There’s this trend where more people are moving into doing their own gig, not the traditional 9-5 job. The fastest growing segment of people going into business right now, outpacing millennials, are baby boomers. In recent studies, this is an emerging trend that cut everybody flatfooted for the most part. Baby boomers are a huge advantage because they have lots of experiences in life; they know the ins and outs.
What if someone asks you these questions:
- How are you doing with your financial planning or tax planning?
- Do you have any problems with your taxes?
- Do you have a dysfunctional relationship with your money?
- Is your money and your relationship with it in denial?
- Have you filed every tax return on time?
- Have you paid every estimated tax payment on time?
- Is your business set up in an organization structure so you can maximize your taxes and your financial opportunities?
- Do you know the differences between your ordinary income and passive income? How are they taxed differently?
When you stop, think about the basic principles or concepts between gains and loss harvesting so that you have passive income –maybe offset by losses and neutralize–get an equilibrium to your tax…
Do you have any clue or information that goes on your tax return when you sign your name and a penalty of perjury and you follow with the IRS?
I would venture that most of the leaders don’t have a clue – absolutely clueless! That’s not a criticism. That’s not a judgment. It’s just an observation. I deal with this stuff every day. I’ve been doing this for over 30 years. I got some of the top money makers– real estate marketing , Internet marketing , you name it — that I do the tax work for .
They’re working really hard to learn everything about their taxes. Do you really know the difference between a profit and a loss statement? And the balance sheet? How these two go to your tax return?
I bring these points up because it’s kinda frustrating, and I’m sure it’s also frustrating for you. If you’re a leader, you’re out there selling the dream and techniques to hundreds and even thousands of people. You’re hyped up. But at the back end, you’re laidback on your taxes –you haven’t made your estimated payments, you’re 2 years late in paying your taxes, and now you’re dealing with IRS and collection enforcement!
You’re trying to find someone like me to hire who’s going to battle for the IRS, trying to work out installment –whether an installment agreement or something to keep away everything to be taken away from you.
When you get up on that stage and you keep on selling the dream, and you’re hoping that the next cycle you’re gonna hit the home run and you get caught up. But it seems never to happen. You’ll never get that momentum caught up.
And that reflects really the relationship you have with your money. That relationship really sucks . It’s so bad! When you’re making six or 7 figure income and you haven’t filed your tax return for 5 years, you got a debt to the IRS that’s around $700,000. And you just want to buy some bling bling, Rolex, and you’re breaking ground to build a new house in the desert of Arizona, wherever you are planning. But you got the IRS chasing you. It’s some point you wonder if you’re in a parallel universe or another dimension of reality that you think you can escape.
That’s not the world you’re living any more.
If you’re out there on social media and sharing the pictures of a car or a new crib, probably you’re not aware that the IRS is taking note of everything you do. And they’re building a case one day at a time, one week at time .
When you’re at the bottom of that pile, then you’ll need somebody like me to dig you out and save you from yourself and the horrible relationship with your money and your taxes.
Do yourself a favor. Do me a favor.
When you get up on that stage, point your audience in a direction to remind them how much money they’re making and how they’re able to keep. That goes with having a plan.
If you cant say”yes” to those things then you’re in trouble. If you haven’t realized it, or if you do, then you’re just in denial.
As a leader, you cannot put yourself in the crowd of entrepreneurs and you can’t check the box that makes up an entrepreneur. And one of those things that make up an entrepreneur is not how much they make but how much they keep.
Leadership is about leading by example. Help people understand that, when they wanted to a buy a new Benz, they have obligations with their taxes and they can reduce them in some way.
I think we do a great disservice and leaving people with a nightmare. There are pinheads. One example is a guy who didn’t file taxes for 2 years with $300,000 with the IRS and got a big bonus. But the first thing he did was he bought a $90,00 Lamborghini. This guy was absolutely after his image.
But hey! What that guy did is tax evasion. If you haven’t filed for 2 years, the IRS is able to lock you down on that deal and you just don’t realize that. If you think that is success…that’s a nightmare!
If you’re a leader, you care about your people.
I keep seeing these horror stories. I keep digging them out of their own nightmare and pull them out of their rubble. Nobody told them that when they make this money, their life will change in other ways other than the bling bling
We lack proper literacy about taxes and money. Make sure you’re authentic, make sure you’re real…
If you’re a leader, point your folks. If you’re recruiting them or if you’re sharing your dream and stories, make sure to give a thought to their head that they have to manage their money. Money comes in and out until it’s gone. And at the end of the year, they got to deal with tax returns and they don’t know that they owe tax. Maybe they don’t even know what an Alternative Minimum tax is – a tax you pay when you haven’t paid other taxes and interests for a penalty if you’re not paying on time.
Before cashing out on a new Benz, a Lamborghini, a bling bling, or anything, remember that you have a partner. And that’s no other than Uncle Sam –the IRS– and he’s got a share on your money. If you’re in a beautiful state of California where Hollywood sits in, there’s another 10, 11, 12 percent of tax. All of a sudden you’ll see half of your money out of the window because of the taxes plus the penalties. That’s because you don’t have a plan.
So, again, if you’re leader, do your audience a favor to let them know that the second part of success is not how much you make but how much you keep. And you better have a plan to do that.
