by Leif Jensen | Jul 31, 2017 | General |
A stock is a type of security that signifies a small percentage of ownership in a corporation and represents a claim on part of the corporation’s assets and earnings. Warren Buffett likes to say that the first rule of investing is “Don’t lose...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 26, 2017 | General |
I was on my way to a client and I heard a story on NPR about the impact of student loan debt and the stats threw me, so I went back to get the details. According to the story there are 44 million Americans that currently have student loan debt. This is over...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 25, 2017 | General |
A client was generous enough to track down a library that still has a copy of Seth Klarman’s “Margin of Safety “available to read in the library. Yes I own many, many books but I am not willing to spend $1,200 on this one, when I can read it for free. Klarman starts...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 24, 2017 | General |
When I am starting to work with new clients, one question I typically ask them is do they have a Board of Directors (BOD) or a Board of Advisors (BOA). Basically someone whose opinion that they trust and respect that they can bounce ideas off of. One client...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 19, 2017 | General |
Is U.S. economic growth threatened by a shortage of qualified workers? I know this sounds like a recruiting line… But small-business owners should be concerned about where and how they are going to meet their personnel needs. As the economy seems...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 18, 2017 | General |
Due to a paid preparer’s series of errors with a client’s tax return, the client was excused from a penalty. A woman who had sold her stock in connection with a corporate redemption and received a check dated Jan. 4, 2012 and a statement with an Aug. 2011...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 17, 2017 | General |
Ok, I just don’t understand the logic behind this case from a tax standpoint; from a curiosity stand point yes, but not a tax standpoint, no. A son took it upon himself to start an investigation in 2003 of his father’s mysterious death in 1946. The son...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 12, 2017 | General |
It seems that people forget that when they are an independent contractor getting a paid on a 1099 can create a huge tax liability. If you have a “Schedule C” business, you recognize your 1099 income and get to deduct related business expenses. But any profit...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 11, 2017 | General |
While certain business owners can get all wrapped up in analysis paralysis, I have a client who is taking the philosophy of “Leap” for 2017. He is making decisions based upon his goals and future plans. There are financial costs to these decisions, the money...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 10, 2017 | General |
Lately I have seen signs stating that there are openings at companies, but only if the have specific experience doing exactly what they are looking for. I imagine that the companies also expect the job candidates to know their corporate culture and company polices as...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 5, 2017 | General |
Did you forget to disclose all of your Swiss Bank accounts to the IRS by Tax Day? You need not panic yet if you missed the April 18 deadline for reporting foreign accounts. The IRS has allowed for you to have an automatic six-month extension (until Oct....
by Leif Jensen | Jun 28, 2017 | General |
Profit is not a dirty word! All businesses have to make a profit to survive, even Not-for-Profits, they more than any other needs to have a profit for those inevitable lien times or for future growth. One client has been struggling to firm up their fixed and...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 27, 2017 | General |
Recently in a conversation with one of our clients, I asked about their production capacity. Do they know when they would need to turn down business or start the second shift? It turns out that they don’t have any hard or fast rules for this option. But they...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 26, 2017 | General |
I was recently meeting with the owner of a business, after spending a couple of hours drilling down on their numbers looking for costs to cut. They are currently going through a cash crunch and the immediate future is not looking promising. Historically their fourth...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 21, 2017 | General |
You know by now that most of the big names in search engines: Google, Bing, Yahoo – track your search history and build profiles on you, serving different results based on your search history. You may want to try one of the alternative search engines if you’re tired...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 20, 2017 | General |
How often are you cleaning the cookies out of your computer? How many know what cookies are? Cookies are small bits of computer code that are temporarily installed on your computer from the websites you visit. Some cookies track all of the websites you...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 19, 2017 | General |
Do you utilize a password manager? Should you? A password manager offers a better way to create a strong, yet easy to remember passphrase for use with encryption and security programs. Weak passwords and passphrases are one of the most common flaws in...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 14, 2017 | General |
IRS and Bankruptcy Case In this case, taxes shown on IRS-prepared late returns are not dischargeable in bankruptcy. This is so, even when the taxpayer later files the overdue returns, according to the court. When a man failed to timely file his...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 13, 2017 | General |
The IRS is again attempting to notify employers that have outsourced payroll tax duties remain liable for unpaid taxes. Even if the payroll taxes are taken by the payroll agents who then abscond with the employment taxes or fail to make the required deposits...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 12, 2017 | General |
The Service’s private debt-collection program started up just last April. Surprise there are some lawmakers are calling for its demise. The 2015 statute ordered the agency to turn over many inactive receivables to private debt collectors in an effort to recoup...
