<p>If you are launching a new venture, you may wonder whether it’s necessary to open a dedicated bank account for your business. Even if your company is established and already has separate checking and credit-card accounts, you may be tempted to pay business expenses from personal accounts on occasion — or vice versa — particularly [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Have you ever worried about something? I mean really worried about it as it kept you up at night. I know I have.</p> <p>Even though I know logically that worrying about a thing does not change things, I often do. This is the human condition. We worry, and sometimes that worry pushes us to act even when doing so is not in our best interests.  </p> <p>When I graduated college, the United States was in a recession. A new grad with a business d...

<p>&#8220;Nearly 100% of us have dreams, 60% of us have goals, three percent of us write them down, one percent have a written plan, and less than that execute on the plan consistently.&#8221;  </p> <p>If you want to be a &#8220;one percenter,&#8221; doing all three things is a great place to start.    </p> <p>This month, we will take a glance back at 2022 and look forward to 2023<br /> Much like driving a car, it is good to glance in the rear...

<p>Have you ever faced down two thousand pounds of raw muscle bearing down on you in the ocean? a rock face to your right and open ocean to your left. How do you position yourself? </p>

<p>It was HOT! My head was swimming, and my mouth took in massive lungs full of air. I had two walking sticks and a lot of water on my back. My 50+ out-of-shape body had pushed through a whopping four miles of straight uphill rocky terrain. My ultra-marathon runner 20-something son waited patiently for me, not even breathing heavily, and encouragingly said, Dad, just another mile to go, and it is all downhill from here! (I begged to differ wit...

<p>Have you ever read stories about professional athletes?</p> <p>I recently watched a video series about one. These stories fascinate me, even though they all have three things in common. They all practice, watch historical tapes and have multiple coaches in specific areas of their craft. (a throwing coach, a strength coach, an endurance coach, a physical therapist, a dietician, and the list goes on).  </p>

<p>Have you ever been in a situation where you know something is wrong but need a professional to tell you just how bad it is? &#8216;So, Mr. Mechanic, how bad is it? So Doc, how bad is it?   </p> <p>One of my sons recently called with a car issue, and from 1,800 miles away, he said to me so how bad do you think it is? Just from having him describe the issue, my best guess was a $1,500 to $2,000 repair, but I am far from the actual problem, so...

<p>What matters is what will happen, not what is happening right now, yet that is where most people focus. I am teaching my daughter (the last one of six I get to teach.) how to drive, and we talk about keeping her focus further out because if she doesn&#8217;t, she is constantly correcting and going way over to one side of the lane or the other. Investing can be a lot like that. Keep your focus out in front. Sure, glance in the rearview mirro...

<p>Have you ever made a poor decision based on fear, only to learn of your mistake later?  </p> <p>One of the things I learned about helping people in water rescue is that, as painful as it may be, you must wait for a panicked person to drown before you can save them nearly. Their fear causes them to make poor decisions like grabbing their would-be rescuer and drowning them both!  </p> <p>I also learned that the more you understand something, ...

<p>Have you ever worried about something? I mean really worried about it as it kept you up at night. I know I have. I often do, even though I know logically that worrying about a thing does not change things. This is the human condition. We worry, and sometimes that worry pushes us to act even when doing so is not in our best interests.  </p> <p>When I graduated college, the United States was in a recession. A new grad with a business degree c...

<p>Henry Ford said in his memoirs that you could purchase a Model T in any color as long as it was black! Most think this was the only color or the cheapest color that would work within his new, innovative mass production facility that contributed significantly to the Roaring 2020s. There is some truth to both theories, but the real reason was that the black paint dried about four hours faster than any other color, and he could produce and sel...

<p>If you are launching a new venture, you may wonder whether it’s necessary to open a dedicated bank account for your business. Even if your company is established and already has separate checking and credit-card accounts, you may be tempted to pay business expenses from personal accounts on occasion — or vice versa — particularly [&hellip;]</p>

<p>A provision in the December 2020 stimulus bill allows businesses to deduct the full cost of food and beverages provided by a restaurant in tax years 2021 and 2022. The standard deduction for most business meals had been limited to 50% of the cost since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act took effect in 2018. [&hellip;]</p>

<p>In the November 2020 election, Florida voters approved an initiative to increase the minimum wage incrementally to $15 per hour by 2026. Eight states (plus the District of Columbia) have passed legislation to raise the minimum wage in steps to $15, but Florida will be the first state to do so through a ballot measure.1 Considering [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Converting traditional IRA assets to a Roth IRA is a tried-and-true strategy for creating a tax-free source of retirement income. The catch is that converted assets are taxed as ordinary income in the year of the conversion. The resulting tax bill could be painful, especially for someone with a thriving business or a professional in [&hellip;]</p>

<p>The U.S. tax code generally encourages investments made to strengthen or grow a business. In 2018, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) made it possible to write off the full cost of large asset purchases in the first year with Section 179 deductions and/or bonus depreciation. This includes eligible vehicles, up to certain limits. [&hellip;]</p>

<p>On May 7, 2021, the Colonial Pipeline, which carries almost half of the East Coast’s fuel supply from Texas to New Jersey, shut down operations in response to a ransomware attack. Colonial paid a $4.4 million ransom not long after discovering the attack, and the pipeline was reopened within a week. While there was enough [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Few business owners have escaped the financial effects of stay-at-home orders, new safety protocols, and consumer fears related to the pandemic. Even if you took advantage of temporary federal, state, or local relief funds to help you stay afloat during the worst months, you could still be expecting significantly lower sales and profits for 2020 [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Your business may be running smoothly. You could be making money hand over fist. But don’t be lulled into thinking that a catastrophe could never hit your business. Disasters can strike in many ways; even a minor one could wipe out a lifetime of hard work. Fortunately, the appropriate business owner’s insurance policy, sometimes called [&hellip;]</p>

<p>One of your greatest assets is the ability to earn an income. If you were to lose that ability due to a disabling accident or illness, how would you pay your bills, send your kids to college, and save for retirement? A disability can create substantial economic hardship for individuals and their families. As a [&hellip;]</p>