How Reducing Your Taxes Can Prepare You For an Audit

Posted on March 31, 2023 by schatzi

Another big reason many people dread the tax return process is the fear of an audit.

I’ve seen people give up thousands in LEGAL tax savings in an effort to hopefully reduce their audit risk, and many times at the advice of their own tax preparer!

I regularly have new clients tell me their prior tax preparer told them not to take a particular deduction because the deduction wasn’t worth the audit risk.

I’m always shocked when I hear a tax preparer recommends not taking a legal tax deduction because of the risk of audit. Why? Because when done right, identifying legal tax reduction opportunities can help you prepare for an audit.

How Reducing Your Taxes Can Prepare You for Audit

When I work with clients to create and implement a tax strategy, the result is legally reducing their taxes, but the process includes several steps that actually help them prepare for an audit at the same time.

Here are a few examples.

Understanding and Following the Rules

One way I identify tax savings is by looking at where my clients spend their money. By doing this, I can identify expenses they already incur and determine how to make them legally deductible.

In order to make these expenses legal tax deductions, I work with my clients to make sure they understand the rules they need to follow.

For example, if my client has a home office, we go through the home office rules. By making sure the rules are followed, I’m not only making sure my client qualifies for the deduction, but that they know how to document the deduction.

The better the documentation, the greater the tax savings. AND, the better the documentation, the more prepared they are for an audit!

Staying Up to Date on New Tax Law

Whether I’m creating, maintaining or updating a tax strategy, it’s critical to make sure the strategy accounts for changes in the tax law. Any time there are changes in the tax law, it’s an opportunity to identify more ways to legally reduce your taxes.

Staying up to date with tax law changes helps my clients make the necessary changes to their tax strategies which also helps them be better prepared for an audit.

A new tax law was passed last week to help jumpstart business hiring and spending – the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act.

The HIRE Act provides for payroll tax forgiveness and an employer tax credit of up to $1,000 for qualified new hires. It also extends enhanced Code Sec. 179 small business expenses.

What You Can Do Right Now

I find that those who know the rules are most successful at reducing their taxes. If you position yourself to be audit ready all the time, it’s possible to reduce your taxes – legally!

Posted in Tax | Tagged | Comments Off on How Reducing Your Taxes Can Prepare You For an Audit

If You Want to Invest in Real Estate – Find Your Local Real Estate Investment Association!

Posted on March 30, 2023 by schatzi

Enter the phrase “real estate investing association” followed by any city into your favorite online search engine and you are bound to get a flood of returns. You will find associations that meet in person, some that meet online, others that are simply designed to deliver information and opportunities for investors. No matter what the alternatives are in your area, if you are going to invest in real estate, this is a first step you must take.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF REAL ESTATE INVESTORS ASSOCIATION?

Most real estate associations are organized and operated by local real estate investors. Some are set up as for-profit entities and others are set up as nonprofits. The biggest difference between the set ups is the quality of the content and the dedication of the operators. In a for-profit situation, the operators of the association are using the club as an opportunity to connect with local, experienced investors and first timers who are interested in getting started. The content is usually very good, but will often times be reserved only for those who are paying customers. Their topics tend to be universal in nature and not just reserved for a particular area. They also attract big name speakers and their talks can come with either additional costs or product pitches to help pay for the expense of bringing in high profile speakers. Many of these types of clubs have multiple meeting times and multiple functions each month designed to help every level of investor.

Nonprofits tend to be only slightly less organized, but they do have very good material. Usually the material is presented by local investors and not top-notch national speakers as they tend to be too expensive. Another bonus for nonprofit associations is that they tend to have presenters who are actively investing in a community or local leaders such as banks, insurance agents and even real estate agents who are able to present on more localized topics.

A new phenomenon is the online association that is still designed for a particular area. The nice thing about a group like this is that even in your own home, you are able to join in on discussions, participate in online presentations and interact with other investors in your community. These types of groups tend to be very free-flowing with a lot of local topics and discussion from multiple sources. A downfall of online groups is the lack of a moderator to screen discussion and as a participant you must be aware that not all advice comes from experienced, active investors.

WHY JOIN A LOCAL REAL ESTATE INVESTORS ASSOCIATION?

The benefits for an investor when they join a local real estate investors association are many, but can definitely vary from one organization to another. The biggest benefit with any such organization is the opportunity to surround yourself with like minded individuals who can assist you with your success. Even if you are only able to make one good contact that you would not have had otherwise, the return on your investment in time and money can be enormous.

Most beginner investment books discuss the concept of team building and developing a group of individuals that handle all of your essential services. Local real estate investors associations is the location where you can find all of the resources and team members you could possibly need and as you get to know these possible team members through the meetings, you can decide which will fit best on your team. This allows you to interview and interact with all the essential team members before you do any deals.

The second biggest benefit after surrounding yourself with like minded individuals and possible team members is the access you gain to knowledge and experience. For investment associations that meet live, the atmosphere that is created in a live setting cannot be denied. The opportunity to hear from other investors and the mistakes that they have made in the past as well as the successes that they have had is invaluable. I have belonged to five different real estate investors associations in the past and have not only met great individuals, but have been greatly inspired and motivated by the stories and opportunities they presented.

Finally, the training you can receive at a local real estate investors association is very important. Most organizations have designated classes or presentations geared toward new investors that are meant as pure education platforms. No selling is involved in these types of classes. Most have question and answer sessions for you to get advice and to hear the questions of other investors.

Regardless of the type of organization you can join, it is vital to the success of most beginner investors that they join an organization and begin to network with other investors. It speeds the learning curve and can greatly reduce the number of mistakes a new investor may make.

RESOURCES FOR REAL ESTATE INVESTOR ASSOCIATIONS

As I mentioned early in the article, you can use your preferred search engine to search for “real estate investor associations” and you are going to get hundreds of returns from online organizations which are great resources of information. But if you want to really expand and network, you are going to have to search locally and add the name of you the nearest city to your search. Memphis as an example has two organizations that meet in person and each are nonprofits. One hosts a monthly night meeting and the other hosts a monthly lunch meeting. There is also an online association in Memphis that ties investors from all over back to their investments in Memphis. So an investor looking for an association to join in Memphis will find at least three good alternatives. Most likely, that will be the case in any major metropolitan area.

Once you decide to get started in real estate investing, search for and find the groups. From there, it is up to you to take the next step and join!

Posted in Real Estate | Tagged | Comments Off on If You Want to Invest in Real Estate – Find Your Local Real Estate Investment Association!

3 HARD Truths About Article Marketing That Just Might Turn You Off It

Posted on March 29, 2023 by schatzi

When it comes to generating leads online you need to choose a marketing strategy in order to drive traffic to your capture pages.

If you’ve done any research into online marketing strategies I’m sure you would have come across article marketing.

Well before you decide to try your hand at this marketing strategy I want to reveal the HARD truth so you know what you’re getting yourself into.

3 Hard Truths About Article Marketing That Just Might Turn You Off It

1 – No Leads Overnight

When it comes to article marketing the reality is that it takes time to see results, you need to be consistent with writing articles on a daily basis or every other day at least.

You need to think of your articles like little fish hooks that you set out in “Internet Land” just waiting to capture your target fish (Leads).

The more hooks you set out (Articles You Write) the more opportunities you have of capturing your desired amount of fish (Leads).

2 – You Need to Work

Article marketing is definitely a marketing strategy that puts the work back into “Work From Home” because like I said, you need to consistently be writing articles in order to set your hooks.

But before you even start writing your articles you need to define your target market, so you need to do some keyword research to see what people are searching for that way you can tailor your articles to your prospects specific needs.

This is where you can incorporate some SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and get your articles ranked on the first page of the search engines that way when your target market is doing some research on the internet your articles will pop up in front of them (In A Perfect World).

Again this all takes work so if you decide to use article marketing as one of your marketing strategies just realize that you need to get busy.

3 – Need to Mix Creative Writing with Copy Writing

Needless to say when you’re writing articles specifically for marketing purposes you need to be creative with your writing and always have an end goal in mind.

So if your end goal was to have your reader get to the end of your article and click the link in the resource box to go through to your capture page, then you need to write an entertaining enough article for your reader to read it to the end all the while enticing them to click the link to your capture page.

Article marketing requires a blend of creativity and copywriting for it to be an effective marketing strategy for you.

There you have it, three hard truths about article marketing that just might scare the majority of you away from actually implementing article marketing into your business.

For those if you who are up for a challenge and don’t mind working for a result then a good article marketing campaign will reward you beyond measure.

Because once you have done the consistent work and set your hooks out into the “Internet Land” targeting your specific market you have the ability to generate FREE leads all day long whether you do any marketing for that day, week or even month.

Writing articles will allow you to have pure leverage in your business because it creates residual traffic, leads, and with the right sales funnel residual income.

Posted in Markets | Tagged | Comments Off on 3 HARD Truths About Article Marketing That Just Might Turn You Off It

Cash Loans for Car Titles: Quick Cash When You Need It

Posted on March 28, 2023 by schatzi

Cash loans for car titles are offered by various banks and other financial establishments that are used to appeal to customers and offer them a different kind of loan. These special loans offer various options to customers that are very different than other kinds of loans that are offered. These loans allow you to receive a cash loan in return for the title to your car and you receive the title back only after repaying the loan.

How Do Cash Loans for Car Titles Work?

Cash loans for car titles are usually only short-term loans and the general time period of repayment is from two weeks to four weeks. These car title loans give you money, which is determined by the value of your car, that you can borrow for a short time. You have to turn over the title of your car and a spare set of keys until you repay the loan. Usually the interest rates for this type of loan can be quite high, but it is a quick way to get cash that is needed.

Benefits of Cash Loans for Car Titles

While cash loans for car titles are very different from most loans, there are a variety of benefits to taking out one of these loans. One benefit is that the bank will not review your credit history and score before giving you this kind of loan since they are assured of your vehicle should you not be able to pay. This is a great benefit for people who may have less than perfect credit and who have a hard time securing other loans that are based on credit history. Another benefit of cash loans for car titles is that you can get these loans fairly quickly without having to wait for days to get approved and to go through mountains of paperwork.

What If I Cannot Repay?

If you cannot repay the loan against your car title, you should not panic at first for there are some options. Many times, cash loans for car titles allow you to extend the loan for an extra month if you need a bit more time to come up with the full amount of payment. One caution about this option is that usually the financial institution will raise the interest rate on the loan, but you will at least have a bit more time to pay off the loan.

If you need a short-term loan that will give you quick cash, you may want to consider cash loans for car titles. Even if your credit is not quite perfect, you will be able to get this loan without a problem. Everyone faces times when they could use a bit of quick cash and if this is the case, cash loans for car titles can give you the quick cash you need.

Posted in Loans | Tagged | Comments Off on Cash Loans for Car Titles: Quick Cash When You Need It