Full Transcript for 229: Tax Strategy for Your Boring W-2 Clients and Beyond

move over exhaustion and get out of the way. 00:02:46.980 --> 00:02:48.104 Advisor ADHD. 00:02:48.104 --> 00:03:00.943 It is time to take that one right next step to build a business and a life that you love, and I know this conversation around tax strategy is going to help you get there right. 00:03:00.943 --> 00:03:08.568 This is going to help us think through the lens of saving our clients' tax dollars in a totally different way. 00:03:08.568 --> 00:03:09.812 All right, let's go. 00:03:09.812 --> 00:03:27.847 All right, shauna, I'm very pumped for this conversation because I love me a good tactical takeaway, things that advisors can do literally tomorrow to start moving the needle in their own business or doing better planning for their clients or creating a better client experience. 00:03:27.847 --> 00:03:33.798 So I think this conversation is going to be like super fabulous and we talked for a few minutes before recording. 00:03:33.798 --> 00:03:36.949 We're already best friends and so it's going to be fine and it's we're going to. 00:03:36.949 --> 00:03:38.040 We're going to have a good time. 00:03:38.040 --> 00:03:50.167 So if you would just give us kind of an overview of how you got here and what you do, because it is so unique and interesting for that CPA tax prep space. 00:03:50.987 --> 00:03:51.609 Absolutely. 00:03:51.609 --> 00:03:54.381 So how I got here is a very long story. 00:03:54.381 --> 00:03:59.116 I actually started off in astrophysics, so completely different Girl. 00:03:59.177 --> 00:04:01.163 I went to school for engineering physics. 00:04:01.604 --> 00:04:02.245 You did Really. 00:04:02.245 --> 00:04:07.183 Yeah, that is so cool, no wonder we get along, yeah we're best friends. 00:04:07.204 --> 00:04:13.346 Okay, sorry, All good Continue continue and so, really well, just like you, right, really, it creates this. 00:04:13.346 --> 00:04:17.903 It's a mental set of numbers and problem solving, right, it's that? 00:04:17.903 --> 00:04:20.394 Engineer, astrophysics, like all those things. 00:04:20.394 --> 00:04:21.721 Those are numbers and problem solving. 00:04:21.721 --> 00:04:28.213 And so, without the long story, I ended up in accounting finance, thought it was the most boring thing ever. 00:04:28.213 --> 00:04:32.346 Recording history, like just preparing tax returns is recording history. 00:04:32.346 --> 00:04:37.187 So I'm a CPA, I can always prepare a return, but, like felt, a little boring to me right. 00:04:37.870 --> 00:04:43.846 I didn't fall in love and I didn't become the tax goddess until I found tax strategy right. 00:04:43.846 --> 00:04:48.113 Tax mitigation how can we use the rules to our advantage? 00:04:48.113 --> 00:04:52.107 All legal, all above board, right, because I'm a redhead, red and orange do not go together. 00:04:52.107 --> 00:04:55.661 We're not going to jail, it's not happening, but you know. 00:04:55.661 --> 00:05:00.213 So how can we use these tax strategies and combine the tax strategies?

00:05:00.213 --> 00:05:03.024 It's not just one and one set of rules, right. 00:05:03.225 --> 00:05:09.314 We look, our team looks at a little over 1,500 tax strategies for every single client. 00:05:09.314 --> 00:05:14.947 And so you'll get somebody who has real estate, you'll get somebody who has an operating business. 00:05:14.947 --> 00:05:24.903 You'll get somebody who is a consultant right, like financial advisors right, yeah, I'm a consultant for my clients, these kinds of things, and not all strategies will apply to all people. 00:05:24.903 --> 00:05:40.004 So typically, when we see your what I call your standard CPA and we need standard CPAs right, they file the returns, they keep you from going to jail, they tick all the boxes, they make sure everything was filed properly on time, no penalties. 00:05:40.004 --> 00:05:56.839 But when we see our standard CPAs but when we see our standard CPAs right they're so focused on getting the form done, getting it filed on time, that they often will just miss the bigger picture, not through any fault of their own, but one face down in tax terms all day. 00:05:57.379 --> 00:05:59.245 Two, they don't have time to study, or? 00:05:59.245 --> 00:06:03.403 I mean, being a strategist is an expertise, right, I mean, I've got my master's in tax? 00:06:03.403 --> 00:06:04.574 Certified tax coach, certified tax professional. 00:06:04.574 --> 00:06:08.771 Certified tax strategist is an expertise, right, I mean, I've got my master's in tax certified tax coach, certified tax professional, certified tax strategist. 00:06:08.771 --> 00:06:12.142 I'm in the top 15 in the country for what I do. 00:06:12.142 --> 00:06:23.860 So when you think about your day-to-day CPA filing the return versus somebody who specializes and really focuses on strategy, they're two very different things right. 00:06:23.879 --> 00:06:28.425 Okay, so every advisor listening is like sort of like, at least for me, right. 00:06:28.425 --> 00:06:31.841 I'm sort of like salivating, like ah, where were you when I was running my business? 00:06:31.841 --> 00:06:35.370 Because we all wanted that, that CPA. 00:06:35.370 --> 00:06:37.764 Like we always had this like pipe dream that we were going to partner. 00:06:37.764 --> 00:06:53.343 We're going to find this CPA who was like super financial planning, focused, right, like not the guy or girl that's going to shut down our suggestion to fund a Roth 401k versus the 401k, cause they're looking at this tax season versus lifetime. 00:06:53.665 --> 00:06:58.870 Yeah, eight years from now, 10 years from now, 15 years from now and we always wanted that person. 00:06:58.870 --> 00:07:12.891 That would be like, okay, we're going to look into the crystal ball and we're going to look forward a few years and we're going to think strategically about this versus that versus that, like kind of like what you were saying, that reactive versus a proactive approach to tax strategies. 00:07:12.891 --> 00:07:20.583 Like

I mean, that's always like oh, that was, that was the thing we could never nail down, and I know that's true for so many advisors. 00:07:20.583 --> 00:07:30.865 And so we want to have the conversation around advisors collecting tax returns and doing some of this more strategic thinking. 00:07:30.865 --> 00:07:40.290 Or how can advisors start looking at returns proactively as opposed to just retroactively looking and saying, oops, we should have done. 00:07:40.290 --> 00:07:45.440 Or like, oh good, you did your backdoor Roth correctly and maybe here's an opportunity or there's an opportunity. 00:07:45.440 --> 00:07:56.425 What are some of the things, or what do you think is the best approach for an advisor who's wanting to really get started in finding that low hanging fruit when it comes to providing tax strategy? 00:07:57.086 --> 00:08:02.302 Absolutely, and I'm going to tell you honestly, the tax returns come second in my mind. 00:08:02.302 --> 00:08:11.425 Okay, step one is knowing your client, and I know, as financial advisors, that's I mean, that's your job, right Is to know your client, know their goals, know their risk associations. 00:08:11.425 --> 00:08:12.509 You know how. 00:08:12.509 --> 00:08:13.774 Are they super conservative? 00:08:13.774 --> 00:08:16.904 Are they willing to maybe branch out and become an entrepreneur? 00:08:16.904 --> 00:08:24.350 You know these kinds of things, right, and the reason why I say that is because every strategy is not for every person, right. 00:08:24.350 --> 00:08:30.072 You may have somebody that says listen, I have a lot in the market and I'm already pretty set on my life insurance side. 00:08:30.072 --> 00:08:40.945 I'm interested in diversifying into real estate, into crypto trading, into something else, right, besides your standard day-to-day kinds of things. 00:08:40.945 --> 00:08:44.991 Those kinds of people are amazing for great. 00:08:44.991 --> 00:08:52.493 Maybe we should talk with your tax strategist about buying some Airbnb properties, about buying some long-term rental properties. 00:08:52.493 --> 00:08:54.706 Right, build up that passive portfolio for you. 00:08:54.706 --> 00:09:02.831 You get people, and I'm sure you've run into people where, every month, they have a new idea on something that's going to make them money. 00:09:04.260 --> 00:09:05.527 You're looking at her right now, right. 00:09:06.880 --> 00:09:19.024 Well, and even you know, because I know that there's there's in my mind there's a very clear distinction between somebody who's a W-2 who, listen, I show up at eight, I leave a five, I get paid, and I get paid well, and I'm very happy with that. 00:09:19.024 --> 00:09:22.004 My and my business life ends at 5 PM. 00:09:22.004 --> 00:09:26.669 Right, For those kinds of people, we tend to look at investments. 00:09:26.669 --> 00:09:28.852 Right, Are you interested in solar? 00:09:28.852 --> 00:09:30.595 Are you interested in oil and gas? 00:09:30.595 --> 00:09:31.336 Are you interested? 00:09:31.336 --> 00:09:37.104 So this is all about knowing your client. 00:09:37.104 --> 00:09:37.586 Where else do you want? 00:09:37.586 --> 00:09:39.114 To be right, but if you've got somebody, so that's one way to look at it. 00:09:39.114 --> 00:09:50.144 Right, If they're happy with the W-2, they just want to make money and they want somebody else to deal with headache, castle, whatever of owning any kind of business, rental properties, an active business, whatever the other side of it is, you'll get. 00:09:50.144 --> 00:10:02.864 Whether they're W-2 or just entrepreneurial by nature, you'll get what I call the business owners right, who are like every month I have a new idea and I'm going to set up a small schedule C to hire my kids to have a lemonade stand to do a thing. 00:10:02.864 --> 00:10:05.086 Kids to have a lemonade stand to do a thing. 00:10:05.086 --> 00:10:16.835 Right, and so, as an advisor, from my perspective, part of your job is to know your client well enough to say listen, no matter which one you are, there are always tax strategies, Always Right. 00:10:16.835 --> 00:10:24.321 And it's really a question of what do you want, Right? 00:10:24.321 --> 00:10:29.059 Do you want to open a business in your garage and maybe you don't have kids, you're single and you're ready to put in 80 hours a week to have your W-2 and open a business? 00:10:29.059 --> 00:10:30.461 Let's do that. 00:10:30.461 --> 00:10:34.192 Let's figure out what the best tax strategies for what you want to do. 00:10:34.192 --> 00:10:39.865 And that's where the tax returns and the cash availability kind of comes in. 00:10:39.865 --> 00:10:50.376 Because if you're looking at the first category, right, I'm a W-2, I don't want a business, I don't want rentals, I don't want any kind of stress beyond my W-2 job, which is fine. 00:10:50.921 --> 00:10:53.187 Getting into investment great idea. 00:10:53.187 --> 00:10:54.410 But you gotta have cash. 00:10:54.410 --> 00:10:56.426 So, do we have cash? 00:10:56.426 --> 00:10:57.208 Do we not have cash? 00:10:57.208 --> 00:10:58.345 How much cash do we need? 00:10:58.345 --> 00:11:01.062 Is it 50,000, 100,000, 500,000? 00:11:01.062 --> 00:11:03.365 And what are the ROIs on that? 00:11:03.846 --> 00:11:10.515 And that's really where, from that perspective, your tax strategist and you, as a financial advisor, work together to determine. 00:11:10.515 --> 00:11:22.039 Listen, I'm getting an average of 7.5% in the market and when I run the calculations on this particular investment, yeah, I get this great tax write-off in the first year, but the returns are miserable. 00:11:22.039 --> 00:11:27.702 Like you were talking about, the 401k Roth versus not long-term Roth, returns are great. 00:11:27.702 --> 00:11:30.609 Right, Tax-free forever, Yay. 00:11:30.609 --> 00:11:33.961 So really, I think knowing your client is number one. 00:11:33.961 --> 00:11:38.231 Okay, Knowing and this is where the tax turns come in how

much cash do we have? 00:11:38.231 --> 00:11:39.482 What opportunities do we have? 00:11:39.482 --> 00:11:43.883 How much could be invested not invested, put into a business, buy a rental property, whatever it is? 00:11:43.883 --> 00:11:56.772 And the third one is having that strong partnership with somebody who's going to back you up, as you said right, Because if you tell the client, hey, there's options, you better have somebody that says, yeah, and here are the 1500 options that we can do in your case. 00:11:57.340 --> 00:12:11.671 Yeah, and I can't tell you how many times a CPA blew up an amazing, beautiful, gorgeous opportunity for a client because they just either didn't understand it or didn't see it, or didn't know it, or it wasn't traditional. 00:12:12.440 --> 00:12:14.826 Or they weren't willing to look at it. 00:12:14.826 --> 00:12:19.787 That's the part that always bothers me is like oh, I've never seen that before, so that's not a valid thing. 00:12:19.787 --> 00:12:21.751 I don't know all the things. 00:12:21.751 --> 00:12:25.167 Show me the research, show me the details so that we can figure it out. 00:12:25.908 --> 00:12:26.690 Yeah, yeah. 00:12:26.690 --> 00:12:36.909 So finding a tax strategist that'll work in advance, proactively, and back you up, yep, yep, that sounds lovely. 00:12:37.049 --> 00:12:38.273 As you said, you wanted a partner. 00:12:38.273 --> 00:12:39.581 You got to find a partner. 00:12:39.581 --> 00:12:40.943 That's, I mean, that's what it is. 00:12:40.943 --> 00:12:44.048 And again, I want to make sure that I'd be very clear here. 00:12:44.048 --> 00:12:51.784 Right, Just because you have a tax strategist as a partner does not mean that your client's original CPA relationship needs to go anywhere. 00:12:51.784 --> 00:12:59.342 Okay, Because you've got clients that have been with their CPA for 20 years, they love their CPA, right, but they're coming to you saying, but is there anything else? 00:12:59.342 --> 00:13:01.248 Is there anything else we can do? 00:13:01.388 --> 00:13:01.568 right. 00:13:01.589 --> 00:13:02.951 There's got to be something else. 00:13:02.951 --> 00:13:13.469 Like I'm reading all these articles that Trump's paying 2% right. 00:13:13.469 --> 00:13:14.311 How do I pay 2% right? 00:13:14.311 --> 00:13:14.793 Like, how do I get there? 00:13:14.793 --> 00:13:16.216 And so, really, this is a third piece of your team here. 00:13:16.216 --> 00:13:23.172 Right, Is the CPA finding the tax returns, you as the financial advisor doing your financial advising right and the strategist bringing in options. 00:13:23.673 --> 00:13:26.158 So Okay, so give me some examples. 00:13:26.158 --> 00:13:30.366 Let's start with like a boring W-2 couple. 00:13:30.366 --> 00:13:39.732 They don't have a whole lot of bells and whistles, maybe some options, something like that, but for general purposes their tax returns pretty vanilla. 00:13:39.732 --> 00:13:43.548 What are some of the things that advisors could use? 00:13:43.548 --> 00:13:49.885 A tax strategist or like what's some of the stuff that a tech strategist would really look at and say like, oh, here's where we can make a big difference? 00:13:49.885 --> 00:13:54.432 I think for me as an advisor, that was where I had the most like head trash around. 00:13:54.432 --> 00:14:00.746 Like can I really add value here, besides saying, oh, you should fund an HSA or you know like so what is it that you're looking at? 00:14:01.649 --> 00:14:06.539 Absolutely Well. 00:14:06.539 --> 00:14:07.221 So if all we got is W-2, okay. 00:14:07.221 --> 00:14:08.985 So the first question I would be asking are you willing to do anything else? 00:14:08.985 --> 00:14:09.807 Right? 00:14:09.807 --> 00:14:11.881 And I'm going to go for purposes of this example. 00:14:11.881 --> 00:14:14.373 No, I'm not right, I'm straight W-2. 00:14:14.373 --> 00:14:18.524 I don't want to buy rentals, I don't want to open a business, right, so I'm knocking that off the plate. 00:14:18.524 --> 00:14:22.669 The next question is what kind of legacy do you want to leave for your children? 00:14:22.669 --> 00:14:23.631 Okay. 00:14:24.373 --> 00:14:30.231 Now the reason why this question is so powerful, all right is life insurance can provide legacy for children. 00:14:30.231 --> 00:14:34.307 An irrevocable life insurance trust can provide legacy for children. 00:14:34.307 --> 00:14:42.432 A CLAT, crat, crt, crut will allow you to do charity and leave legacy for children, right? 00:14:42.432 --> 00:14:57.008 So if legacy for kids or grandkids, or setting up a foundation to maybe you're really into the charity side, setting up a foundation, something like that, if any of those goals speak to you, there are strategies for that, right. 00:14:57.008 --> 00:14:59.288 So, okay, not a business, that's fine. 00:14:59.288 --> 00:15:00.322 Not charitable? 00:15:00.322 --> 00:15:04.306 Okay, you're gonna spend all your money. 00:15:04.306 --> 00:15:05.096 You're gonna slide into the grave with zero. 00:15:05.096 --> 00:15:05.404 The kids ain't getting a penny. 00:15:05.404 --> 00:15:05.528 Okay, you're going to spend all your money. 00:15:05.528 --> 00:15:06.974 You're going to slide into the grave with zero, the kids ain't getting a penny. 00:15:06.974 --> 00:15:08.655 Right, you worked hard, you're going to spend it. 00:15:08.655 --> 00:15:10.062 We're not doing it, okay. 00:15:10.605 --> 00:15:11.768 So now what? 00:15:11.768 --> 00:15:12.971 What is important to you? 00:15:12.971 --> 00:15:17.101 Do you want to buy a yacht and sail around the globe for a year? 00:15:17.101 --> 00:15:18.744 Okay, you know. 00:15:18.744 --> 00:15:21.749 What do you want to do with this money that you've made and you've earned? 00:15:21.749 --> 00:15:24.091 What is it right? 00:15:24.373 --> 00:15:26.095 Dogs Let me pick on dogs. 00:15:26.095 --> 00:15:30.692 Most people that have dogs love their dogs, right, we're all over the moon about our dogs, right? 00:15:30.692 -->

00:15:34.486 Do you want to create a dog sitting service? 00:15:34.486 --> 00:15:40.591 Not really a full business, like it's not like you're buying a brick and mortar building, but like you're going to dog sit your neighbor's dogs? 00:15:40.591 --> 00:15:42.501 Now we have an option. 00:15:42.501 --> 00:15:44.345 Right, it's like a little tiny mini business. 00:15:44.345 --> 00:15:44.586 Right? 00:15:44.586 --> 00:15:49.715 Maybe we've had people that really enjoy driving like just driving around driving cars. 00:15:49.715 --> 00:15:53.488 Are you willing to do Uber, lyft, grocery delivery? 00:15:53.488 --> 00:15:54.769 Right? 00:15:54.769 --> 00:15:57.081 Mentor cruise is a big one, right. 00:15:57.100 --> 00:16:06.732 There's options where, especially if somebody knows what they're doing and they've been doing it for a long time be a mentor for kids, for other professionals, right? 00:16:06.732 --> 00:16:08.245 Maybe you enjoy teaching. 00:16:08.245 --> 00:16:13.471 So, really, it comes down to me as to what do you want to do in life. 00:16:13.471 --> 00:16:18.811 I mean, if you want to sit in front of the TV and do nothing, I don't think there are any. 00:16:18.811 --> 00:16:19.712 Actually, I lie. 00:16:19.712 --> 00:16:23.943 I was about to say I don't think there's any tax strategies for that, but there is it's called investing in films. 00:16:23.943 --> 00:16:28.860 Not to say I don't think there's any tax strategies for that, but there is it's called investing in films and you get tax credits for that. 00:16:28.860 --> 00:16:32.101 So you know, you name it. 00:16:32.101 --> 00:16:33.931 There's almost a strategy for any goal, desire, whatever it is that you're looking for. 00:16:33.951 --> 00:16:37.903 So, Okay, I like that, so it's beyond the typical. 00:16:37.903 --> 00:16:50.721 Like so we had I think it was like a 15 point checklist that we ran every tax return through and we'd say, okay, your kid's going to parochial high school, so you should fund the 529 and turn around and pull it out and save the money in your state taxes. 00:16:50.721 --> 00:16:57.988 Or you should do the Roth versus the 401k, versus you know you're not maxing this out, or your you know your charitable thing. 00:16:57.988 --> 00:17:01.962 Could we do it this way versus that way, so you get a standard deduction versus a. 00:17:01.962 --> 00:17:05.969 You know, like whatever, like there are a billion different things that we kind of would look at. 00:17:05.969 --> 00:17:10.435 What do you see as kind of a gap for most advisors? 00:17:10.435 --> 00:17:18.931 Like either from a knowledge standpoint, that we need to start to learn and understand about taxes, or like the biggest miss that we have for our clients? 00:17:21.403 --> 00:17:24.711 Well, the gap is a big one, but we can't make you all tax strategists, right. 00:17:24.711 --> 00:17:25.623 I mean, like that would take. 00:17:25.623 --> 00:17:33.548 You know, I think I've been doing it for 25 years, so it might take a little bit A little bit of time, just a hair. 00:17:34.068 --> 00:17:52.501 Yeah, I think the biggest gap and maybe the better way to describe this is the IRS allows you to deduct anything that is ordinary, necessary and reasonable, okay, and normally those terms are related to a business, but they also allow for charity, they also allow for rental property, like all of these things. 00:17:52.501 --> 00:17:56.853 Okay, so is there something again I keep going back to? 00:17:56.853 --> 00:18:02.096 Is there something that the person is doing that they want to get written off? 00:18:02.096 --> 00:18:12.747 Okay, it always makes me smile because generally, men I'll use the example women have hair and nails and clothes and all of these kinds of things. 00:18:12.747 --> 00:18:15.588 Okay, men have Rolexes and cars. 00:18:15.588 --> 00:18:17.671 Those are the two big things. 00:18:17.671 --> 00:18:21.054 Okay, yeah, you're laughing because you know where I'm going with this. 00:18:21.134 --> 00:18:26.538 Okay, so can we do something around how you're spending your money? 00:18:26.538 --> 00:18:37.521 We do something around how you're spending your money, and so when you say what is the biggest miss that I see happen with financial advisors, they have y'all have been so trained this is the only thing we can look at. 00:18:37.521 --> 00:18:44.067 It's almost like having blinders on right, that just taking a step back and saying wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. 00:18:44.067 --> 00:18:46.915 Where are we spending the most amount of money? 00:18:46.915 --> 00:18:57.388 The most, the most amount of money, the most, the most amount of money, right, I remember very clearly I had a client who and this was way back when 15 something years ago, right, he used to buy three Starbucks a day. 00:18:57.388 --> 00:19:01.203 Okay, he's still on the three Starbucks a day habit. 00:19:01.203 --> 00:19:05.181 Okay, at this point, the dude's spending like $45 a day at Starbucks. 00:19:05.181 --> 00:19:20.162 I'm pretty sure he's like paying for the CEOs hits, college or something, right, I mean, he spends a lot of money at Starbucks, okay, so if that's your itch, if that's what's important to you is to have your three Starbucks a day and that's what makes you happy, think big picture. 00:19:20.162 --> 00:19:23.865 How can you, the advisor, work with your clients? 00:19:23.865 --> 00:19:24.826 You're spending this money. 00:19:24.826 --> 00:19:26.429 How can we make a benefit from it? 00:19:26.429 --> 00:19:29.071 And maybe there is no way, but how can we? 00:19:29.633 --> 00:19:41.067 In this case, right, with my Starbucks guy, we actually had him become a professional taster, almost like a sommelier for Starbucks. 00:19:41.067 --> 00:19:41.750 He created a blog, started talking. 00:19:41.750 --> 00:19:43.599 I mean, he loved Starbucks, that was his thing, he enjoyed it. 00:19:43.599 --> 00:19:58.906 He did it on his free time, right, yeah, talking about which

mix, how many pumps, which foam anyway, I don't do all the Starbucks, but finding being open to the idea that almost anything can help your client from a tax perspective. 00:19:58.906 --> 00:20:00.531 So how do we figure it out? 00:20:00.531 --> 00:20:11.465 Right, and from that standpoint, being proactive to talk to the strategist and the CPA and the client, which is what you guys do, right To figure out, is it something they want to do? 00:20:11.465 --> 00:20:23.451 Because you will get some people that say nope, I've had clients tell me I don't care how much tax I pay, I don't want any stress, I don't even want to think about it, I don't, I just want to spend my money Like okay, that's okay too. 00:20:28.259 --> 00:20:30.624 Right, so yeah, okay, so random side note, but I'm going to guess there's advisors who are experiencing this. 00:20:30.624 --> 00:20:35.252 But let's go down the small tangent for a second about influencers. 00:20:35.252 --> 00:20:37.964 So let you rolled your eyes. 00:20:38.326 --> 00:20:39.169 I rolled my eyes. 00:20:39.169 --> 00:20:43.519 I'm so curious, so for people who have like okay. 00:20:43.660 --> 00:20:59.834 So let's say I have a client who loves shopping and she's like well, I'm going to make an Instagram account become an Amazon affiliate and I'm going to do these things Like let's talk about how does the IRS view these influencer or like mini influencer businesses? 00:21:00.701 --> 00:21:04.691 And I appreciate the fact that you tacked on mini influencer down here at the bottom. 00:21:04.691 --> 00:21:12.797 Okay, so there's a very famous court case, okay, and it's a little risque, but can I, can I talk just a little risque a little bit, okay. 00:21:13.018 --> 00:21:17.008 Yes, if you're easily offended, you know, let's plug your ears for two seconds. 00:21:17.028 --> 00:21:22.567 Yes, Okay, so, but but it's the best court case to describe kind of what you're talking about here. 00:21:22.567 --> 00:21:28.470 All right, so there was a professional dancer and air quotes professional dancers, so everybody knows what I'm talking about. 00:21:28.470 --> 00:21:29.972 Professional dancer, got it. 00:21:29.972 --> 00:21:34.471 She went and got some top half enhancements, got it. 00:21:34.471 --> 00:21:40.413 She wrote it off as a tax deduction for her because it's ordinary, necessary and reasonable. 00:21:40.413 --> 00:21:44.528 We come back to those three terms right, ordinary, necessary and reasonable for her business. 00:21:45.881 --> 00:21:53.144 The IRS said no, that's personal, we're not allowing enhancements to be done as a tax deduction. 00:21:53.144 --> 00:21:53.905 We disagree. 00:21:53.905 --> 00:22:02.432 It went all the way through appeals, went to like a very top level judge and the judge turned to the IRS and said let me get this straight. 00:22:02.432 --> 00:22:11.868 She got enhancements, she made more money, meaning she paid you more in taxes and therefore you're saying it's not a tax deduction. 00:22:11.868 --> 00:22:13.546 And the IRS backed off. 00:22:13.546 --> 00:22:18.592 And the reason yeah, the reason they backed off is because you got to make money. 00:22:18.592 --> 00:22:21.368 If you want the deduction, you got to make money. 00:22:21.940 --> 00:22:27.570 So when we come to influencers right, you see these people, oh, I've got hundreds of thousands of followers. 00:22:27.570 --> 00:22:36.414 We come to influencers right, you see these people, oh, I've got hundreds of thousands of followers, you're making a hundred dollars a month on YouTube income or whatever like wherever their platform is okay, on Instagram, whatever, it's still a hundred dollars. 00:22:36.414 --> 00:22:53.143 But if you were to write off a $50,000 Rolex or your hair, your nails, your makeup, your shopping habit of a hundred thousand dollars a year against $1,200 a year worth of income, no right, the purpose of any business in the eyes of the IRS. 00:22:53.143 --> 00:22:59.885 You got to have profit motive and you don't have to make money, but you have to have profit motive. 00:22:59.885 --> 00:23:06.765 And if you don't have profit motive and you're still spending that kind of money, it looks like a straw man. 00:23:06.765 --> 00:23:09.990 It looks like you're just taking your personal shopping and trying to write it off. 00:23:10.550 --> 00:23:11.452 Yeah, okay. 00:23:11.452 --> 00:23:13.142 So what about like losses in the first year? 00:23:13.142 --> 00:23:19.086 Like, hey, I'm trying to make money, I'm in the building stage, can I deduct my hair, my nails, my extensions? 00:23:19.086 --> 00:23:20.512 My enhancements, all those things. 00:23:20.855 --> 00:23:22.039 So let's talk about it, okay. 00:23:22.039 --> 00:23:32.105 So, if you think about the tax filing system, okay, so it starts January 1st, let's just say 2024, january 1st 2024, it ends December 31st 2024. 00:23:32.105 --> 00:23:33.829 Your taxes are due. 00:23:33.829 --> 00:23:38.503 As an individual, your taxes are due October 15th of 2025. 00:23:38.503 --> 00:23:41.329 So you really have a year and 10 months. 00:23:41.329 --> 00:23:56.480 If you are not making profit, income, big numbers of income, in a year and 10 months, I mean, what do you think the IRS said Now, absolutely Okay, you are absolutely allowed to lose money for the first couple of years. 00:23:56.480 --> 00:24:02.961 Okay, if you're a giant drug company like Pfizer, they will lose money for 15 years and then make billions. 00:24:02.961 --> 00:24:06.348 Right, but it's a known, it's a known thing. 00:24:06.348 --> 00:24:09.402 The IRS knows that that's a pattern with the drug companies, right? 00:24:09.402 --> 00:24:14.823 Massive, massive, massive deductions and then huge income in one year With influencers. 00:24:14.823 --> 00:24:19.133 Influencers are still a very new kind of category from that standpoint. 00:24:19.133 --> 00:24:19.500 Okay. 00:24:19.780 --> 00:24:20.884 And everybody is one. 00:24:20.884 --> 00:24:22.207

It's like everybody is one. 00:24:22.207 --> 00:24:24.480 So that's why I'm like, okay, let's go down this. 00:24:24.480 --> 00:24:25.463 Okay, let's do this. 00:24:25.564 --> 00:24:26.465 Yo, I love it. 00:24:26.465 --> 00:24:28.892 Right, you've got to have profit motive. 00:24:28.892 --> 00:24:32.971 Okay, you have to show why ordinary, necessary and reasonable. 00:24:32.971 --> 00:24:42.510 So if you're, let's say you're it is shopping, right, let's say your thing is shopping and clothes and whatever right, did you spend $100 on an eye palette? 00:24:53.480 --> 00:24:53.720 And how many? 00:24:53.740 --> 00:24:55.442 of those eye palettes, specific eye palettes did you now show? 00:24:55.442 --> 00:24:58.144 I guess it's makeup, but you know makeup for the non-eye shadow, sorry, eye shadow. 00:24:58.144 --> 00:24:58.443 I'm so sorry. 00:24:58.443 --> 00:24:58.944 Two women talking. 00:24:58.944 --> 00:25:00.286 Sorry, gentlemen, sorry gentlemen. 00:25:00.306 --> 00:25:03.689 But yeah, if you, you know this eye shadow palette, right. 00:25:03.689 --> 00:25:20.826 If you promote it and you're really on Instagram and you're doing all your stories and you're doing all these things, right, and you don't sell any of it, maybe you decide I'm just not going to deduct that particular palette, right? 00:25:20.826 --> 00:25:22.413 If you're doing clothes as you said, you know influencer on clothes. 00:25:22.413 --> 00:25:33.803 If you're doing clothes and you're doing an Amazon because you mentioned an Amazon store if you're doing tennis skirts I don't know whatever it is you're doing, right, and you don't sell a single tennis skirt, maybe you decide not to deduct it. 00:25:33.803 --> 00:25:37.893 So just because you spent the money doesn't mean you have to deduct it, right? 00:25:37.893 --> 00:25:47.769 And this is where both your CPA and your tax strategist would work together at the end of the year, right, and say maybe you don't want to deduct that one. 00:25:47.769 --> 00:25:53.318 It will throw you out of the range of what's acceptable for losses for influencers for this kind of thing. 00:25:54.079 --> 00:25:56.567 Got it and so like what for a client? 00:25:56.567 --> 00:26:06.269 So I'm thinking about like a couple of people in particular that are in my, my ecosphere, that are these what I would call micro influencers, maybe even mid-level influencers. 00:26:06.269 --> 00:26:29.094 So so if we're telling a client like hey you, you know, in the example of you gave him the Starbucks guy is the requirements of running a business and filing like a separate LLC return if that's the case, and having to track expenses, like how do we determine if it's worth that effort and maybe a little bit of cash? 00:26:30.119 --> 00:26:31.804 Like a great question. 00:26:31.804 --> 00:26:33.006 I love it so. 00:26:33.006 --> 00:26:36.662 So I always take that question against whatever your tax rate is. 00:26:36.662 --> 00:26:42.842 So, if so, if I didn't have this

business, whatever it is, I'm doing right and my tax rate is 30%. 00:26:42.842 --> 00:26:50.682 Okay, I know that for every dollar that I can write off against my income, I'm going to save 30%. 00:26:50.682 --> 00:26:59.165 So I also know my Starbucks guy knows that he's spending $45 a day, right, and I've never actually I haven't run that calculation a long time. 00:26:59.165 --> 00:27:05.644 Let's see $45 a day times 365 is $16,425 at Starbucks. 00:27:05.644 --> 00:27:07.652 Right, we're spending some money. 00:27:07.652 --> 00:27:09.920 Okay, and let's just say he's at 30%. 00:27:09.920 --> 00:27:18.315 So his savings, if he writes off all of his Starbucks, all of it is $4,927.50. 00:27:18.654 --> 00:27:20.142 Let's round it to five grand. 00:27:20.142 --> 00:27:30.249 Okay, if you decide to go the business route, you must have a tax return, you must have books and records, you must have proof that you were trying to have a business. 00:27:30.249 --> 00:27:32.941 You were posting on Craigslist, instagram, youtube, blah, blah, blah. 00:27:32.941 --> 00:27:37.571 You can't make one post on Instagram and be like I'm an influencer, like, no, you're not. 00:27:37.571 --> 00:27:50.669 You have to prove profit motive, right, and that's actually a pretty big component, right, and the only person that can decide whether five grand is worth it is you, the client right. 00:27:50.669 --> 00:28:00.030 So if we were talking 50,000, maybe right Like I don't know, and so it's very dependent on the person. 00:28:00.933 --> 00:28:02.078 Yeah, that's so interesting. 00:28:02.078 --> 00:28:06.593 And so, like in the Starbucks example, he would have to be what was the total that he was spending 16,425. 00:28:06.593 --> 00:28:09.461 So he would have to be what was the total that he was spending $1,645. 00:28:09.461 --> 00:28:15.241 So he would have to be at least making the $1,604 to be able to deduct the $1,604. 00:28:15.241 --> 00:28:15.682 Is that like? 00:28:15.682 --> 00:28:16.925 Am I like a fair assessment here? 00:28:17.868 --> 00:28:23.409 Kind of so for the first couple of years, right, like any influencer, like any blog poster, like any anything, right? 00:28:23.409 --> 00:28:29.239 You're not making that comment in the first year, and so this is really where it's hard for an outside party to judge. 00:28:29.239 --> 00:28:36.310 Only you as the taxpayer, only you as the taxpayer, know how much effort are you going to put in, how much time are you going to put in? 00:28:36.310 --> 00:28:40.056 Are you really really like really really you're going to try to make this a business? 00:28:40.056 --> 00:28:41.530 Is it really going to be a thing? 00:28:41.530 --> 00:28:43.893 Are you going to spend money on advertising? 00:28:43.893 --> 00:28:49.547 It's one of the keys from the IRS, right? 00:28:49.547 --> 00:28:53.278 If you have profit motive, even if it's small, even if you only spend $5 a day on a Facebook ad, you're spending money on advertising. 00:28:53.278 --> 00:28:58.877 Why would you spend money on advertising if you weren't trying to get clients, right? 00:28:58.877 --> 00:29:12.778 So there's kind of these key factors and it's like a merged list, depending on what you're doing, of what the IRS looks at as to whether you should be flagged, not flagged, audited, not audited, and that's where you need a strategist. 00:29:13.345 --> 00:29:14.828 Okay, love that. 00:29:14.828 --> 00:29:19.509 Thank you for going down that rabbit hole because, as you were talking, I'm like there has to be. 00:29:19.509 --> 00:29:33.210 You know, I can think like now, right, so I sold my practice in 2019, but I can think like now, a couple of people in my world that, like this is what they do and I'm like, oh, I wonder if they would be able to detect that or how does that look like. 00:29:33.210 --> 00:30:03.866 So I have to imagine advisors are running into this influencer thing and Like that's how the IRS gets clear, Because the IRS, from their perspective, which is as clear as mud, okay, they've given taxpayers, all taxpayers, a very clear statement Profit motive ordinary, necessary, reasonable To them, that's to the IRS. 00:30:03.886 --> 00:30:04.909 That's clarity, that's clear as mud. 00:30:05.209 --> 00:30:07.311 They know what is ordinary reasonable Right necessary is a pretty subjective term. 00:30:07.311 --> 00:30:09.596 Mud Right Necessary Right Necessary is a pretty subjective term. 00:30:09.675 --> 00:30:19.626 Right, right, so, yeah, so, really, when this influencer thing, I think I mean we are already starting, because influencers really started four or five, maybe six years ago, and you know. 00:30:19.626 --> 00:30:21.913 So now we're starting to see court cases coming in. 00:30:21.913 --> 00:30:25.836 Mr Beast is a big one that always comes up as an example. 00:30:25.836 --> 00:30:35.894 You know what's reasonable, what's not, but the guy's making millions, so for him it's not a problem, right, what? 00:30:35.894 --> 00:30:43.674 What we're really discussing here is the little guy, right, the one that's just starting, and you just now have 5,000 Instagram followers or whatever, and you're making 25 cents or whatever you know. 00:30:43.674 --> 00:30:52.796 So, yeah, it's, it's an interesting world and unfortunately, I just don't have any specific details at this point because the court cases haven't cleared so. 00:30:53.484 --> 00:30:55.891 Fascinating, okay, so thank you for that. 00:30:55.891 --> 00:30:56.732 So let's go. 00:30:56.732 --> 00:30:59.326 Okay, what else should advisors be looking at? 00:30:59.326 --> 00:31:06.549 So we talked about kind of a boring vanilla person and really like going a little extra level on how they spend their money. 00:31:06.549 --> 00:31:09.914 Like I'm thinking in my head like wow, I didn't do that in my own business. 00:31:09.914 --> 00:31:11.637 That's really fascinating and interesting. 00:31:11.637 --> 00:31:17.917 So let's talk about some things

that you kind of come up with or explore for the less vanilla tax return people. 00:31:17.917 --> 00:31:19.992 So maybe like a little Rocky Road situation. 00:31:20.012 --> 00:31:21.942 I don't like the Rocky Road. 00:31:21.942 --> 00:31:23.185 Now I just want ice cream. 00:31:23.185 --> 00:31:24.128 That's a whole nother issue. 00:31:24.128 --> 00:31:27.758 But thank you Causing problems here, yeah. 00:31:27.758 --> 00:31:31.731 So when we talk about the rocky road right, what type of rocky road? 00:31:31.731 --> 00:31:34.240 So are you into rental properties? 00:31:34.240 --> 00:31:34.701 Right? 00:31:34.701 --> 00:31:36.246 I live in Arizona. 00:31:36.246 --> 00:31:38.330 Real estate is huge out here, right? 00:31:38.330 --> 00:31:43.208 I mean it's 40 to 50% of people have at least one rental property. 00:31:43.208 --> 00:31:45.373 Could be a long-term rental property. 00:31:45.373 --> 00:31:48.578 Could be Airbnb short-term rental property okay. 00:31:48.578 --> 00:31:55.506 Once you have either a rental property or a business air quotes, business of any kind okay. 00:31:55.506 --> 00:31:58.233 Could be very, very, very small micro business, like your influencer. 00:31:58.233 --> 00:32:00.086 Could be your Uber driver okay. 00:32:00.086 --> 00:32:01.750 Could be a brick and mortar. 00:32:01.750 --> 00:32:03.935 You bought a Subway franchise okay. 00:32:03.935 --> 00:32:06.671 Or you've opened up a McDonald's, you know whatever. 00:32:06.671 --> 00:32:10.345 That is okay, okay. 00:32:10.345 --> 00:32:11.709 Or you've opened up a McDonald's, you know whatever. 00:32:11.709 --> 00:32:12.089 That is okay. 00:32:12.089 --> 00:32:15.798 Once you have something that is not vanilla, your world of options, just massively. 00:32:15.798 --> 00:32:27.977 I mean we go from 15 to 20 strategies to the 1,500 strategies for business owners, because 100% hands down, the tax code is written for business owners period. 00:32:28.857 --> 00:32:30.038 Yeah, fascinating. 00:32:30.960 --> 00:32:33.290 Okay, so go ahead. 00:32:33.290 --> 00:32:34.094 No, no. 00:32:34.094 --> 00:32:36.845 So I was just going to say when, when you, once you have a business. 00:32:36.845 --> 00:32:49.419 Now we're talking about putting kids on payroll, writing off your dogs as security, using your home under the master's exemption or Augusta rule to get 14 days of tax-free income, right. 00:32:49.419 --> 00:32:51.712 Renting your home out for the Rose Bowl right. 00:32:51.712 --> 00:32:56.269 And I mean we have people in Arizona making $100,000 for 14 days. 00:32:56.269 --> 00:33:02.306 So you know, and these are just examples, I mean it can really be absolutely anything. 00:33:02.306 --> 00:33:10.799 I mean up to the point depending on the size of your business, right, if you've got clients that have bigger businesses, you know, 1 million, 5 million, 10 million kind of businesses. 00:33:10.799 --> 00:33:13.406 You're talking about captive insurance companies. 00:33:13.406 --> 00:33:17.096 You're talking about setting up cash balance plans to find benefit plans. 00:33:17.096 --> 00:33:19.710 I mean the world just opens. 00:33:20.171 --> 00:33:21.152 Those bananas. 00:33:21.152 --> 00:33:21.472 Okay. 00:33:21.472 --> 00:33:24.919 So how does an advisor find a tech strategist? 00:33:25.924 --> 00:33:28.893 Oh, there's not that many of us, like I said, there's about 15. 00:33:28.893 --> 00:33:32.490 So, yeah, so there is an organization out of California. 00:33:32.490 --> 00:33:35.046 They are the people that rank us, certify us, all this. 00:33:35.046 --> 00:33:42.069 They're called the AICTP, which I should probably know what that stands for American Institute of Certified Tax Planners. 00:33:42.069 --> 00:33:43.874 I think Don't quote me on that. 00:33:44.335 --> 00:33:44.876 I think so. 00:33:44.876 --> 00:33:48.728 I think so, but it's the AICTP and there's different. 00:33:48.728 --> 00:33:57.473 There's three different levels of a tax strategist Okay, so CTC certified tax coach is like the base level. 00:33:57.473 --> 00:34:01.395 Now they're still tax strategists, okay, but maybe they're new. 00:34:01.395 --> 00:34:05.858 They've been in practice 35 years, right, they're not the top of the right. 00:34:05.858 --> 00:34:08.581 I mean, it takes a while to kind of get the education. 00:34:08.581 --> 00:34:12.344 You have the next level, ctp certified tax professional. 00:34:12.344 --> 00:34:17.253 So those are your five to seven years, right, and then you have certified tax strategists. 00:34:17.954 --> 00:34:26.949 Now, to give you a little bit of an idea, at the moment I just looked at this the other day I think there's about 800 certified tax coaches or above. 00:34:26.949 --> 00:34:31.927 So that's not a lot of people out of everybody in the entire US, right, I think there's. 00:34:31.927 --> 00:34:54.389 If we look at CPAs, there's 665,000 CPAs, right, so I mean the numbers are just spectacularly off, right, and so, yeah, so I suppose it depends on the complexity of your client, on the relationship that you want to build, on the type of clients that you want to work with, right, your W-2, plain vanilla. 00:34:54.389 --> 00:34:56.135 You do not need me. 00:34:56.135 --> 00:34:58.632 You don't need a CTS top, you know. 00:34:58.632 --> 00:35:00.416 Whatever I mean, I'm in the top three. 00:35:00.416 --> 00:35:05.389 They refuse to tell us who's number one, which is always annoying, but I know I'm in the top three of the rank. 00:35:05.389 --> 00:35:09.619 But you know you don't need somebody like what we do right. 00:35:15.065 --> 00:35:19.684 I mean we tend to work on clients where gross revenue is minimum a million, because the types of strategies that we bring are meant for the bigger clients, right. 00:35:19.684 --> 00:35:28.706 So also figuring out which strategist is right, for maybe you have two strategists you work with, one with your small clients, one with your big clients, you know, it just kind of

depends. 00:35:29.288 --> 00:35:30.391 Right, okay, okay. 00:35:30.391 --> 00:35:37.012 And so you have a accounting firm with a digital team and all of the things I know. 00:35:37.012 --> 00:35:38.115 I'm like totally putting you on the spot. 00:35:38.115 --> 00:35:39.967 But like, what? 00:35:39.967 --> 00:35:42.496 Like, what do you do and how do you know? 00:35:42.496 --> 00:35:44.485 Like, can an advisor hire you guys? 00:35:44.485 --> 00:35:48.577 Like, could I come to you and say I have clients and need tech strategy? 00:35:49.164 --> 00:35:50.768 Yes, yes, absolutely. 00:35:50.768 --> 00:35:51.070 So. 00:35:51.070 --> 00:36:01.967 Yeah, of course, I'm so sorry, I didn't want to completely self-promote, but, yes, of course you can go to taxgoddesscom and reach out to our team, right, and just say, hey, you know, I'd like to partner with Tax Goddess. 00:36:01.967 --> 00:36:07.630 So, yes, you brought up the digital team thing, which I just want to kind of throw in here. 00:36:07.630 --> 00:36:13.353 So, yes, tax Goddess, our firm has 105 staff in 17 different countries. 00:36:13.353 --> 00:36:15.675 All of them focus on US tax. 00:36:15.675 --> 00:36:21.858 All of them focus on US strategy right, we don't do taxes and strategy for other countries right, Everything is US. 00:36:22.418 --> 00:36:35.985 And one of the biggest questions that I get generally from our financial advisor partners is like I want to hire overseas, right, how do I find a CFP? 00:36:35.985 --> 00:36:37.028 How do I find an assistant that knows finance? 00:36:37.028 --> 00:36:39.474 How do I find a front desk, you know, telephone reception type person? 00:36:39.474 --> 00:36:48.217 Because of the nature of what we do, we've actually created a company back in 2018 called Talent Gnome, so talentgnomecom. 00:36:48.217 --> 00:36:52.744 We help other financial professionals hire overseas. 00:36:52.744 --> 00:36:56.393 If that's what you want to do, to be able to build a team, grow, expand. 00:36:56.393 --> 00:37:00.733 So we do recruiting and HR and like all that kind of jazz. 00:37:01.134 --> 00:37:01.876 Fascinating. 00:37:01.876 --> 00:37:03.041 I love it, okay Okay. 00:37:03.041 --> 00:37:06.695 So you fall in that category you were talking about earlier, where you have like a new business idea every month. 00:37:07.385 --> 00:37:07.989 I yes. 00:37:08.210 --> 00:37:09.918 And I have been yelled at by my team. 00:37:09.938 --> 00:37:13.851 You're only allowed to give us one every month and that's max like period, right? 00:37:13.851 --> 00:37:15.235 Yes, a hundred percent, yeah. 00:37:15.355 --> 00:37:15.775 Oh my gosh. 00:37:15.775 --> 00:37:16.646 Well, I love this. 00:37:16.646 --> 00:37:37.920 Thank you so much for just sharing all of this expertise and we'll make sure to link all of those things in the show notes because I know, like I said, for my practice, there's I can think of, like I can still picture 10 clients and I'm like, oh my gosh, we're like this was the

thing we kept trying to get their CPAs to perform on for us and we just couldn't get it right. 00:37:37.920 --> 00:37:44.811 Like it's little stuff, like I even just the other day I'm looking at another rental property and I'm like I'm wondering if I should have my 401k buy it Right. 00:37:44.811 --> 00:37:46.112 Like, is that something that like? 00:37:46.353 --> 00:37:49.416 oh, self-directed IRAs all day, Right Like. 00:37:49.516 --> 00:37:51.920 I'm like I wonder if I could have my Roth for what? 00:37:51.920 --> 00:38:00.507 Like, I'm like that's why I just need someone who can kind of, um, you know, spitball with me and look at stuff and say, yeah, that actually does make sense for you or no, that does not. 00:38:00.507 --> 00:38:01.829 So I think that's really really cool. 00:38:01.829 --> 00:38:19.112 So thank you so much for for coming on, and I think we have to have a separate conversation about some more things, uh, specifically related to financial advisors and running their businesses and how they can save taxes and do the things and how do they know if they should be an escort versus the this versus the that versus the statutory, whatever. 00:38:19.112 --> 00:38:20.056 Like you know all the things. 00:38:20.726 --> 00:38:32.969 Um, but before we sign off, I always like to ask my guests that are business owners what are two things that you do in your business to work more efficiently? 00:38:32.969 --> 00:38:39.068 So it could be a mindset hack, it could be a software, it could just be a daily practice that you have. 00:38:39.068 --> 00:38:46.456 Tell me how you have kind of moved your business, because obviously you've scaled to this huge organization and you've started multiple companies. 00:38:46.456 --> 00:38:49.148 So tell me what you do and how do you do it so efficiently. 00:38:49.849 --> 00:38:51.813 Absolutely Well, and you're right. 00:38:51.813 --> 00:38:58.195 My first answer is you hire a team that is smarter than you and better than you at whatever it is you're trying to do, like period. 00:38:58.195 --> 00:39:00.748 Plain simple go hire talent right. 00:39:00.748 --> 00:39:05.099 From my perspective as a person, I am huge on time blocking. 00:39:05.099 --> 00:39:11.530 Everything in my life, down to the last five minutes, is time blocked, including dinner, including dog walks. 00:39:11.530 --> 00:39:14.297 I mean you, you name it right, it is time blocked. 00:39:14.297 --> 00:39:21.190 And for efficiency purposes, I mean that's to me that's the key, because I don't have to think about what am I doing next. 00:39:21.190 --> 00:39:26.166 I just, oh, calendar, yep, great time to do the thing, and and we get done. 00:39:26.166 --> 00:39:42.454 Um, and I do believe, especially when you have multiple things going on in your life, whether it's a business and an influencer site and you know real estate or whatever if you don't have yourself organized, whether it's time blocking or something else, if you're not organized, it will explode, things will explode. 00:39:42.795 --> 00:39:54.934 So oh, I love, cause I always love when people talk about like calendaring and how they do their calendaring, cause I'm like see, see, I told you so, cause it's so hard, it's so people resist it so much, cause it feels so structured or it feels so whatever. 00:39:54.934 --> 00:39:59.873 And I'm telling you like, once you start doing like, a model week time blocking. 00:40:00.114 --> 00:40:03.628 it's the structure gives you so much freedom it's unbelievable. 00:40:03.628 --> 00:40:07.936 So, and like pure honesty, how closely do you adhere to that? 00:40:07.936 --> 00:40:09.117 Like 100%. 00:40:09.117 --> 00:40:11.402 So, and like pure honesty, how closely do you adhere to that? 00:40:11.422 --> 00:40:16.365 Like, like, realistically, really Okay. 00:40:16.365 --> 00:40:17.949 So if this helps you at all, I'm German, I'm a Taurus, right, I'm stubborn as all. 00:40:17.949 --> 00:40:18.311 Get out, right. 00:40:18.311 --> 00:40:19.414 I, by the minute, by the day. 00:40:19.414 --> 00:40:23.445 Now things happen, things happen, right, dog gets sick, you get. 00:40:23.445 --> 00:40:30.596 Like, I mean, you're done, like, go do, I've got five dogs, so stuff happens, right, there's always something happening, things happen. 00:40:30.735 --> 00:40:39.485 But if something happens, I just move the time block to the next opening or whatever, like, I'm very, if it's on the calendar, it's on the calendar and that's the deal. 00:40:39.485 --> 00:40:47.556 I don't think I could, as I said, do as much as I do without being very strict on myself. 00:40:47.556 --> 00:40:56.262 And I agree with you that time blocking is so freeing because let's take, for example, today, right, I had a meeting earlier. 00:40:56.262 --> 00:40:57.686 I thought it was going to take an hour. 00:40:57.686 --> 00:40:59.992 I blocked out an hour, we were done in 20 minutes. 00:40:59.992 --> 00:41:01.945 I was jumping around like a little kid. 00:41:01.945 --> 00:41:06.452 I'm going to go to the kitchen and go get a snack and I get free time and I get to do blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. 00:41:06.452 --> 00:41:07.873 Right, like, I love it. 00:41:07.873 --> 00:41:10.097 It makes me so happy when something like that happens. 00:41:10.217 --> 00:41:12.320 So, there you go, I love it. 00:41:12.320 --> 00:41:13.367 Well, thank you so much. 00:41:13.367 --> 00:41:21.204 Appreciate you and we're going to have to have you back and talk some more things about, specifically, how advisors can save money on their own frigging taxes. 00:41:21.204 --> 00:41:22.168 I love it. 00:41:22.168 --> 00:41:22.690 Let's do it. 00:41:22.690 --> 00:41:23.172 Thank you, shauna. 00:41:23.172 --> 00:41:24.295 Thank you for having me Such a pleasure. 00:41:24.295 --> 00:41:30.505 Thank you, shauna, thank you for having me Such a pleasure. 00:41:31.005 --> 00:41:33.190 Okay, am I right? 00:41:33.190 --> 00:41:34.253 Was that fascinating? 00:41:34.253 -->

00:41:53.547 My big takeaways from this episode are really just a lot of what we talk about right here with just getting to know your clients even better, digging deeper, your clients even better, digging deeper. 00:41:53.547 --> 00:41:56.291 And you cannot do this if you are only doing annual reviews or investment updates. 00:41:56.291 --> 00:42:07.094 You have to have structure to your client service model that gives you the ability to go so much deeper with your clients. 00:42:07.094 --> 00:42:21.403 And I'm not saying you have to add more time, right, like in our group coaching program, we get deep into theme-based planning and how to do your client service model a little differently to allow more time for this type of level. 00:42:21.403 --> 00:42:36.028 Right, and it's so hard because you can't just get here in the last 15 minutes of a meeting after you've reviewed their portfolio and maybe touched base on all their insurances and maybe did a beneficiary update and then squeeze this business into the last end. 00:42:36.028 --> 00:42:52.414 Right, and I'm also not saying you have to do it across the board for all of your clients, but do think about how you could strategically implement some actual tax strategy like this moving forward, and I know some of the examples in here are a little like whoa out there, but great, that makes great. 00:42:52.414 --> 00:42:55.750 First of all, that makes really great interesting content right For a podcast episode. 00:42:55.769 --> 00:42:57.134 But it expand for me. 00:42:57.134 --> 00:43:00.268 It expanded my brain so much further in my thinking. 00:43:00.268 --> 00:43:14.215 I mean, like, honestly, if a stripper can deduct her augmentation, like and get away with it and not get away with it, but the IRS go, yep, I mean what else is available to the rest of us, right, and what could be available to your clients? 00:43:14.215 --> 00:43:21.576 So the takeaway for me is that the tax code is what's the word I'm looking for. 00:43:21.576 --> 00:43:29.757 I don't want to say more liberal than we think, but the tax code is available to us and we can be creative and stay within the rules. 00:43:29.757 --> 00:43:40.556 Right, like the Augusta rule is a creative way for clients with businesses to rent their house back to them for a event that they're doing for their business. 00:43:40.556 --> 00:43:47.913 Or I mean, there's so many different nuances of different things that we're doing and our clients are doing that maybe we hadn't even thought through the lens of tax strategy yet. 00:43:47.913 --> 00:44:08.010 And I know for me when I was running my practice, like I said at the top of the episode, that I would have killed for someone like this with some of my especially some of my clients that had really really high incomes that were just W-2 employees, or some of my business owners that had some potential for more creative solutions. 00:44:08.510 --> 00:44:11.434 So anyways, I hope you found this episode interesting. 00:44:11.434 --> 00:44:14.579 I hope it stretched you a little bit in some way shape or form. 00:44:14.579 --> 00:44:26.735 And in the email that went out here for this episode I've got a link to Shauna's business where you can get in touch with them and learn all about how they can help your clients and what that costs and all of the details. 00:44:26.735 --> 00:44:30.496 I've also got that link in the show notes for you as well. 00:44:30.496 --> 00:44:35.858 You can also find it out on the efficientadvisorcom under the resources tab. 00:44:35.858 --> 00:44:37.932 So all of the details will be there. 00:44:37.932 --> 00:44:47.315 You can set up a call with them, get the whole scoop and nothing but the scoop and see if you maybe have a client or two that this might be a great fit. 00:44:47.315 --> 00:44:49.552 So I'm just super fascinated. 00:44:49.552 --> 00:44:58.150 I took tons of notes during this episode that I can't wait to think through or potentially implement into my own tax strategy. 00:44:58.150 --> 00:45:00.476 So hopefully you're thinking through that lens too. 00:45:01.266 --> 00:45:06.257 I would love to talk more with you about this over in the Efficient Advisor community on Facebook. 00:45:06.257 --> 00:45:12.034 If you were at XYPN here recently and are new to the Facebook group, welcome. 00:45:12.034 --> 00:45:14.614 We'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode. 00:45:14.614 --> 00:45:19.192 You can communicate with myself, and Shauna is in there as well, answering questions. 00:45:19.192 --> 00:45:30.436 I'm also thinking about let me know if this would be interesting to you, but doing kind of like a live happy hour Zoom call with Shauna and letting her just answer a whole bunch of questions that we might have. 00:45:30.436 --> 00:45:36.490 I know that's something she said she would be willing to do for our community, so super cool. 00:45:36.625 --> 00:45:39.155 Also, you know I hang out over on LinkedIn. 00:45:39.155 --> 00:45:50.036 We are so close to 10,000 followers, you guys, so if you would I know it's a vanity metric and it doesn't actually mean anything, but for some reason I'll be honest I'm a little fixated on hitting it. 00:45:50.036 --> 00:46:01.132 So if you're not following us over on LinkedIn at the Efficient Advisor, find me personally, libby Greiwe, g-r-e-i-w-e, and if you didn't know, that's how I pronounced my last name, greiwe. 00:46:01.132 --> 00:46:12.432 I married into it, my maiden name was Tate, t-a-t-e, t-a-t-e, and I desperately tried to get my ex-husband to take my name and it would have been so much easier. 00:46:12.452 --> 00:46:14.577 But anyways, find me, libby Grywey, and I'd love for you guys to follow us. 00:46:14.577 --> 00:46:16.570 We've got some really exciting stuff. 00:46:16.570 --> 00:46:31.391 I just made some major, exciting investments in my business and a lot of it surrounding some content creation, some video production, and we're going to be dropping a lot of content over on LinkedIn and different content over in the Efficient Advisor community. 00:46:31.391 --> 00:46:36.847 So I would love for you to join us in both of those capacities and we will see you there. 00:46:36.847 --> 00:46:39.831 Thanks so much and I hope you guys have an amazing rest of your week. 00:46:39.831 --> 00:46:42.034 You.