Magda Hit On Me

I was at the counter at La Scala – one of my favorite restaurants - eating my turkey chopped salad. Chillin’ like Bob Dylan.

Just minding my own bidniz, doin’ a little reading. This older lady sits down next to me – checks me out – and starts kibitzing (yiddish for talking) with me.

She had this major tan – Magda – from “There’s Something About Mary”. She totally hit on me. I know! She starts asking me to help her with her phone.

I took a look at the phone. It was one of those 1995 phones that flips open, and you have to hit the button 3 times to text the letter “c”.

I asked her how long she had it. She said it was brand new! What? Do they even make those any more?

Magda said she lost her phone charger. She said she tried to buy a new charger – but she couldn’t find any – so she had to buy a new phone.

But she bought the same phone! On purpose. She said it was easier to use to text. Really?

She didn’t upgrade and get a smart phone. She settled for the same 1995 old school one.

Some people stick with the same stuff for wayyyyy too long – when they aren’t getting what they pay for – like no value – and that means … It’s time to upgrade….

I’m no Stanford MBA grad. I don’t manage $4 billion dollars. I’m not 72 years old with 48 years of experience. I don’t work in the ultra high net worth private wealth management blah blah blah firm.

But I’ve been around the block – working with over 75 entrepreneurs in the last 5 years. I have created specific, detailed, strategic plans for them. One of THE major challenges for them has been no tax planning. Like NUN. Zero.

I’m givin ya one thing to upgrade right now. Your accountant. Move on and upgrade if you aren’t getting the proactive planning you deserve.

If you don’t do tax projections, you get surprises. The good surprises are when you get money back.

The bad ones are when you owe a ton of dough. I literally have heard from 3 people (today!) say that they owe over $10k in taxes – and they were surprised. Their CPA never called them to do any tax planning. What a dud.

Key takeaway: It’s so much better to pay your taxes as you go, rather than all at once. That’s what I do – and what I tell my clients to do. But the thing is – you need to know how much you owe – and get on a plan.

Knowing = clarity = feeling organized = able to breathe.

Before I scoot out of here – one more thing … Don’t think a CPA is only good if they get you money back. The numbers don’t lie.