’s new VEO One platform and Envestnet’s new Yodlee app for Tamarac advisors to turn their portfolio accounting client portal into a fully holistic performance financial management dashboard for clients.

I hope you’re continuing to find this new column on financial advisor technology to be helpful! Please share your comments at the end and let me know what you think!

*And for #AdvisorTech companies who want to submit their tech announcements for consideration in future issues, please submit to TechNews@kitces.com!

Sunday 8 January 2017

Bergen County Tax Expert

It’s that time of year to prepare your income taxes. We enjoy giving recommendations to tax experts we’ve had success with. John Slattery & Company in Pearl River is a full-time bergen county tax preparation company, with all taxes prepared by an enrolled agent – a tax pro licensed by the IRS. Call J. Slattery & Company today (845)735-2511 or visit them online at: http://www.slattax.com

source https://slattax.wordpress.com/2017/01/08/bergen-county-tax-expert/

New York City Irs Expert

It’s that time of year to prepare your income taxes. We enjoy giving recommendations to tax experts we’ve had success with. John Slattery & Company in Pearl River is a year-round tax preparation company, with all taxes prepared by an enrolled agent – a tax pro licensed by the IRS. Call J. Slattery & Company today 845-735-2511 or visit on the web at: http://www.slattax.com

The post New York City Irs Expert appeared first on Slattax.com | Irs Problems & Tax Preparers.

Source: http://www.slattax.com/new-york-city-irs-expert/

source https://slattax.wordpress.com/2017/01/08/new-york-city-irs-expert/

Self-Employed? Don’t Forget About the Estimated Tax Deadline

Perhaps you’ve taken the plunge into self-employment and added the luxury of being your own boss and working at your home office. Whether you’re working as a contractor or making money in the fast-growing sharing economy don’t forget you may...

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source http://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/self-employed/self-employed-dont-forget-about-the-estimated-tax-deadline-19852/

Saturday 7 January 2017

Rockland County Enrolled Agent

Soon it will be time to prepare your income taxes. We enjoy giving recommendations to tax experts we’ve had success with. J. Slattery & Company in Pearl River is a year-round tax preparation company, with all taxes prepared by an e.a. – a tax pro licensed by the IRS. Call J. Slattery & Company today (845)735-2511 or visit on the web at: http://www.slattax.com

source https://slattax.wordpress.com/2017/01/07/rockland-county-enrolled-agent/

What To Expect When You’re Expecting…a Tax Refund

Ready for your tax refund? You’re not alone! Close to 75% of taxpayers received a federal tax refund close to $2,800 last year! TurboTax is now accepting tax returns, which means you’re one step closer to receiving your maximum tax...

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source http://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/tax-refunds/what-to-expect-when-youre-expectinga-tax-refund-20980/

Friday 6 January 2017

Are Your New Year’s Resolutions Tax Deductible?

It’s the new year, and many of us are looking forward to accomplishing something new in 2017. Some of the most common resolutions include: Lose Weight Get Out Off Debt Learn Something New Travel More Volunteer All of these goals have something...

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source http://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/tax-deductions-and-credits-2/are-your-new-years-resolutions-tax-deductible-20949/

Congers Tax Preparer

Soon it will be time to prepare your income taxes. We enjoy giving recommendations to tax experts we’ve had success with. J. Slattery & Company in Pearl River is a year-round congers tax preparer company, with all taxes prepared by an enrolled agent – a tax pro licensed by the IRS. Call J. Slattery & Company today 845.735.2511 or visit them online at: http://www.slattax.com

source https://slattax.wordpress.com/2017/01/06/congers-tax-preparer/

Weekend Reading for Financial Planners (Jan 7-8)

Enjoy the current installment of “weekend reading for financial planners” – this week’s edition kicks off with the news that President-Elect Trump has selected Wall Street attorney Jay Clayton to take over as Commissioner of the SEC for Mary Jo White… signaling a potential shift of the SEC’s focus away from rulemaking and enforcement, and putting into doubt whether the SEC is likely (or not) to move forward on its own fiduciary rule in the coming years.

Also in the news this week is progress from the Department of Labor to carve out a Financial Institution exemption for IMOs to qualify for the Best Interest Contract and oversee independent annuity agents selling indexed annuities, and a new study from Cerulli finding that despite their tech-savvy inclinations, younger consumers are actually the most likely to be willing to pay for financial advice (but still necessitating a different business and service model than the traditional AUM-centric comprehensive-wealth-management approach used for retirees).

From there, we have a number of articles on marketing and business development this week, including: how to make 2017 the year you generate a better “return on effort” by better focusing your marketing activities; the importance of managing your digital first impression to prospects who check you out online; the core information than any/every financial advisor website must convey to prospects (but most don’t); how a “Now” page on your website can help humanize you and make a better connection to prospects; a study that found the fastest-growing RIAs really are more likely to effectively check the boxes on digital marketing strategies; and a look at how many advisors may be self-sabotaging by separating “business and friendship” when in reality they should focus on conveying their passion and let friends and colleagues who want help come to them and work together.

We wrap up with three interesting articles: the first is a call from Don Trone of 3Ethos to the CFP Board to stop holding out as a fiduciary champion when the CFP Board’s practice standards still allow many CFP certificants to avoid a fiduciary duty, and the organization’s opaque governance and limitations on its own accountability make it look hypocritical in calling for higher standards for advisors; the second is a look at how the world of mutual funds also faces an odd double-standard, where 401(k) plan administrators can be sued for using high-cost mutual funds that they don’t even profit from, but the mutual fund companies themselves face no accountability for trying to sell those high-cost funds in the first place; and the last is a fascinating look from the Wall Street Journal at the evolution of the 401(k) plan, and how even its original creators are not happy with how the 401(k) plan has largely replaced the defined contribution pension plans it was originally supposed to just supplement.

And for those who may be interested, at the end you can check out what I’ve done to implement my own New Year’s Resolution to get healthier in 2017 – by supplementing my existing standing desk with a new under-desk treadmill. In fact, all the background articles for this week’s Weekend Reading were curated for you as I walked (in place) for several miles while reading and typing!

Enjoy the “light” reading, and I hope you had a safe and happy New Year!

Westchester County Enrolled Agent

It’s that time of year to prepare your income taxes. We enjoy giving recommendations to tax experts we’ve had success with. John Slattery & Company in Pearl River is a full-time tax preparation company, with all taxes prepared by an e.a. – a tax pro licensed by the IRS. Call J. Slattery & Company today (845)735-2511 or visit on the web at: http://www.slattax.com #westchestercounty #enrolled agent

The post Westchester County Enrolled Agent appeared first on Slattax.com | Irs Problems & Tax Preparers.

Source: http://www.slattax.com/westchester-county-enrolled-agent/

source https://slattax.wordpress.com/2017/01/06/westchester-county-enrolled-agent/

New Year, New Tax Implications

Happy New Year! Although it’s a brand new year not much has changed in tax laws for 2016 taxes. What may have changed for you are life changes like having a baby, a new job, or moving. Along with a...

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source http://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/tax-planning-2/new-year-new-tax-implications-25540/

Manhattan Tax Accountant

It’s that time of year to prepare your income taxes. We enjoy giving recommendations to tax experts we’ve had success with. John Slattery & Company in Pearl River is a year-round tax preparation company, with all taxes prepared by an e.a. – a tax pro licensed by the IRS. Call J. Slattery & Company today 845-735-2511 or visit them online at: http://www.slattax.com

The post Manhattan Tax Accountant appeared first on Slattax.com | Irs Problems & Tax Preparers.

Source: http://www.slattax.com/manhattan-tax-accountant/

source https://slattax.wordpress.com/2017/01/06/manhattan-tax-accountant/

NYC Tax Expert

It’s that time of year to prepare your income taxes. We enjoy giving recommendations to tax experts we’ve had success with. John Slattery & Company in Pearl River is a year-round tax preparation company, with all taxes prepared by an enrolled agent – a tax pro licensed by the IRS. Call J. Slattery & Company today (845)735-2511 or visit them online at: http://www.slattax.com

The post NYC Tax Expert appeared first on Slattax.com | Irs Problems & Tax Preparers.

Source: http://www.slattax.com/nyc-tax-expert/

source https://slattax.wordpress.com/2017/01/06/nyc-tax-expert/

Thursday 5 January 2017

Suffern Income Taxes

Soon it will be time to prepare your income taxes. We enjoy giving recommendations to tax experts we’ve had success with. J. Slattery & Company in Pearl River is a full-time tax preparation company, with all taxes prepared by an enrolled agent – a tax pro licensed by the IRS. Call J. Slattery & Company today 845.735.2511 or visit on the web at: http://www.slattax.com

source https://slattax.wordpress.com/2017/01/05/suffern-income-taxes/

Create A Stop Doing List To Start Growing Again In 2017

Time management is crucial, as we’re all limited by the same 24 hours in a day and 168 hours in a week. The challenge, however, is that even knowing time management is important, sometimes you don’t even realize there’s a problem until it’s too late. Like the analogy of the boiled frog, that will just sit in a pot of cool water that heats gradually until it boils itself to death (never realizing the growing threat), the slow and steady accumulation of clients can mean that we overburden ourselves too slowly to realize we need to something about it, until by the end we’re buried and it feels like there isn’t even enough time to fix the problem!

In this week’s #OfficeHours with @MichaelKitces, my Tuesday 1PM EST broadcast via Periscope, I share my number one tip for getting “unstuck” in the New Year if you’ve hit the wall: create a “Stop Doing” list!

As contrasted with a “To-Do” list of things that must be done, a “Stop-Doing” list tells us things we should not be getting done. Or at least, not be personally doing anymore. In other words, it’s about making a commitment to creating free time by literally not doing as much as you have in the past.

So how do you figure out what goes onto a Stop-Doing list? The easiest way it to simply list out all of the tasks you do routinely and repeatedly… and then figure out how to stop doing them and instead delegate them to someone else.

Unfortunately, delegation itself is hard. But an easy way to delegate repetitive tasks in particular is through the use of screencasting software. You simply need to identify a task you complete repeatedly, record yourself doing it while talking through each of the steps, and then give someone else the video to use as a guide! It’s a way to train on how to do a delegated task, in no more time than it takes to just do it anyway (but you’ll never have to do it again!).

For the tasks that are less repetitive and require more expertise, you can look to hire outside professionals to free up more of your time. Because the reality is that you can’t be the best at everything in a business. Focus on the most important revenue-generating (e.g., client-facing) responsibilities, and let go of the rest. Fortunately for advisors, a whole range of services providers are cropping up that specialize in allowing advisors to outsource certain business activities.

The bottom line, though, is that good time management is about saying “No”. Whether that means saying “No” to repetitive tasks you can delegate, or “No” to less value-adding responsibilities you can outsource (or just let go of altogether), creating a “Stop-Doing” list for 2017 may be one of the most effective ways to gain control over your schedule again!

Rockland County Tax Accountant

Soon it will be time to prepare your income taxes. We enjoy giving recommendations to tax experts we’ve had success with. J. Slattery & Company in Pearl River is a year-round tax preparation company, with all taxes prepared by an enrolled agent – a tax pro licensed by the IRS. Call J. Slattery & Company today 845-735-2511 or visit them online at: http://www.slattax.com

The post Rockland County Tax Accountant appeared first on Slattax.com | Irs Problems & Tax Preparers.

Source: http://www.slattax.com/rockland-county-tax-accountant/

source https://slattax.wordpress.com/2017/01/05/rockland-county-tax-accountant/

Wednesday 4 January 2017

Why Shop in the Health Insurance Marketplace?

By law, most Americans who go without health insurance even when they can afford coverage must pay a penalty when they file their federal tax returns. Most people (about 80% of Americans) already have health insurance either through their employer,...

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source http://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/health-care/why-shop-in-the-health-insurance-marketplace-2-21031/