Month of June, 2008

Fifteen months ago, TaxLoopholes did some massive changes in order to “go green.” We went largely virtual. In our case, though, it was really two-fold. (1) We turned the bulk of products into electronic format and (2) We closed down our main office and everybody pretty much works from home.

There were a number of reasons why we did this: more efficiency, lower costs, happier employees, and mainly it just felt right.

Not too long ago, Diane blogged about how the real estate market is different in different parts of the country. I just got back from a week in Vancouver, Canada, taking care of some family business. While I was there, I got first-hand evidence of just how true that is! My travels took me back and forth across the Lower Mainland (which encompasses the city of Vancouver and 20-30 miles of surrounding suburbs) in just about every direction possible. I was completely floored at the amount of construction activity going on up there!

I’ve advised thousands of clients to hold their property in an LLC for asset protection. Learn why I’ve now changed my mind and why you must ACT NOW to protect your ability to refinance in the future.

In this week’s Online Workshop I’m continuing the discussion I started last week about the recent change in internal lending guidelines issued by Freddie Mac. These new changes are making holding real estate in a protected business structure far less appealing than before. But I don’t believe the answer is to go “bare” and hold title in your name, either. That paints a huge target on your back … not to mention putting all that you’re working for at risk.

Join me in the second of three brand-new online workshops to discover what I’m doing (and suggesting for my clients).

There might be a silver lining to the lowered real estate values, at least when it comes to estate planning that has been delayed too long.

There has been a lot of talk in the past about the greatest transfer of wealth in the world’s history that is occuring right now. As aged parents pass away, many Baby Boomers are trying to escape estate taxes that they had not anticipated.

Finally! I get to make an announcement I’ve been waiting for weeks to make. I have formed a partnership with Bill Bourbonnais for a new tax services company, Diane Kennedy’s Tax Services. Every single employee will be personally trained by me, so you know you’ll get the latest in cutting edge tax strategies. Not only that, you never have to worry about how much we’re going to charge you. You’ll have unlimited access to accountants and we even include th preparation of two returns for the first 50 people who sign up as our new clients. There are actually 3 different tax packages.

Leverage your equity … or preserve your assets? That seems to be the choice investors are being asked to make as a result of new Freddie Mac lending guidelines coming into effect on August 1st. When Diane and I learned of the upcoming changes we immediately began brainstorming to find a solution. And, as many of you already know, what we came up with was the Trust Sandwich™.

There are times I wonder if I’m really just an incompetent in disguise. I don’t know if any of you ever feel that way, but during times of exceptional business challenges I sometimes feel like everyone else is smarter than me, that I’ll never make it, and that I should probably brush up on my “How to Say Would You Like Fries With That in 40+ Languages.” Then something happens that makes it all better. Sometimes it’s an event, sometimes it’s a person … and very occasionally, it’s validation from a surprise source. This has been one of those weeks.

All my life I’ve been told that I’m lucky. It’s actually ironic because I’m sure I’ve had more near death experiences than the average person (I’ve been in a hurricane, tornado, 2 forest fires, deadly mud slide and flood - and lost a kidney in an accident when I was 12.) But maybe surviving when others didn’t is the part that’s luck.

A SEP (Simplified Employee Pension) is designed to do one thing - make it easy for small businesses to offer a pension plan, where those businesses may not otherwise have the time or money to administer a more complex plan. But as with all simple things, there is often a price - and in this case, it’s strict compliance with the rules - or else!

In a recent Tax Court case, a husband/wife business owner team found out just how high the price can be, when two entire year’s worth of contributions were disallowed for failure to follow the rules.

I’ve advised thousands of clients to hold their property in an LLC for asset protection. Learn why I’ve now changed my mind and why you must ACT NOW to protect your ability to refinance in the future.

In this week’s Online Workshop I finish up the discussion I started last week about the recent change in internal lending guidelines issued by Freddie Mac. These new changes are making holding real estate in a protected business structure far less appealing than before. But I don’t believe the answer is to go “bare” and hold title in your name, either. That paints a huge target on your back … not to mention putting all that you’re working for at risk.

Join me for the final segment of my brand-new 3-part online workshop to discover what I’m doing (and suggesting for my clients).