July 2009

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GoSee: Thriveal’s Three on Thursday

July 30, 2009 in GoSee | No comments

Prius Harmony: Solar Flowers

1.  Michelin Development Upstate feels your small business pain.  They’ve announced recently that they will be making loans to disadvantaged businesses in the Upstate of SC starting at $10k a pop.  Find some details on Swampfox – GoSee

2.  Toyota’s giant solar flowers are making a tour around the nation, and offering “good will, free WiFi, and charging stations”. Pretty cool – GoSee

3.  Get a couple of free new forms, like an Employee Confidentiality Agreement, a Notice of Attorney Departure, Letters of Closure, or a Vendor Confidentiality Agreement (look in the lower right-hand section of the site) – GoSee

Thanks, Jason M. Blumer

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Review of the Free Online Personal Financial Software: Mint.com

July 29, 2009 in Other Thoughts, QuickBooks | 4 comments

Mint.
Image via Wikipedia

Mint.com is a pretty cool online software that helps individuals manage and track their personal finances.

A friend showed it to me, and there really are some neat things about the software.  There are some drawbacks too, but overall I think I’m liking it.  It’s uber neato.

And it’s free too.  Sweet.

Pros:

1.  when you log in, your data automatically starts pulling from your bank account (after you’ve linked it to your bank), posting it to the memorized accounts that you’ve already assigned and create real pretty graphs to help you know how you are doing.

2.  the user interface is much more enjoyable to look at for non-financial people.  I use QuickBooks to manage my personal finances, and my wife gets a sick feeling when I start discussing actual-to-budget reporting, and comparing our net worth statements to prior years.  But she really liked the mint.com interface.  The graphs really are cool and populate and grow right before your eyes (see the Trends tab).

3.  the makers made “mobile” a focus.  You get cool looking emails, and “over-budget” alerts on your iPhone letting you know when your McDonald’s budget is $1,500 over the allowed expenditure limit.  Again, similar to #2, the alerts on your mobile phone look great.

4.  the “transactions” tab is where you define how your checking account splits things out to the various types of expenses you’ve created.  And this same tab has some really rad detail buttons on the right-hand side letting your quickly see how much you’ve spent in various detail levels of categories.  For example, you can see how much you’ve spent on groceries in total, or at Publix, or you can see your spending at Publix compared to the US Average.

5.  they have a budget feature, but I haven’t tried it yet.  But I’m for anything that helps us pleasure-loving Americans budget our lifestyles and keep us in check (I know I need it).

Cons:

1.  they don’t have every banks listed so if you use a local community bank, then this software basically eliminates you as a patron.

2.  same for #1 above, but insert “credit card,” “mortgage account” or “investment account” in the above sentence.

3.  mint.com uses some kind of service to value your home for you… just put in your address.  I don’t know where they get the data from, but it’s definitely wrong.  And it updates for you periodically, but if you ever change it to what you think your house is actually valued, then it will cease to update that value.  The lack of correct house value skews your whole net worth statement, so you can’t really use it as an official statement of your worth (but my net worth statement in QuickBooks has hip non-realized gains and losses journaled directly into equity, so there, dang it).

4.  they built a “Ways to Save” tab into everyone’s account to read your data and give you personalized ways to save money based upon your information.  But a lot of the savings involve getting a new freakin’ credit card.  Obviously, this is how they keep the software free… they have tons of credit card vendors paying to get in front of all of the mint.com patrons.  But I ain’t buying it (literally).

You should try it.  After all, it’s free, and it takes only a few seconds to get your bank setup.  Let me know how you like it.

Thanks, Jason M. Blumer

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Tuesday Tax Time: “Revenue Neutral” Health Care Reform

July 27, 2009 in Tuesday Tax Time | 2 comments

Entrance to the Senate

Image via Wikipedia

Obama has promised health care reform, and he promised to do it without adding to the deficit.  It seems the only way to do this is through some kind of surtax on upper incomers.  Or at least that’s what the House bill proposes.  We’ll see what the Senate comes up with, but I’m reading that they don’t like the surtax at all.

Of note is the fact that some additional tax changes by Obama, along with the surtax, would push the top tax rate to just about 50%.  The last time it was that high was in 1986.

Here is a quote from the Tax Policy Center on the same topic:

…starting in 2011 those making more than $1 million would pay a surcharge of 5.4 percent. Add that to President Obama’s plan to restore the pre-Bush top rate of 39.6 percent and the new maximum marginal rate would be an even 45 percent. You can also add a couple of extra percentage points thanks to Obama’s plan to restore the pre-Bush limits on personal exemptions and itemized deductions.

The House bill basically spells it out this way:

-a 1% surtax would be applied to single filers with income over $280k per year, and married couples over $350k per year,

-a 1.5% surtax would be applied to single filers with income over $400k per year, and married couples over $500k per year,

-a 5.4% surtax would be applied to single filers with income over $800k per year, and married couples over $1 million per year.  Whew… that’s steep when you make a million bucks.

And if the plan doesn’t work, then the 1% and 1.5% surtax rates could double by 2013, or end by that year if the savings were great enough… or at least this is proposed by the House.  It’s now time for the Senate to weigh in on the subject.

If health care is a right and it should be overhauled, then shouldn’t we all pay our fair share of the cost?  It seems odd that just a few million people are being tapped to cover the rest of the US population’s cost to get health coverage.  Maybe we do need change, and honestly, I don’t know what it is… but I’ve never been a big fan of taxing someone just because they are smart enough to make a lot of money.

What do you think?

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Monday Morning Message

July 27, 2009 in Monday Morning Message | No comments

“The ability to learn faster than your competitors may be the only sustainable competitive advantage.”

Peter M. Senge

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GoSee: Thriveal’s Three on Thursday

July 23, 2009 in GoSee | No comments

1.  Has innovation actually been interrupted in the past decade? – GoSee

2.  Obama mulls over the possibility of bailing out small business – GoSee

Excerpt: “There has been a very clear understanding starting with the president and throughout the economic team that we have to be constantly looking for ideas to help viable small businesses weather this economic storm and start creating jobs again,” said Gene Sperling, an adviser to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

3.  One reason not to bring your dog to work – GoSee

Thanks, Jason M. Blumer

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Small Businesses: Get Your ARC Loan Here (…or maybe not)

July 22, 2009 in Business | 4 comments

Seal of the U.S. government's Small Business A...

Image via Wikipedia

I saw a very informative post on a CPA friend’s blog in Charlotte, NC about the A.R.C. loans.  I had forgotten all about these loans and their availability to the small business community.

The America’s Recovery Capital (A.R.C.) loans administered by the Small Business Administration are meant to be bridge loans of up to $35k for small businesses with legitimate hardships.  You don’t pay the SBA any freakin’ fees and there is no interest cost to you, the borrower.  The government is soooo nice.

But don’t get too excited, it seems a lot of financial institutions aren’t even participating in the program.  Here is an excerpt from the blog post by Chad:

It will be interesting to see how all of this ultimately goes down.  Based on the details that I have read, there seems to be little risk on the part of the lender; however, many of them have been hesitant to get on board with the program.

Check out the comments on the post (read it here) to see an update to the financial institutions participating, as well as links to other good articles.

See ya, Jason M. Blumer

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Tuesday Tax Time: Time to Update Your W-4?

July 21, 2009 in Tuesday Tax Time | 2 comments

IRS Form W-4
Image via Wikipedia

It’s always a good idea to periodically review the Form W-4 you have on file with your employer.  Form W-4 is the form that determines how much income tax your employer will withhold from your paychecks.  Changes in your personal situation, such as a wedding, divorce, or new baby, can affect your tax liability for the year (…and drain your freakin’ bank account).  Make sure your employer is not withholding too much or too little.

A Form W-4 review may be particularly appropriate right now. There have been recent changes in the tax law that may also affect your 2009 tax bill. You may want to adjust your withholding up or down to bring it closer to your revised tax liability.

Let our firm know if you need any additional help.

Thanks, Jason M. Blumer

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Monday Morning Message (from my Facebook friends)

July 20, 2009 in Monday Morning Message | No comments

“It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.”

Eleanor Roosevelt

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GoSee: Thriveal’s Three on Thursday

July 16, 2009 in GoSee | No comments

1.  Awesome slide show on the 2009 Top 10 Small Business Trends – GoSee

2.  Great tips from Forbes on how to spot small business fraud before it happens – GoSee

3.  A cow tax? Quote: “Cow burps make up about 2 percent of all the climate-altering pollution in the U.S.” – GoSee

Thanks, Jason M. Blumer

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Good To Great Ch. 3 Review: “First Who… Then What”

July 15, 2009 in Book Review | 6 comments

Good to Great at AmazonThis chapter made the most impact on me, and on my business. I’ve seen the truths of this chapter played out before my eyes as our firm has gone through a number of people over the years… some great (and they’re still with us), and some that are gone (because they stunk!).

The executives that Jim Collins studied in the Good to Great companies would NOT “set a new direction, a new vision and strategy for the company, and then get people committed and aligned behind that new direction.”  They began with the who, and then figured out the what.  That is, sometimes the executives didn’t know the direction that should be taken for the company or what the ultimate outcome of their visioning should be.  They focused on getting the right people “on the bus” and the wrong people “off the bus” and then they decided where to drive the bus.

And this is amazing = the task of motivating people and managing their work largely melts away when you have the right people on the bus.  What does that say to you and I as business owners?  Answer: when you’ve determined that you have the wrong people on the bus, the quicker you can get them off your “bus”, the quicker you can take your company in the proper direction.  Each day you delay is another lost day towards greatness.  Don’t let the wrong people hold your company back.  I see it happen a lot!  We give chance after chance when the person is entirely the wrong person for the company.  No matter how much you train, or how many bonuses you offer, the wrong people will always be the wrong people… today and tomorrow.

Ultimately, the research team working on the Good to Great book found that building the right team outlived the humble leader that had the wisdom to build the right team in the first place.  Whereas, the comparison companies never did well after the fearless arrogant leader left the leadership of the company.  A team will outlive you and make your company live on whether you are present or not.  That is the definition of a Great company, one that outlives it’s creato7

Finally, in regards to getting the right people on the bus, Jim Collins discovered three important disciplines in the Good to Great companies:

1.  When in doubt, don’t hire – keep looking.  A company should actually limit its growth based on its ability to attract and hire the right people.

2.  When you know you need to make a people change, act.  But first, be sure you don’t have someone in the wrong seat.

3.  Put your best people on your biggest opportunities, not your biggest problems.  If you sell off your problems, don’t sell off your best people.

The truths from this book of attracting and hiring the right people will stick with me for a long time.  I hope they help you, too.

Thanks, Jason M. Blumer

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