An essential part of financial planning begins with ascertaining your resources, debt, and dreams for life, which is the basis for financial goal setting. The best advice for setting long-range financial goals is to start early to have the most time to achieve them. But what about short and mid-range goals?

Even though we don’t like to talk about it, our finances and money management habits are a primary way to ensure economic security - or the lack of it - for ourselves, our families,  and retirement. Let’s look at the time-honored practices of good money management and how to use them effectively to create a bright and comfortable financial future.

Ben Franklin said, “A penny saved is a penny earned.” Translated: use smart tax planning to help build wealth. In even more straightforward terms, the more you control and limit the amount of taxes you pay, the more resources you’ll have in the future for your life and your family’s. Keeping what you earn to the best of your ability will help you save income, grow investments and ultimately build wealth.

Most business owners are familiar with financial planning. It makes sense to formulate a vision for your personal or company goals and how to achieve them. Financial planning deals with how resources are acquired and leveraged to reach those goals. Strategic tax planning, though different, is just as important. Strategic tax planning should go hand-in-hand with financial planning.

Many people think of spring as a special time for getting your income tax refund. We dream about how we want to spend it all year, on anything from a vacation to splurging on an expensive item we couldn’t usually afford. And why not? It’s an unexpected windfall from the government, right?

Unless your industry was one of the few that were helped by the 2020 pandemic, your small business has likely experienced financial and other difficulties and may still struggle. With all the economic upheaval, social movement, government programs, executive orders, and administrative changes still going on, it may be difficult to estimate your company’s 2021 budget needs and expectations.

If you are new to owning rental properties, you might have many questions about your investment’s tax implications. You could file a few different tax forms, with differing purposes, depending on the actual services you supply. There are also several other considerations regarding rental tax filing and amounts due.

The end of one year and the beginning of the next should always prompt small business owners to think about their business resolutions for the coming year. This is true for 2021 more than any other recent year, after enduring what 2020 brought. These six resolutions not only apply to most small businesses for the coming year but are useful for years to come.

The year 2020 was a topsy-turvy year, financially, for most Americans. Some were able to continue working and earning with little or no interruption, while at the other end of the spectrum, some lost their livelihoods. Some were ineligible for unemployment and many others landed somewhere in between. Whatever your situation, this would be the year to start your tax preparation early with a virtual consultation and planning meeting.

Scams by phone or email have been around for years. With COVID-19 dominating 2020, scammers have become more creative and relentless. Between online shopping and year-end fundraising, the season will almost certainly include attempts by scammers to get your money.