Month of July, 2007

I’m writing this the evening before July 4th. Richard and I are heading out tomorrow early to visit our son, David, at his new school. Between the beautiful grounds, the stable of horses and the cooler weather at his school’s higher elevation, I’m thinking of moving in!

Whatever it is that you did on the 4th, I hope you enjoyed it. In this week’s What’s Hot I want to tell you about three recent tax court rulings. In each case, mistakes in understanding and/or interpreting tax law left taxpayers paying a high price for bad information and bad decisions.

When it comes to taxes, there rarely are quick questions. Or, let me put it another way, if you consistently get quick answers from your quick questions – run, don’t walk, to another advisor. That’s because on the surface it might seem like a quick question, but there is often more to it. For example, “I am selling my principal house that I lived in for over two years and getting back $100,000, do I have to pay tax?”

It’s funny - there’s a tremendous emphasis on words like “security” and “safety” when it comes to the traditional investment market. Mutual funds, blue chip stocks - they’re all pushed as safe, secure places to put your money.

I just filmed three segments of Online Workshops to play in the First Class Lounge during the time before, during and after our July Maui Mastermind. The theme this month was all about business structures.

A few months back I wrote an article talking about CPAs, and how it could sometimes be really hard to find a good, knowledgeable CPA with a background in business and real estate and a talent for creative tax strategies.

Two weeks ago, I did a two line mention about our new DKAffiliated program of CPAs. We got flooded with requests to work with these CPAs who had trained with me. The interesting thing, though, is that I’m hearing the same questions, comments, and requests that I heard 25 years ago.

Evolve or …

One of my friends never takes a vacation. Being from Canada, she instead “goes on holiday.” When I asked her, she said it was a left-over “English-ism,” that had stuck around up in Canada.