There always seem to be some odd stories about many of our holidays. Here are some about Halloween: http://www.policymic.com/articles/17477/halloween-history-13-strange-facts-on-why-we-celebrate-halloween Just remember that the biggest documented danger on Halloween is alcohol poisoning, not vampire bites or beheadings! So be careful out there this year! For financial, accounting and tax musings, You can count on us to count for you! email: bstonercpa@sbcglobal.net phone: 818-317-6035 Website: www.briantstonercpa.com https://twitter.com/bstonercpa
Tax Musings of a Burbank CPA: Five Tips to Get Ready for a Pain-Free Tax Time
With the holiday season just around the corner, it’s a perfect time to get your financial records in order. Tax moves you make now can mean finding more “green” to spend on family gifts and festivities. Here are five quick tips for you to feel more prepared about your financial status as you go into year-end. Avoid Penalties This time of year is ideal to double-check your tax payments to make sure enough has been paid in, and even more important, to avoid overpaying so your money is not tied up unnecessarily. If you’re not sure of your 2013 tax liability, check with your tax preparer. Balanced Books Rather than wait until the busiest time of year for accountants and bookkeepers, you can get a head start now on catching up your books You’ll have more of their attention and you may even avoid a rate increase if you get your books done early. Completed bank reconciliations are a very important part of catching up. Forms It’s not too early to get your orders in for the forms you need at year-end like your W-2s, W-3s, 1099s, and 1096s. That way, your forms will be onsite when you’re ready. Records [...]
Musings of a Burbank CPA: Why We Want—But Can’t Have—Personal Finance in Schools
We all agree that personal finance classes in school makes a tremendous amount of sense, for us and our kids. The problem is getting it accomplished. Apparently the “feeling that we know nothing about personal finance” isn’t just in the family side of things, it is also in the education system, the people expected to teach our students this stuff. See this post by Dan Kadlec in Time Magazine Business and Money to see what is being done about it: http://business.time.com/2013/10/10/why-we-want-but-cant-have-personal-finance-in-schools/ Apparently the incredible volume of information out there is putting off people. When you have too much choice, it causes paralysis and makes progress go forward at a snail’s pace. The author feels that this uneven effort to spread this knowledge is getting in the way of spreading the knowledge (duh). Maybe families will just have to figure a way to handle some (or all) of this at home. Because in the long run aren’t we responsible for educating our kids, especially in the real world? For financial, accounting and tax musings, You can count on us to count for you! email: bstonercpa@sbcglobal.net phone: 818-317-6035 Website: www.briantstonercpa.com https://twitter.com/bstonercpa