Tax credits for homebuyers: the downside of stimulus – CSMonitor.com.

Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, has an interesting article here:

How To Survive – and Thrive – During a Downturn : Innovation :: American Express OPEN Forum.

One of his comments is that “an ailing business can be saved simply by reducing waste and using energy more efficiently.”  This seems like a gross oversimplification.  Yet, every company does suffer from some sort of waste.  In these tough times, it makes sense for small business owners to take a hard look at their businesses and see if there is some way to increase efficiencies and eliminate waste.

In less than 4 months, the Bush tax cuts will expire, causing some pain to just about every American taxpayer.  There are arguments for and against allowing these cuts to expire.  Here’s a sampling of the latest:

Cantor: Beware of the Obama tax increases – USATODAY.com.

120 Days to Go Until the Largest Tax Hikes in History.

Pence says Republican majority would move first to extend Bush tax cuts – The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room.

More Dems buck plan to let taxes increase for rich.

This is the 60-second “infomercial” I gave on Thursday, September 2nd, to my BNI chapter, Atlantic Referral Exchange, of Lynn, MA:

I am Stuart Goldman, a CPA with an office in Swampscott.  I specialize in helping small business owners and individual taxpayers pay the lowest amount of tax allowed by law.

I have a confession to make.  I don’t know all the tax laws.  In fact, I probably know only a fraction of all the laws, regulations and tax cases that change every day.  But I know the most important tax laws and I know how to apply them.

This came into play the other day when I met with a woman who had some tax questions.  She was buying a house and wanted to know the impact this would have on her tax return.  I reviewed her last year’s tax returns, crunched a few numbers, and told her exactly what her tax savings would be.  People with tax questions are great referrals for me.  For a small fee, I can lead them down the road to big tax savings.

I am Stuart Goldman, CPA, and I make accounting less taxing.

About the Author

By Rieva Lesonsky

Are entrepreneurs financial risk-takers? Conventional wisdom says yes, but a recent research report from the Kauffman Foundation,Business Owners, Financial Risk, and Wealth, suggests otherwise.

Author Tami Gurley-Calvez studied 1989 to 2007 data from the Federal Reserve Board, Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) to research three questions:

1.) Are business owners generally more or less financially conservative than their non-business-owning counterparts?

2.) Do business owners accumulate more wealth?

3.) Do business owners hold a smaller share of their financial assets in risky stock holdings?

While entrepreneurs are typically portrayed as financial risk-takers, Gurley-Calvez found that when it comes to saving and borrowing, they are actually more conservative than non-business owners. For instance, 45 percent of business owners said it was important to them to save for retirement; just 32 percent of non-business owners said the same. In addition, business owners were focused on saving for the long term; they were more likely than non-business owners to say their savings horizon was five or more years in the future.

Finally, whether investing, saving or borrowing, business owners were more thorough than non-business owners in investigating their financial options. Ninety-one percent said they spent a “moderate” amount of time or more shopping for the best investment or borrowing terms; just 82 percent of non-business owners said the same.

Business owners accumulate more wealth over time than non-business owners. But although business owners showed more willingness to assume above-average risk in return for financial gain, in reality, both business owners and non-business owners invested similar shares of their portfolios in safe assets.

Business owners were less likely to say that an important reason for saving is having liquid cash available. However, they were substantially more likely than non-business owners to say they could borrow $3,000 from family or friends if needed.

They are also more likely to borrow from other sources. In the past five years, 84 percent of business owners had applied for a loan, compared to just 64 percent of non-business owners. And only 23 percent of them had been declined, compared to 31 percent of non-business owners.

Gurley-Calvez thinks perhaps the reason business owners aren’t so concerned with liquidity is that they have “a stronger financial safety net.” Compared to non-business owners, business owners seem to have more financial resources available to them—meaning that what others perceive as “risky” does not seem that way to them.

Rieva Lesonsky is President and Founder of GrowBiz Media, a content and consulting company that helps entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses. A nationally known speaker and authority on entrepreneurship, Rieva has been covering America ‘s entrepreneurs for nearly 30 years. She blogs at SmallBizDaily.

Graduate school can be a tempting option when the job market makes it difficult to find a good job or advance in your current job.  However, grad schools are quite expensive and the end result of all that work could be a mountain of debt and career stalemate.  Read more from this recent New York Times article by Samantha Stainburn:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/education/edlife/26spending-t.html

Thank you for visiting my Blog.   I maintain my blog for my clients as a way to get to know more than the professional side of whom I am.  I invite you to explore the blog to find out more about my perspective on life and the things that are important to me.  Feel free also to leave me a comment.  Thanks again.