Second Act Retirement Planning Week 1 Video doesn't play? Click to watch on YouTube Download Workbook

FINANCIAL PLANNING & LONG-TERM TAX REDUCTION IN LIGHT OF THE TAX CUTS AND JOBS ACT The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has created a unique and time-sensitive retirement planning opportunity that will sunset in 2025. READ MORE BEWARE OF HEDGE FUND MANAGERS BEARING GIFTS "Do not trust the horse, Trojans. Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks even when they bring gifts." READ MORE PROFITING FROM THE FAILURE OF ACTIVE MANAGERS The reason most active managers fail to outperform their benchmarks is not simply due to their higher fee structure. They fail because they fail to recognize that the markets are random. READ MORE BETTER THINKING... Daniel Kahneman breaks down our decision-making process into two systems: System 1 is intuitive and emotional. System 2 is deliberative and logical. Understanding how System 1 and System 2 work together is critical. READ MORE ...BETTER DECISIONS The challenge with our System 1 and System 2 thinking is when we "think" we are an expert, or we have a life experience that impacts us. This perception of "expertise" or the impact of life experience can shape our decision-making process in a profound way. READ MORE THE FALLACY OF THE FORMULA What do Circuit City, Fannie Mae and Pitney Bowes all have in common? They have all been remarkable failures and were three of the eleven "Great Companies" identified in Jim Collins' Good to Great book. READ MORE OVERCOMING OUR COGNITIVE BIASES The challenge with our cognitive biases is that they tend to influence us most at the extreme ends of the spectrum. And it's at these extreme ends of the spectrum where we may need to ignore them the most. READ MORE

Retirement Readiness Our Retirement Readiness series is four separate webinars designed to address today's most important retirement issues. Each 20 minute webinar is designed to provide 15 minutes of value-packed content and close with 5 minutes for Q&A ​ You can use the links below to watch the recorded webinars "When Will I Be Ready and What Should I Do Today to Prepare for Retirement?" When Will I Be Ready and What Should I Do Today To Prepare for Retirement is a 20 minute webinar that will walk through the three most important steps you can take to get yourself on track to safely retire on your time frame. In addition to the three specific action steps, all attendees will receive our Safe Retirement Zone calculator as a valuable tool that they can use to help take control of their future. View On-Demand Video Social Security Claiming Strategies - How to Maximize Your Lifetime Benefit The Social Security Claiming Strategies module can have a profound impact because most people don't understand the different options they have when claiming Social Security, and they don't understand the financial implications of the different options. If you are married, your options have doubled, and if you are divorced you may still have the option of a spousal claim. Understanding the spousal benefits and the delayed benefits may not only significantly increase your monthly income, it could change the trajectory of your retirement years. Our Social Security Claiming Strategies module is invaluable if you or someone you care about is in or near retirement. View On-Demand Video Tax Efficient Retirement Planning in Light of the Recent Tax Cuts and Jobs Act The Tax Efficient Retirement Planning module will address the massive shift in the tax code that took place last January. These changes radically impact how individuals should be preparing for retirement, and they provide significant opportunities to take action between now and December of 2025, when the tax cuts are set to expire. The Tax Efficient Retirement Planning module will empower you with the tools to take full advantage of the current compelling, but temporary opportunities created by the new tax laws. View On-Demand Video Small Business Retirement Planning The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act recently passed by congress enacted the most significant tax legislation changes that our country has seen in over thirty years. These changes have a significant impact on how small business owners should prepare for retirement - and that is why we put together our Small Business Retirement Planning module. If you are a small business owner or independent contractor and your financial plan was put in place prior to December of 2017, there is no way you are taking advantage of the new opportunities. Our Small Business Retirement Planning module will help small business owners take full advantage of the recent changes to maximize a lifetime of savings that are currently available. But there is a sense of urgency, because the current tax cuts are set to expire in 2025. View On-Demand Video

HOW TO DEDUCT YOUR VACATION TRAVEL AS A BUSINESS EXPENSE Taking a vacation can be expensive, so naturally the idea of deducting your vacation expenses on your tax return is an appealing idea. However, before you get carried away planning a lavish vacation with the hopes of writing off the entire cost, make sure to familiarize yourself with the requirements to qualify your expenses as business travel. To qualify for a tax deduction the trip needs to serve a legitimate business purpose. Handing out business cards on the beach does not count. There are 5 criteria your trip must meet to be a qualified business expense: Profit motive. The trip must serve a legitimate profit motive. This means that you can reasonably expect the trip to create profit either now or at some point in the future. Stay overnight . You can only deduct meal and lodging expenses when you are away from home overnight. “Rational Businessperson” test. Your trip will only qualify as a business expense if the business motive is strong enough that a rational businessperson would make the trip if business was the only motive. Primary purpose test. You can only deduct your travel expenses when your trip is primarily for business. This is determined by calculating the number of business days vs personal days of the trip. This may sound like a deal breaker, but it is easier to meet this requirement than you think. Maintain good records. If you do not properly document the business purpose of your trip, your travel expenses, or your actual business activities on the trip you will risk losing your entire deduction. ​ Your trip expenses can be broken down into two general categories with different requirements to be deductible: Transportation Expenses Transportation costs include airfare, train tickets, or the cost of a rental car to get to your destination. These expenses are all-or-nothing, if the majority of your trip days are business days you can deduct all of your transportation costs. If the majority of your trip days are personal you cannot deduct any of these costs. Life Expenses Life expenses include your daily meals and lodging. Unlike transportation expenses you do not need to meet the majority of business days threshold to take life expenses. Instead you simply take the life expenses for each business day of the trip. What Counts as a Business Day? It may be easier than you think to qualify most of your trip as business days. Each day of the trip only needs to meet one of these criteria to qualify as a business day: ​ Work more than four hours. You have a workday when you spend more than half of normal work hours pursuing business. Since a normal workday is eight hours you only need to work for more than four. Presence-required day. If you are required to be at a destination on a specific day for a legitimate business purpose. For example, if you have a meeting with a client in another city on Tuesday, then Tuesday qualifies as a business day even if that is your only business activity for that day. Travel day. Days you spend traveling to or from your business destination count as business days as long as you are traveling in a reasonably direct route. Weekends and holidays. If a weekend or holiday falls in between two business days you can count those days as business days as long as it would not be practical to return home in between the two business days. If you live in California and have meetings in New York on Friday and Monday, it would not be practical to return to California for the weekend. Therefore, all four days count as business days. Saved-money-on-travel days. If you arrive at a destination a day early or leave a day late in order to save on your travel expenses you can count the extra day as a business expense as it served a legitimate business purpose of reducing your travel costs. ​ Summary The rules governing business travel allow for some freedom to deduct vacation time as business expenses, but do not provide a blank check to write off an entire vacation simply because you spent a few minutes discussing business. You need to find the right balance between work and relaxation, properly document your work activities, and maintain records of all your expenses. Are you overpaying on your taxes? Schedule a free review of your last 3 years of tax returns!

One step away to save on your taxes. Schedule a quick 10-minute, no-obligation consultation. ARE YOU PROTECTING YOURSELF From Your Corporate Income? ​ While there are potential tax savings with a corporate structure in place, it is critical that the corporation be the entity that actually earned the income. ​ WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? A fundamental principle of tax law is that income is taxed to the entity who earns it; and any attempts to divert the income away from its true earner are not recognized by the IRS. AND WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? It means the corporation (not the business owner) must be the entity that contracts for the services that it will have you (the business owner) provide. It means the corporation needs to be the entity that gets paid (not the business owner) for the services provided. It means the corporation must have control over the income it receives. Once it receives the income, it can then direct it to the business owner via payroll or a shareholder distribution. ​ WHAT ARE THE MAIN TAKEAWAYS HERE? If you have self-employment income, you should consider the potential tax benefits of a corporation At Monotelo, we believe that clients who have self-employment income should consider the potential benefits of structuring their business as a corporation. That is because a corporation can provide asset protection and potential tax benefits that are not available to the self-employed individual who files a Schedule C with their tax return. 1. Have your clients or customers write their check directly to the business. Do not accept checks written to you personally. A check made out to you and signed over to the business puts the business owner at risk of double taxation and penalties. ​ 2. Have the corporation pay you a salary for the services you are providing to the corporation. ​ 3. Make sure that all contracts and agreements with clients are between the client and the corporation, not between the client and the business owner. Save as PDF

Select a time for you virtual tax meeting

Why Monotelo? One step away to save on your taxes. Schedule a quick 10-minute, no-obligation consultation.

REGISTRATION CLOSED FOR AUGUST 18TH Our webinar on August 18th has reached the maximum number of registered attendees. To accommodate additional attendees we have added a second presentation on September 8th at 7:30 pm. REGISTER FOR SEPTEMBER 8TH

SMALL BUSINESS TIPS DEDUCTING 100% OF YOUR BUSINESS MEALS ​ In the past, the tax deduction for business-related meals has generally been limited to 50% of the cost of the meal. However, to help the restaurant industry recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, the relief bill signed into law at the end of last year temporarily increased the business meal deduction to 100% for tax years 2021 and 2022. This means that you can now fully deduct the cost of your business meals provided they meet a few requirements. ​ What Qualifies as a Business Meal? The first step is to make sure your meal qualifies as a business expense. Deductible business meals include: ​ Meals shared between you and a person with whom you could reasonably expect to engage in business activity, such as a customer, supplier, employee, partner, or professional advisor. Meals for yourself while out of town on a qualified business trip. Note that you cannot deduct your own meals while working unless you are either out of town on an overnight business trip or meeting with a potential business associate. ​ To substantiate your meal as a qualified business expense you should save the receipt as well as document who you met with or the purpose of your out-of-town trip. ​ How Do You Qualify for the 100% Deduction? Since the purpose of temporarily increasing the meal deduction was to bolster the struggling restaurant industry, the 100% deduction only applies if the meal is provided by a business that prepares and sells food or beverages to customers for immediate consumption. You are not required to purchase the meal directly from a qualified restaurant, as long as the food is provided by one. This means that meals you purchase through a third-party food delivery service can still qualify for the 100% deduction. ​ What Doesn’t Qualify for 100% Deduction? Businesses that are not qualified restaurants include any that primarily sell pre-packaged food or beverages not for immediate consumption, including: ​ Grocery stores Specialty food stores Beer, wine, or liquor stores Drug stores Convenience stores Newsstands Vending machines or kiosks ​ Meals purchased from any of the places mentioned above would still be limited to the 50% deduction. If you choose to use federal per diem rates to deduct your meals during business trips or to reimburse your employees for business meals, you are also limited to the regular 50% deduction. To qualify for the 100% deduction you must use the actual cost of the meals. Summary Business meals have traditionally been a sore spot for business owners due to the limited tax benefits relative to other business expenses. With this temporary increase you can now fully deduct your business meals as long as they are a qualified business expense and are provided by a qualified restaurant.

Second Act Retirement Planning Week 1 Video doesn't play? Click to watch on YouTube Download Workbook

WHITE PAPER INTRODUCTION WIN ONE, LOSE ONE, WIN ONE... The W-L-W case was a fun case for our team. There was complexity due to the types of income this family was generating and the stakes were high because they were in the 39.6% tax bracket in the prior tax year. They were also paying AMT (the alternative minimum tax). This can be a very tough tax to deal with because it can wipe out our ability to take certain itemized deductions. ​ Both the husband and wife worked. The wife was a high-producing business owner and the husband worked in corporate America. We projected their tax liability to be in the $110,000 range when we started the case, and both the husband and the wife made it clear that they were tired of paying too much in taxes. They felt like their current advisory team was doing little to help them accomplish their goals. THE CHALLENGE With more than half of the income in this case coming from W-2 income, we believed we could still make a difference for this family. This, however, was one of the first cases where the majority of the income was not coming from the small business owner, but coming from a corporate employee. THE SOLUTION We had three goals heading into this case: Lower their taxable income by $15,000 Shift the sources of the income of the business owner Reduce or eliminate the AMT Penalty ​ ​ In the end, we could not get to our first goal and we did not fully eliminate the AMT penalty. However, we were able to lower their taxable income by $12,500. ​ We were surprised at the smaller impact we had on their taxable income, but we were even more surprised when we discovered that we lowered their overall federal tax liability by $14,000 a year. ​ We were not able to fully eliminate the AMT penalty for this family, but we were able to reduce it with two strategies: We reduced their adjusted gross income by structuring the compensation differently for the business owner and this lowered the AMT penalty We suggested shifting one asset from their personal balance sheet to an LLC. This reduced the portion of the itemized deductions that they missed as a result of the alternative minimum tax. The $14,000 in annual savings that we were able to generate for this family was outside the norm of what we had done in the past, but the additional complexity of their situation gave us more opportunities to be creative!​ Save as PDF More White Papers ​ JSZ: Junior Sam Zell CWS: Could-A-Would-A-Should-A SOO: Starting Over, And Over