Walk With Money » Personal Finance

Choosing a Tax Professional: What to Consider

Robert Wilkinson — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 22:00:31 +0000

Doing your own taxes isn’t out of the question by any means — but given that the tax code seems to get a little more complicated every year, many people are simply more comfortable having a tax preparer handle their returns. After all, a tax preparer makes it his job to keep up with changes to tax laws, as well as find all of the opportunities to save money on a given tax return.

But actually choosing a tax professional can be a complicated matter. After all, there are plenty of options — from the tax preparers at the little offices that seem to pop up like mushrooms every tax season to CPAs and even tax attorneys. The secret is in finding the right professional to help you with your own needs.

A Question of Complexity

The biggest problem, for most individuals, is that taxes are complex. And the more complex your own personal financial situation, the more complex your taxes get. If your situation is fairly simple — you are an employee with a company that handles your payroll taxes smoothly — you can often get through a tax return without much trouble. This sort of situation is what the largest portion of tax payers face. It’s common enough (even with little add-ons like kids in college or a retirement account) that you can have a piece of software handle your taxes, without human intervention.

Just the same, tax preparation software doesn’t catch everything and it’s generally worthwhile to have a pro look things over, just in case.

But it doesn’t take much for a tax situation to get complicated. Start adding in a business you run on the side or investments beyond an IRA or a 401(k), and suddenly, your taxes get a lot more complex. It isn’t just a question of paperwork, either. If you’re in a situation where you’re adding sources of income, you have more incentive to keep your tax burden down, which can require some specialized help. Help from a professional like a certified public accountant is usually necessary to handle such situations.

Preparing for Problems

In theory, if you are a law-abiding citizen and you report all of your income, you have nothing to fear from the IRS. Unfortunately, though, the theory doesn’t always match up with the reality. Look at the tax problems politicians seem to face on a regular basis. Even if you’re in Congress, it seems impossible to correctly prepare and pay your taxes — and these are people who tend to have the resources to pay for expert accountants.

Of course, politicians are under more scrutiny (especially considering their finances) than the average taxpayer. You don’t have to worry about having your taxes closely examined every year. Audits are, more often than not, random — provided that you are doing your best to keep your taxes correct. However, the circumstances still make it worthwhile to have a plan in place in case of a problem. In the event that you get audited, for instance, who will you call?

There are CPAs, as well as other tax professionals, that specialize in audits — helping taxpayers through the audit process and any penalties. If you’re already working with an accountant, however, it’s likely best to stick with the accountant who already knows your paperwork inside and out, rather than switching tax professionals mid-audit.

Picking the Right Pro

Just how much help you’ll need with your taxes depends on your own financial situation. That in turn can make your peers one of the best resources you have for finding a tax professional. If, for instance, you are a small business owner, you’ll ideally want to work with a CPA who specializes in helping business owners. If you are an investor, an accountant with a financial planning background will be more valuable to you. Ask around and see who your peers recommend.

Once you have a few names in hand, it’s worth checking them out — if you’re going to be entrusting someone with all the paperwork necessary to do your taxes, it’s important to choose the right person. Run an online search, for instance. You probably won’t need to ask for references, if you found your tax preparer through a recommendation. But it is important to know as much about him as possible.

The more you know — both about your tax professional and the tax preparation process — the better you can protect yourself and your finances. Assuming that you don’t want to be an accountant, it will probably be tough to learn enough to feel comfortable handling every aspect of your taxes yourself. But every little bit of knowledge will help.

---
Related Articles at Personal Finance Blog by Money Ning:

Choosing a Savings Account [Infographics]
Is Financial Compatibility Important When Choosing a Life Partner?
How to Handle Personal Finance
What If You Won the Lottery? – Money Mailbox
Best of Personal Finance with MoneyNing – September 2009

Make Everynight a Money Night Talk [Giveaway]

Robert Wilkinson — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 16:20:02 +0000

The National Money Night Talk has come and gone, but that doesn’t mean you should stop the conversations with your kids about money! For the past month we have been hosting giveaways in honor of National Money Night Talk. For those of you who don’t know, American Express teamed up with personal finance expert Jean Chatzky to launch the first annual “National Money Night Talk” — a program that encourages parents around the country to have “the talk” about money and financial responsibility with their kids.

As an ode to National Money Night Talk, we are hosting a final giveaway around family finances!

To enter, tell us what was the most interesting thing you learned during your money talk.

The winning entry will get a $150 American Express Gift Card as well as a copy of Jean Chatzky’s new book “Not Your Parents’ Money Book: Making, Saving, and Spending Your Own Money” — courtesy of American Express!

If you’re looking for helpful tips on how to have the money talk and some smart payment options parents can give to teens, check out the National Money Night Talk website: http://bit.ly/TheTalk. Here you can access information on Additional Cards with Custom Limits and PASS ...

13 Books Well Worth Reading: The Cream of the Book Review Crop

Robert Wilkinson — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 02:20:02 +0000

Every week, I review a different book on The Simple Dollar (those reviews appear on Sunday afternoons, for those who are new to the site). Over the years, that’s amounted to a lot of book reviews – 259 as of today. Here’s a full list of all of the books I’ve reviewed on The Simple Dollar.

Obviously, I don’t currently own all of these books – 259 such books would overstuff a bookshelf. What I find myself doing instead is keeping them around for a bit to see if I return to them as any sort of reference, and if I don’t, I then trade them or give them away. If the book was originally from the library, I see if I find myself wanting to check it out again, then I seek out my own copy of the book.

In any case, what eventually happens is that my personal library of books is small and it consists of a handful of books I return to over and over again for ideas on personal finance and personal growth. Right now, that library consists of thirteen books, with another one on the verge of joining for the long term.

In short, I found each of these books well worth reading on the first read and they’ve also stuck around on my bookshelf, providing continuous insight and ideas. Each of these books is well worth your time to read.

Getting Things Done
David Allen
Getting Things Done does something no other book I’ve ever read has done: it meshes time and information management together in a natural and intuitive way. Rather than treating your time and your information as two separate things, Allen essentially treats them as the same thing – you process appointments in the same way that you process reports and other things you need to read. They all go through the same process and they all wind up on your “next actions” list. The system described in the book is so elegant and filled with so many modular pieces that it has transformed my life and my ability to, well, get things done.

What really sets this book apart from the others is that the system itself doesn’t focus on micromanaging every sliver of time that you have. Instead, it’s all about simply having a trusted system that keeps track of everything going on in your head, no matter what that everything happens to consist of. That’s why it works for me – I handle my professional obligations and my personal appointments and my intellectual concerns all in the same system, with little need for borders.

Sound interesting? Check out my Getting Things Done review series.

The Complete Tightwad Gazette
Amy Dacyczyn
Reducing your spending is often a matter of taking little steps. The Complete Tightwad Gazette is a giant tome that collects more little steps together in one place than you could possibly tackle in a year. The joy of this book isn’t in the tips, though. It’s in the writing and attitude of the author, Amy Dacyczyn, who clearly relishes frugality and pairs it with a crisp and yet down-to-earth sense of humor throughout. Dacyczyn does a brilliant job of making even the most extreme of frugal ideas seem normal, completely accessible, and often incredibly fun.

This book clicks because the multitude of ideas it presents are fun. They practically beg you to have a yard sale or make a price book or make a homemade Halloween costume (could this be an October post?). When you find that those interesting activities put some jingle in your pocket as well, it’s both exciting and empowering.

Sound interesting? Check out my Complete Tightwad Gazette review.

Making It All Work
David Allen
Making It All Work is a follow-up of sorts to Getting Things Done, but it has a much different focus. While Getting Things Done focused on developing a system to handle all of the information in your life, Making It All Work focuses on why you’re handling all of those things in the first place. To put it as simply as possible, Getting Things Done addresses the how, while Making It All Work addresses the why.

The why is absolutely key, though. The why provides your motivation to get things done. It also helps guide you with regards to the constant choices we make between different things that need to get done. How do we prioritize? It all comes down to what our greater goals and priorities are, and Making It All Work does a brilliant job of tying the mundane day-to-day work to the larger things we want out of life, no matter what those things are.

Sound interesting? Check out my Making It All Work review, plus the upcoming series focusing on this book.

Raising Financially Fit Kids
Joline Godfrey
I have three children under the age of five. Teaching them about money is a constant adventure, as they’re also learning about impulse control, patience, and the idea that money is merely a means of exchange between very different kinds of things (work and goods). Even the simplest step of putting a found quarter into a piggy bank is an opportunity for financial learning, let alone big things like running a lemonade stand.

Children don’t come with manuals. On some level, all parents are making it up as they go along, but many parents find it useful to turn to the advice of others on some issues to get more insight on dealing with specific aspects of parenting. To put it simply, Raising Financially Fit Kids is the most thorough guide I’ve yet found for parents looking to teach their children lessons about personal ...

Ask Jean Chatzky A Money Question To Win $100 Giveaway

Robert Wilkinson — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 05:20:02 +0000

As we mentioned in our Money Tips for Teen giveaway, we are hosting giveaways around family finances in celebration of the National Money Night Talk! For those of you who don’t know, American Express teamed up with personal finance expert Jean Chatzky to launch the “National Money Night Talk” program, encouraging parents around the country to have “the talk” about financial responsibility with their young adults.

The National Money Night Talk is this Thursday, September 16th!

Are you prepared? If not, don’t fret!

$100 American Express Gift Card Giveaway

For this giveaway, we are giving our readers the opportunity to submit a question to Jean Chatzky to answer!

Jean Chatzky is an award-winning journalist and best-selling author that has created a global platform that is making significant strides to help millions of men, women and families battle an epidemic with a devastating impact — debt.

To enter, post your questions in the comment section.

Jean will review the top 3 questions prior to Money Night. Not only will you be entered to have her answer any of your questions, but you can also win an $100 American Express Gift Card as well as a copy of Jean Chatzky’s new book “Not Your Parents’ Money Book: Making, Saving, and Spending Your Own Money” — courtesy of American Express.

For ...

Meditation, Prayer, and Personal Finance

Robert Wilkinson — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 15:20:02 +0000

Once or twice a day, I go into my bedroom, turn down the lights, lay on the bed, and look up at the ceiling. I start off by reflecting on a small handful of things that have really brought me significant joy in the past few days. After a few minutes of that, I focus entirely on emptying my mind for a while, and once that’s done, I just drift without anything in my mind. Sometimes thoughts drift in and out of my head – sometimes they don’t. Sometimes I doze off for a bit – other times, I don’t.

After about twenty minutes of concentrated mental relaxation, I almost always feel refreshed and much more able to tackle whatever is on the table in front of me, whether it’s a household task, some work to be done, some bills to be paid, or anything else. I get that stuff done faster and better than I ever would have done before the meditation.

Call it meditation or prayer or whatever you wish – it flat-out works.

When I first started doing this, I seemed like it would be an utter waste of a good twenty minutes. I started trying it at the urging of my pastor at the time, who told me to try to take some time every day to pray and to let God speak to me. I didn’t really have any idea what that even meant, so I tried mostly just spending some time reflecting on what was going on in my life in a positive way. I tried to spend fifteen minutes a day just reflecting on the good in my life.

It didn’t really work.

Instead, I started reading books on prayer and meditation to see what others had discovered. What I seemed to find, time and time again, is that people found success in just letting their mind drift and seeing what answers were revealed to them. This pops up over and over again in all sorts of religious and other writings.

What I’ve found is that an empty mind is a real clarifier. Those twenty minutes spent letting my mind be as empty as I can make it do more for my day than anything else I do.

That time seems to fill my mind with a great deal of motivation and, often, with ...

Dividend Investing 101: Why You Should Buy Dividend Paying Stocks

Robert Wilkinson — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 00:20:02 +0000

1 of the fundamental pillars of personal finance is the arena of wealth building. Analyzing the best methods to make money is essential, as we’ve mentioned in the wealth building publish from prior to. Out of all of the methods for building an earnings, one of the most popular is through dividend investing. Investing in dividend earning stocks is one of the best and certain methods for building a passive earnings, and it’s an chance that actually anyone can get advantage.

Picture by Alan Cleaver by way of Flickr

What are Dividends?

dividends per quarter, you will earn $50 per quarter equal to $200 a yr. The more shares you own, the more you will be paid in dividends.

Why Do Businesses Pay Dividends?

Dividends are basically a way of sharing the profits. Businesses get a portion of their profits and give it to their shareholders. Firms know that this will keep their shareholders happy, assisting to retain them and keep them invested in their business. Not all es spend dividends as it is not a requirement for corporate stock. Frequently, older firms that have a stabler stock cost will issue dividends in order to show off their balance. They know that some traders only practice dividend investing, and want to appeal to their long-phrase investing in order to carry on to improve their balance.

For instance, Disney is a business that has been about for a while that doesn’t necessary have the type of capable growth as a brand new business. Simply because of this, you won’t always make a great deal in capital gains from pure growth — at least not like back during their high-growth days. But at the exact same time they make a constant profit and can afford to give a nice dividend to their shareholders regularly.

Generally as soon as a business begins paying dividends, they attempt to carry on to do so regularly. If a business that usually pays $one per share per quarter suddenly stops paying dividends after many years of consistently paying them, that’s usually not a great sign for the business — it’s frequently a sign that their capability to provide shareholder profits has decreased for some reason. Occasionally this may occur if they rather determine to reinvest in the business for growth. In this case, subsequent ...

478a>

Related Articles

Investing in Bonds: A Look at Treasury and Corporate Bonds | Walk ...

Michigan Auto Law Reports Thousands of Trucks with Serious Safety ...

Thurs. Jan. 120, 2011 HotShotStocks AT THE CLOSE | Stock Market ...

Asset Allocation for Foundation and the Cultural Capital ...

Related Searches:
dividend investing wealthy

Getting Real Value from Budgets

Robert Wilkinson — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 22:20:03 +0000

When I reached my financial bottom in April 2006, one of my first responses was to simply start reading a lot about personal finance. I checked out a pile of books from the library on personal finance and tackled a lot of different suggestions from those books, along with some of my own ideas that I came up with as I went along.

One idea that was repeated over and over was how incredibly important and valuable having a budget was. I tried several different budgeting approaches and stuck with them for short periods, but the idea of a budget just never really stuck with me. The constant recording of expenses and estimates of spending in the future and so on always seemed like a bunch of busy work that never really went anywhere at all for me.

What did I do instead, then? I focused mostly on just watching what I spent. I did find a lot of value in simply jotting down every dime that I spent in a pocket notebook and, soon, I began to resist spending because I didn’t want to write it in that notebook any more. I began to really focus on how I spent my money in a few key categories – books being the big one. I set up some automatic transfers to take care of specific bills and to start saving for specific goals. Perhaps most importantly, though, I began to really change my behaviors and how I spent my time.

There are two big things to recognize from this story.

First of all, the actual personal finance choices I made were budgeting. Writing down my expenses, setting up automatic payments and savings, focusing on problem categories – those are exactly the type of things that make up budgeting.

More importantly, however, they led me to the same theoretical goal that budgeting has – a more responsible relationship with my money. That’s the destination of budgeting – a relationship with your money that enables you to have the freedom to effectively not worry about the money too much and just get on with your life.

If that’s the case, then why do so many people fail at budgeting – and why is it still recommended so often in personal finance books and on personal finance sites? I think the answer to that question explains why budgets are so often described in personal finance books – and also explains how people can get real value from “budgeting” their own way.

Budgets, Budgets, Budgets: Why?
Take a look at the people who are typically authoring personal finance books. They’re CPAs, CFAs, and other folks who deal with finances for a living. They’ve likely always been strong with math and never been afraid of dealing with large chunks of numbers – it always came natural to them.

I’ve always enjoyed math – in fact, I was just a few credits shy of a minor in mathematics in college – but I’ve never been much of a fan of business or accounting math. Large rows of financial figures have always caused my eyes to glass over. I enjoy chasing down a problem, but ...

I Am Doing Well Financially. Now What?

Robert Wilkinson — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 16:20:04 +0000

"Eventually, you can afford to better your life."

You've worked hard all your life, saving up while making sensible decisions about your finances. You built a sizable nest egg and is currently in a stable job, earning doodles of money.

Now what?

If you've been reading personal finance literature for a while, you might have thought that you live amongst a bunch of money slaves. And who could blame you? We talk about saving, getting out of debt and never spending a dime more than our fair share of the time. Sometimes it seems there are no other pastimes than checking our bank balances.

But what if, after years of saving, you are actually on track for a comfortable retirement? Is there anything you can do to make your life just a little bit better?

The answer, of course, is yes. Here are a few suggestions, and while this is by no means a comprehensive list (nor something you might want to do), it will get you started on the right track.

Go on that vacation.

Quite a few of you already go on vacations every once in a while, but I know of too many people who are always stuck in their hometown using staycations as an excuse for their laziness in organizing a trip somewhere fun. Experiencing different cultures could be a life changing event. If you are worried your new passion may cost too much, here are 50 ways to save money on your travels.

Start hiring.

Strong entrepreneurs understand the importance of getting help for their businesses, but few apply the same concepts to their everyday lives. With the internet these days, you can pretty much find someone to do virtually anything you ever want for a small fee.

Do you not like to clean the house? Find a house cleaner. Can't cook? Look for a chef that will come to your house. You can even find people to sort ...

Summer Promotions And Personal Finance Reading List

Robert Wilkinson — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 01:20:02 +0000

Over the past few weeks there has been some good promotions in the personal finance space that I would like to gather in one place for your convenience. If you’re thinking about trying out one or more of these services, this is a good time to give it a go. Here are some of the notable promotions:

Investing

Lending Club — Get $25 when you sign up as an investor on Lending Club.

TradeKing — Get $50 when you open and account and make your first trade.

OptionsXpress — Get $100 when you open an account.

Savings

Everbank — Get up to $75 and 2.25% bonus rate for 3 months when you open Yield Pledge® Money Market and FreeNet® Checking accounts.

Credit Cards

Chase Freedom VISA — Get $100 cashback bonus when you make $799 in purchases in your first 3 months.

Discover® More(SM) Card — Get $50 cashback bonus when you make $500 in purchases in your first 3 months.

TrueEarnings® Card from Costco and American Express — Get $25 statement credit for the first purchase made with the card.

Credit Score

IDENTITY GUARD^® — Get 3 credit scores with 30-day free EXTRA CAUTION^® Premium Credit Monitoring trial.

I am not sure when these offers expire so get them while they last. And like anything else that you plan to sign up for, make sure you read the fine print carefully

Personal Finance Reading List

Beyond Your Credit Score: What Three Digits Says About You from Credit Karma — A nice infographic to help you better understand your credit score.

Ahhhhh I did something so freakin’ stupid! from Budgets Are Sexy — Even a smart person can make stupid mistakes…in this case, 3 times.

Your Income Is Your Greatest Wealth Building Asset

Robert Wilkinson — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 14:20:03 +0000

For those of us who like to read (and write) information on personal finance subjects, we spend energy on a wide range of wealth building strategies. Too often we ignore the concept of making money because we feel it’s something outside our control. After all, our employer pays us, we don’t pay ourselves, right? The reality is that your income is your greatest wealth building asset.

Photo by Photos8.com via Flickr

Keeping & Growing Income

The first thing to focus on is keeping and growing your income. Obviously, this is a concern for many people today considering the high unemployment in America. If you’re wanting to improve your financial situation, you must re-establish your income even if it means taking a less-than-ideal job. If you have a job still, do what you can to keep it — and if you’re in the minority with an opportunity for a raise or other opportunities, take advantage them!

Next, I believe it’s worthwhile to pursue additional income opportunities to create income outside your “main job.” This has been a main focus of my blogging for a couple years now — finding ways to make extra money to improve one’s financial situation. You can read some of my past posts here at Moolonomy or check out my online income page for more information.

Letting Your Income Work

Now, letting your income work for you is what almost all Americans struggle to do. What do I mean by this? I mean letting your income actually building your wealth. Instead, most Americans inhibit their income and put obstacles in front of it and prevent it from building wealth.

For example, the biggest obstacle is debt. By tacking on insane levels of debt, we fail to let our income build wealth. How? Well, big chunks of our income immediately go towards paying ...