Building Ownership

There are those who believe in renting and those who believe in owning.  As a business owner, I fall into the owning category, or at least indirectly. I am currently working with a couple of clients who have been in business for decades and they wish they had...

Rental Space

There are those who believe that renting space makes more sense than purchasing business space. There are those who believe in renting because of the concept of flexibility.  If they need to grow, they will just move to a larger space.  If they need to contract, they...

Initial Business Space

When you start your business, the physical location of that business can get complicated. I know from experience. When I started my business, it was physically located in my basement.  It was impossible to see clients in my home.  For one I could not legally meet...

New Revenue Recognition Standards

The new Revenue Recognition standard establishes consistent principles (regardless of industry or geography) to report useful information about the nature, amount, timing, and uncertainty of revenue from contracts with customers. Public companies were required to...

New Lease Standard

The new lease standard went into effect earlier this year.  The idea behind the standard is to focus on increased transparency and comparability – providing financial statement users with more information about an entity’s leasing activities. From now on the lessee...

New slant on dating

Having been married over 30 years and with my wife for 35 years, so I have no idea what is involved with dating in this century and not a whole lot from the last. So, I was more than a little shocked on the statistic that more than 40% of adults say knowing someone’s...

Economic Inequality

As a student of history, I know that there have always been those that have and those that have not, in just about every time period and throughout the world. So, the results of a recent study results are not as striking to me as they were to others, despite how...

Wrong person in the wrong position

Long ago, I was working with a NFP that was going through a transition period.  They sold their building, shed unprofitable programs and moved to a smaller more affordable space.  During all of this transition the BOD requested that one long time employee be retained,...

Taxpayer Bill of Rights

Did you know that you have taxpayer rights?  I didn’t think so, most people don’t. But each and every taxpayer has a set of fundamental rights they should be aware of when dealing with the IRS. Explore your rights and our obligations to protect them. The Right to Be...

Privacy

Surprising one of the mega companies has been bragging about their commitment to individual’s privacy. I know I was surprised. Apparently, Apple has been very vocal lately about its commitment to privacy.  This stance is new for Apple, especially as companies like...

Illinois

How do you warn people on a speeding train that is it headed straight towards a wall, and the engineer and conductor have protected only themselves? That is how I feel about Pritzker and Madigan and their approach toward taxes and fees.  Apparently, I am not the only...

Perception may be everything

100 years ago, when I was in college, I was out with friends and one of them brought an older sibling along.  I was working at Jewel at the time and we stopped at a co-worker’s establishment.  They had recently purchased an existing business, an Ice-cream shop. The...

Owner or Temp

I was meeting with one of my clients recently.  I always look forward to our meetings.  Talking to her gives me a greater perspective of what is going on in other places; since she travels around the country with a focus on DC and the east coast.  She comes in with...

Outside the box thinking

Thinking outside of the box is not easy.  You have to train yourself to do this, and you have to keep exercising these memory muscles to stay sharp. I know because I used to be an idiot unable to think beyond the box. I remember years ago sitting with one of my wife’s...

The imitator

There are times where the imitator becomes the dominant entity in the marketplace.  It has happened innumerable times throughout history. I was surprised when I found out about Hydrox and Oreo’s.  When I was a kid, I remember a time when my mother was home all day,...

IRS Elite

In 2009 the Internal Revenue Service created an elite unit of auditors, to go after the Top 0.5% of taxpayers.  It was believed that these people under pay the government $50 Billion a year, and the government wants the cash. In what was proclaimed to be “a...

New Car

It is getting to the point where my wife or I will need to get a new vehicle.  I hate this process and the lead-up to the process. When my eldest was small, I remember the dealer taking my car keys for the trade-in inspection and not wanting to return them., believing...

Gambling Psychology

My wife and I have been watching Jeopardy for a while now.  We have been watching Holzhauer change the way the game is played.  Most players typically play the game like I gamble.  They play to not lose, not to win.  Holzhauer, plays to win and his strategy is...

Fact or fiction?

My kids introduced me to a farcical reality show “Bar Rescue”.  We all know that it’s staged.  It is too formulaic to be real.  But I as always am interested in the financial aspect of business even if it is just illusions. The amusing or sad part of the show is that...

Free College

We now have two Presidential candidates talking about forgiving student loans and making college free to all. Am I the only one really annoyed by these ideas?  I have paid and am paying tens of thousands of dollars for college for my kids.  But once my kids are...

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