The FiscalDoctor Is In - Best Practices for Long Term Business Health

Mcdonald’s Is Back In Debt Market – What Should You Refinance Or Finance In Your Business Or Life?

FiscalDoctor com — 2010-07-29T12:16:00Z

The WSJ commented that this was a record low rate for the fast food giants $750 million bond. The full article is available at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703940904575395743979270242.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Think about this in terms of both refinancing financially and strategically in your life or business.

The easiest comments are to refinance in your business. After all, on a numbers issue, some of the key factors for you to decide upon are projecting future cash needs, estimating what the market will be like when your existing long term debt comes due, and opportunities you see now and project logically will occur in the next few years. Don’t borrow debt just because you can. Somehow those type funds get wasted or invested less than optimally.

Think harder about refinancing strategically in your life or business model. In any of these areas, what are you doing today that you would NOT do if you made that decision today?

If you would not be pursuing some customer, line of business or strategy if you had the choice on this as a new decision, why not cut your losses as soon as you prudently can and redeploy those resources for the great opportunities that are becoming available for those who have resources and react. After all, what is the difference in this strategy and deciding which accounts receivable are collectible? If a debt is uncollectible or just gives you a bad feeling about the customer, you would do something to correct that situation.

Now let’s get even more realistic. Stick out your personal balance sheet and cough. What relationship, civic group, social activity would you not start if you were making that decision today? Again, why not end those time commitments as soon as you prudently can and redeploy that time for your family, friends, business, or another cause that you believe and are passionate about?

How Do You Rank On The New Phase Of Hunker Down Versus Grow?

FiscalDoctor com — 2010-07-26T11:51:00Z

A key issue in economic turbulence is always the balance between hunkering down too much (being too conservative) versus growing too much (being too optimistic). And when times are really turbulent like they are this year, the stakes for guessing wrong go up dramatically.

For instance, take too big a risk for growth and guess wrong or there is a double dip in the comply, and the company and your job are at risk. And the other side of the coin is not any better. Be too conservative and miss out on sales opportunities or potential acquisitions and you start losing customers, deals AND your best people. The grass does not have to be much greener on the other side of the fence, when times are turbulent.

The Wall Street Journal weighed in on this issue in Monday July 26^th in the Money & Investing section. Markets Say No to Expansionist Companies. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704719104575389172070900184.html

Take some zeros off the discussion about Texas Instruments, Delta, Ford and UAL to apply the article and discussion to your business, project or job. Where are you too conservative or too aggressive now? What changes should you make?

In essence this thought process and the insights you gain are the key aspects of risk management. Call it enterprise risk management, ERM, operations risk management, ORM, contingency planning, strategic planning, risk assessment, operational review, due diligence, or even simpler versions like cash planning, performance management, conservative leadership or a business model review . No matter how sophisticated the phrase you want to use, the process starts with regular and consistent common sense applications balancing current and future risks with current and future rewards. It is very easy to underestimate how much risk you are taking and overestimate the realistic rewards.

Think about Joining me When I Attend SecureWorld Boston August 19th

FiscalDoctor com — 2010-07-13T12:52:00Z

I received a flyer for what is an interesting event for those of you like me you are involved in risk management. This August 19th seminar is called “ SecureWorld Spotlight - How to Complete a Risk Assessment in 5 Days.”

The sponsor SecureWorld Expo website describes in more detail their focus to bring together the security leaders, experts, senior executives, and policy makers who are shaping the very face of security. SecureWorld is at the intersection of Information Security, Physical Security, Compliance, IT Audit, Computer Forensics, Enterprise Risk Management, Business Continuity and Security Management. http://www.secureworldexpo.com/events/index.php?id=291

To make this post more authoritative for you, I briefly interviewed the speaker to ask what three key takeaways participants will receive. Tom Peltier told me to expect these three benefits:
1.   An overview of risk management, particularly 3 key confusing issues.
2.   A working knowledge of a facilitated risk assessment process.
3.   An actual action plan and a working template to use.

The short version of his impressive background is:
Tom Peltier has been an information security professional for over thirty years. During this time he has shared his experiences with follow professionals and because of his work has been given the 1993 Computer Security Institute’s (CSI) Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1999 the Information Systems Security Association (ISSA) bestowed its Individual Contribution to the Profession Award and in 2001 he was inducted into the ISSA Hall of Fame. Tom was also awarded the CSI Lifetime Emeritus Membership Award. Over the past decade, Tom has averaged 4 articles published a year on various computer and information security issues, including developing policies and procedures, disaster recovery planning, copyright compliance, virus management and security controls. He has had six books published on policy development and risk assessment. He co-authored four other information security books. He continues to speak and teach information security courses throughout the world.

The website with full information on the event, location, registration etc is http://www.secureworldexpo.com/events/index.php?id=291

Should your capital go on strike?

FiscalDoctor com — 2010-07-12T14:48:00Z

Asks WSJ today “Our Pro-Business Pesident” with reasons why business is hunkered down. What should you do? After all be too optimistic and you are at risk. Be too pessimistic and you could be equally at risk.

Should your capital go on strike? The full WSJ article is available at
online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704111704575355413601768820.html?mod=googlenews_wsj />
Excerpting one paragraph for you. "The big political news out of Washington yesterday is that the White House wants you to know that President Obama is not antibusiness. That reassuring word comes in a dispatch from Politico.com quoting senior White House aides that they have launched "a coordinated campaign to push back against the perception" that its agenda is hostile to business."

WSJ says” How in the world did anyone get that idea? Perhaps the feeling set in sometime between the President's public trashing of the Chrysler bond holders and his use of the insurer Wellpoint as a piñata to pass ObamaCare. Or maybe it was sometime after his Administration's fifth or sixth tax increase proposal, its disdain until recently for trade promotion, and its unleashing of new regulations across any industry you want to name.”

Regardless of your political persuasion and possibly the industry you are in, it is so easy to be concerned, even worried. After all, for the vast bulk of us, what can you do and what should you do with your capital? Use that question as part of your ongoing monitoring to balance risk and reward.

Where are you “extending and pretending” in your life or business?

FiscalDoctor com — 2010-07-08T11:57:56Z

rather than facing up to foreseeable current and future? The WSJ front page article asks if the banks are doing this on loans for real estate deals which have “gone sour.” (For those wanting to see the full artilce -http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704764404575286882690834088.html )

Basically the practice is to extend the maturity, and reduce principal payment amounts and interest rates. Think of this as a more sophisticated version of home loans with little or no payment on principal and teaser interest rates. The argument is that giving borrowers more time to pay the debt will be less costly than what would happen if the banks took over the real estate and ran the business. Skeptics call the practice “extend and pretend”.

Where in your life or business are you extending and pretending? Where are you putting off tough decisions or even facing up to reality?

Where could you solve something today, versus extending and pretending and use those resources of time, people and money to take advantage of the opportunities that are beginning to show up for opportunity seekers?

Why not do a risk assessment combined with reviewing growth opportunities that are stalled for lack of cash?

What States Are Upping The Tax Ante, So You Can Prepare?

FiscalDoctor com — 2010-07-01T17:16:00Z

US News just releases this article on 10 states where taxes are rising the most.

Some of these states are no surprise and others may surprise you. The full article is available on this US News link. Since you need to evaluate the accuracy and dependability of sources where you get data, you will pleased to hear that US News data is more reliable and fact centered than some of the other media sources.

I trust this heads up will let you plan more now rather than be surprised in April.

money.usnews.com/money/blogs/flowchart/2010/06/30/10-states-where-taxes-are-rising-the-most

When 87 million to 115 million Americans lose their current healthcare coverage,...

FiscalDoctor com — 2010-06-18T13:14:00Z

how will that impact you or your business?

Extracts below come from the WSJ June 16th column entitled The Bad News About ObamaCare Keeps Piling Up : It's now obvious that many millions will lose the coverage they have.

How can you protect yourself from this risk OR find a way to make lemonade from the lemon situation?

“In his brilliant exposition of why sweeping policy changes often have unintended consequences, the late sociologist Robert K. Merton wrote that leaders get things wrong when their "paramount concern with the foreseen immediate consequences excludes the consideration of further or other consequences" of their proposals. This leads policy makers to assert things that are false, wishing them to be true. Perverse incentives in his new law will cause most Americans to lose their existing insurance.”

“Health plans would no longer be grandfathered if a business changes insurance companies (a common practice when employers shop for lower prices), raises deductibles more than 5%, drops any existing benefits, or even increases co-pays by as little as $5.”

“Complying with these new rules would raise costs for companies who provide coverage, reduce competition among health insurance companies, and discourage efforts to make employees more price conscious. The Obama administration itself estimates that these draft rules could cost up to 80% of small employers and 64% of large employers their grandfathered status. This translates to between 87 million and 115 million Americans losing their current coverage. “

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704198004575310773636609374.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_read

Whether your business uses off-site facilitated sessions, contingency planning, enterprise risk management or other tools to control your financial destiny, how will you plan for both dramatically increased costs and probable unhappy employees as you are forced to pass on dramatically increased costs or dump them in the Government medical system? What else can you do to capitalize on hidden high return opportunities, while limiting exposure to risk to offset near term looming heath care cost risks..

When will your healthcare coverage be dumped?

FiscalDoctor com — 2010-06-16T14:18:00Z

Despite what the health care advocates said about our keeping our health care plan and motivating business to keep those plans in place, experts say the opposite is already happening, in the article linked below. Being proactive in your business suggest leaders look at whether or when you should move toward ending existing plans. Individuals should look into the likelihood that your business will effectively be forced to dump your coverage.

Today's new rules from the federal government on ‘grandfathering,’ which were crafted without any opportunity for public input, are just more proof that despite all the promises made by the president and other supporters, you actually can't keep what you like under the new partisan health reform law,” Senate Finance Committee ranking member Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) said in a statement. “Change is coming for a lot of people, whether they want it or not,” he said.

Health insurance plans that existed March 23 will not be able to significantly raise co-payments or deductibles, or significantly reduce benefits, without having to meet all the new requirements of the health care reform law under proposed and interim final regulations issued June 14.

For fuller comments and details, the original article link is
www.bnasoftware.com/News_Articles/News/Grandfathered_Health_Plan_Rules_Forbid_Big_Copayment_Increases.asp

How To Prevent Your Company From Becoming Another BP - Part 2

FiscalDoctor com — 2010-06-12T19:42:12Z

"Compare the BP fiasco to the classic example of how well Johnson & Johnson handled its Tylenol nightmare years ago. Part of Johnson & Johnson's success in dealing with the crisis was the result of a well-thought-out contingency plan, superb execution, and taking immediate responsibility. The public’s approval of the company's action was expressed through its increased market share. This is a far cry from the negative impact on the BP brand, as well as the entire oil industry," .

Patterson recommends that companies adopt the following seven-step emergency plan for dealing with potential risks:
1.    Commit to contingency planning
2.    Establish a risk tolerance framework
3.    Identify potential risks that your company may be up against
4.    Highlight worst-case catastrophic and critical risks
5.    Identify the top 5 to 10 risks that are not included in your financial statements
6.    Develop a coherent action plan that is approved by your executive team
7.    Establish a proactive media policy

"After all, the goal is to control your company's financial destiny with adequate procedures and timely information. Capitalize on hidden high return opportunities, while limiting exposure to risk. Otherwise, the cost of what you don’t know can be your company. This blowout may not cost BP employees, executives, suppliers and shareholders their company. It has definitely demolished the value of the stock that individual investors hold."

"Companies with far less shareholders' equity than BP should be concerned. Much smaller companies that are part of the oil industry, or sell to the oil industry, will be decimated. While BP will get bailed out and survive this catastrophe, no one will come to the rescue of a smaller company that doesn’t have a BP global status."

Did SEC know about subprime accounting frauds in 1998 and do nothing, per former WSJ reporter?

FiscalDoctor com — 2010-06-02T12:41:00Z

Google Elizabeth MacDonald May 17 subprime, or click the link below. Makes you wonder who you can trust, because you have to trust someone to run your business and life.

Her article begins
“ The Securities and Exchange Commission is missing a bigger fraud while it chases the banks. Even though it knew about this massive, plain old fashioned accounting fraud back in 1998.
Instead, the market cops are probing simpler disclosure cases that could charge bank and Wall Street with not telling investors about their conflicts of interest in selling securities they knew were damaged while making bets against those same securities behind the scenes, via credit default swaps.
Those probes have gotten headlines, but there aren’t too many signs that this will lead to anything close to massive settlements or fines.
For instance, the SEC doesn’t appear to be investigating how banks frontloaded their profits via channel stuffing -- securitizing loans and shoving paper securitizations onto investors, while booking those revenues immediately, even though the mortgage payments underlying those paper daisy chains were coming in the door years, even decades, later. Those moves helped lead to $2.4 trillion in writedowns worldwide.
The agency said it believed banks were committing subprime securitization accounting frauds back in 1998 and claimed to be 'probing' them.”

Just when we thought British Petroleum, (BP), Greece etc where under control, we are told to look at the lack of using transparency from the two presidents back.

http://emac.blogs.foxbusiness.com/2010/05/17/sec-knew-about-suprime-accounting-fraud-decade-ago?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogs%2Femac+%28Blogs+-+EMac%27s+Stock+Watch%29

Asking For Your Thoughts On Giving People A Choice Of Pictures For My Speeches

FiscalDoctor com — 2010-05-29T18:52:00Z

Clients and readers suggested I add a FiscalDoctor more outgoing version to compliment my traditional picture and even the action oriented picture of me facilitating a group.

So I got a photographer who specializes in pictures for speaking professional to prepare new pictures, in corporate attire and in the FiscalDoctor outfit that appears on my book.

Which of the two do you like better?

Is Your Government In Business Of Giving Bad Advice? If So, What Can You Do?

FiscalDoctor com — 2010-05-24T12:19:00Z

There was a very interesting insider discussion on this point in the May 22nd Wall Street Journal. Look at the column “The Intelligent Investor” on B7.

Seth Klarman who has a phenomenal track record on making money spoke at a CFA institute meeting last week. Specifically the WSJ quoted him as saying: “The government is now in the business of giving bad advice.” “By holding interest rates at zero, the government is basically tricking the population into going long on just about every kind of security except cash, at the price of almost certainly not getting an adequate return for the risks they are running. People can’t stand earning 0% on their money, so the government is forcing everyone in the investing public to speculate.”

The key point is to aware of this situation and strategically think about the risks you may be taking without understanding accurate facts to base those decisions on: such as, the balance between risks you are taking and reasonably projected returns, availability of financing, and the interest rates and terms on future financing you may pay.

Take a few quiet moments to compare financial risks you are talking and the likely return for those risks. On a scale of one to ten with 1 being the risk you area taking and 10 being the reward you can reasonably expect to earn, how balanced are you?

Either smile with a satisfied glow, become more opportunistic or hunker down appropriately. Pull out this article regularly and adjust as needed.

ExecSense Webinar I’m Leading and Chance for You to get a 2 For 1

FiscalDoctor com — 2010-05-10T16:44:00Z

Hi Everyone, I just wanted to let you know I’m leading an ExecSense Webinar this Thursday, May 13th on What General Counsel Need to Know About Interpreting & Analyzing Financial Statements. You can get more information at www.execsense.com/details.asp?id=1151.

This should be a very exciting program and if you mention I sent you, along with the code “2for1”, you also get a free pass to any other ExecSense Program! It should be a great discussion of the most important parts of income statements, balance sheets and cash flow statements that impact general counsel and the financial health and stability of their company and industry.

Also, please forward this to anyone you know that might be interested and be sure they mention the discount code and my name when ordering!

=========

Poll: 4 out of 5 Americans don't trust Washington! Who trusts you?

FiscalDoctor com — 2010-05-07T10:39:00Z

How can you create more trust in your business to gain from this trend? Or reduce your risk?

First it was the Republicans. Next it was the Independents. Now it seems even Democrats trust the government less. Regardless of your political philosophy, Americans seem united on this point.

What is the impact from this on your business? How would your trustworthiness poll with groups ranging from existing customers, prior customers, competitors and the general public?

If you get good ratings on this point, how can you take advantage of competitors who are rated less trustworthy?

If you are rated less trustworthy, there are two interesting issues. First are you really less trustworthy and facing catastrophic results. Are you really trustworthy, but doing a poor job of conveying your integrity, how to get this turned around before things get worse?

URGENT CALL TO ACTION - Finance Reform Bill has unintended consequences - guest blog

FiscalDoctor com — 2010-04-25T23:23:00Z

Guest posting from an SBIR expert who I respect. He has some interesting comments below---

To My SBIR Clients and Friends,

This is getting tiresome I know, but unless we watch Congress like a hawk, small business pays a big price. We get promised all kinds of good things, but most of the time it's just lip service. The shaft is what we get. This time it's unintended consequences in the Finance Reform bill.

While this is not an SBIR issue per se, there are provisions in the Finance Reform Bill that will detrimentally impact SBIR funded companies, virtually making it impossible for them to receive modest amounts of follow-on investment capital from Angel investors.

Here's a link to the bill (S.3217): http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=s111-3217

Today's issue of Innovation Weekly highlights a column by John Maudlin that really captures the essence of the threat. Here's a link to the full column:

http://thesmartmoney.wordpress.com/2010/04/18/first-lets-kill-the-angels-by-john-maudlin-in-outside-the-box/

We've heard rumblings that the message on the threat to Angel Investment is being received and that this provision is under consideration for being revised (see http://www.pehub.com/69804/chris-dodd-sits-on-the-side-of-angels/) but the heat needs to be turned up to ensure that we don't "kill the angels". Without transparency to the process we really can't be sure what's being done.

The urgency is the word is that a Cloture Vote (requires 60 "ayes") will be asked at ~5PM EDT Monday Apr 26th (http://worldnewsvine.com/2010/04/financial-reform-bill-to-advance-monday-cloture-vote-scheduled/), so time is of the essence. Cutting off the ability to add amendments before this is fixed would be devastating, as it is likely that the bill will be enacted.

The Angel Capital Association has a web page devoted to turning this situation around: http://www.angelcapitalassociation.org/resources/public-policy/federal-policy-issues/highlights/. There's a link to a template letter to tailor and send to your Senators there.

I've prepared my version of it:

April 25, 2010

RE: Support for Amendments to S. 3217: Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010

Dear Senator:

You may have heard that the financial reform bill passed by the Senate Banking Committee included two sections that have inadvertent consequences and could have hurt many entrepreneurs by reducing the pool of early-stage "angel" capital and making securities regulations complicated and costly for start-up small business. It is now my understanding that two amendments will be offered by Sen. Christopher Dodd and they will ensure that high growth entrepreneurs have access to a strong pool of angel capital and that investors are better protected from fraud. I urge you to support both of these amendments.

The amendments bring new meanings to two sections of the bill:

Section 412: Adjusting the Accredited Investor Standard.

The thresholds for "accredited investor" would stay the same as they are currently, although the standard for net worth of $1 million would now exclude the investor's primary residence. While I would have preferred no adjustment to the standard for angel investors, I believe this is a reasonable compromise.

The act would also have the Securities and Exchange Commission review the thresholds at least every four years, with any adjustments considering the protection of investors, the public interest and the state of the economy. The amendment's direction to consider the economic impact of any adjustments to accredited investor standards in the future is important, as innovative start-up businesses are some of the most important creators of high quality jobs in the country.

Section 926. Regulation D Offerings.

The amendment deletes all previous language that was problematic and replaces it with language that disqualifies individuals who have been determined to be "bad actors" by Federal and State authorities from using Regulation D 506 private offerings (which include angel investments, but many other types of investments as well).

I like this amendment because not only does it increase investor protections against fraud, but it ensures uniform regulation of these private offerings across the United States and it keeps the reporting requirements for entrepreneurs the same as they are currently. The current uniform system is efficient for small businesses that attract angel capital.

IF THESE AMENDMENTS ARE NOT INCLUDED IN S. 3217,

PLEASE VOTE NO ON CLOTURE AND SUPPORT THEIR INCLUSION

A YES VOTE WITHOUT THEM WILL KILL SMALL BUSINESS JOBS

Thank you for your consideration of these amendments. Start-up businesses in our state and across the nation need the capital from angel investors to grow and create high quality jobs.

Sincerely,

Copy and paste this onto your letterhead, tailor as you see fit, add your contact info below your signature and fax the letter to your Senators (email too if you wish, but faxes are actually more likely to be read) with the cover page marked:

URGENT ATTENTION: POLICY ADVISOR/LIAISON FOR SMALL BUSINESS ISSUES

For the fax numbers of your Senators' offices: http://www.contactingthecongress.org/

If you have the time and energy, please also join me in faxing a copy as well to each and every member of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee: http://sbc.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=CommitteeMembers

Anything you can do to make the Washington bunch pay attention to what's important to encourage small business innovation, not suppress it, will be greatly appreciated!

SBIR EXTENDED WITH ANOTHER CR

As many of you probably have heard, the SBIR Program was again extended by Continuing Resolution, this time until July 31st.

More on this in upcoming newsletters. Thanks for all you do for SBIR and for small business. I do appreciate it.

Best regards,

Fred Patterson
The SBIR Coach

_________________________________

The SBIR Coach is a DBA of:

THE COMMERCIALIZATION
FUNDING COACH, INC.

Guiding businesses through funding
for technology commercialization...
We know how this game is played!

Fred Patterson, President
1704 Newton Drive
Flower Mound, TX 75028

http://www.CFcoach.com
http://www.SBIRcoach.com

512-560-3993 Phone
866-657-9685 e-Fax

FPatterson@CFcoach.com
Coach@SBIRcoach.com

BLOG:

THE SBIR COACH'S PLAYBOOK
http://www.SBIRplaybook.com
_________________________________

Discover the Insider Secrets of Professional Speaking & Presenting June 10-11 Boston for you or your friends

FiscalDoctor com — 2010-04-21T23:06:00Z

Several friends asked me to put this on my site for those readers who are in New England or have friends here. I believe in this event , and am a member of the Board of Directors working on this event. I have signed up and you will see me there.

A Two Day University with Three Tracks

Professional speaking and presenting is a great way to attract more clients, generate unlimited leads, and grow your business effortlessly, especially when you master the skills of persuasion and influence.
Imagine spending two days learning little known secrets to presenting your products or services in powerful and persuasive ways, to motivate your prospects, and clients to respond to your call to action.
And it doesn't matter what your experience level is. You could be a seasoned pro looking for an extra edge... or an absolute beginner, who's never given a presentation in your life!

Value priced at:
•   $297 paid in full by April 25, 2010 (early-bird rate)
•   $357 paid in full by May 21, 2010
•   $397 paid after May 21, 2010

Online registration at www.nsanewengland.com/speaker_university.asp />
Program brochure you can download

How will you deal with Canadian currency parity with US Dollar – and What about the Other Currencies?

FiscalDoctor com — 2010-04-17T16:55:00Z

The Canadian Luna has almost returned to equal par with American dollar over the last year. Some people think the Luna will continue to increase in value as the dollar struggles with budget deficits and present Congressional leader costly initiatives.

What other currencies does you business deal with and how will that impact you? After all, some foreign currencies may struggle more than the dollar over the next year?

http://www.x-rates.com/calculator.html
is a site which will let you compare values among a wide range of foreign currency.

Is California the next Greece?

FiscalDoctor com — 2010-04-07T17:07:00Z

Are California state pension funds going broke, as articles about the recent Stanford study suggests there is a half a trillion dollar shortfall? The point is not to get caught up in the pension fund comments that things are not really that bad and high projected return rates are still reasonable and even appropriate.

Someone has to pay for those shortfalls directly or indirectly, unless states and politicians repudiate past commitments they made? And that is unlikely, but not impossible. Cities and even states have gone bankrupt. That is why there are bankruptcy codes to handle those situations.

What about your state? How soon will someone shine a light on your states unfunded off balance sheet liabilities and obligations? When that happens, how much impact will there be on your business?

Getting closer to home, which unfunded liabilities, commitments, or under accrued obligations does your business have? Is it time to get real and move to a fortress balance sheet mentality?

Regardless of your political viewpoint, consider the article that Google sent me on one of my daily searches. For another perspective on how soon these state and local cash shortfalls will explode requiring attention, this article suggests that California has a Worse credit rating than Greece, as California struggles to close a projected $42 billion budget gap—in a recession and with declining state revenues.
blog.survivalstation.org/debt-crisis-in-paradise-50893.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter />

Legal tax shelter that few can execute! Why do so few do it? Lafler did.

FiscalDoctor com — 2010-04-05T23:40:00Z

This is an interesting article on the tax increases that are now in place and moving into your life. Now that Obama Care has passed, the explanations have changed from how it saves money to how it is only fair for the rich to pay more. If you make $250,000 you might not have known you ARE rich.

U.S. Wealthy Lack Easy Loopholes to Offset Obama’s Tax Plans www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20603037&sid=abRQo40VGwAI

Arthur Laffer, who was an adviser to former President Ronald Reagan, is quoted as saying he will stay in Nashville, Tennessee, which doesn’t tax earned income, offsetting U.S. tax rates that are expected to increase over the next three years.

Think about which of your employees are mini versions of Arthur Lafler in terms of the value to your business. Which of them will decide moving to a lower cost state makes sense for them, or is something they must do?

At your business level, when will the numbers say you and your business must move to a lower cost state or country? After all in a virtual world, why does the home office need to be in a high tax state like Michigan, New York or California? After all in a virtual world, why does the home office need to be in a high tax country like the US, the UK, France or Italy?

Is America the next Greece?

FiscalDoctor com — 2010-04-02T15:47:00Z

Simon Johnson was asked today!

Whether he said yes or no, what could the impact be on your business? And when? The article and a related video both are available on an April 2nd yahoo tech/ticker interview at
http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/next-meltdown-will-be-driven-by-%22big-collapses-in-emerging-markets%22-johnson-says-459869.html?tickers=^dji,^gspc,dia,spy,euo,fxi,uup

Why should you care or worry about such a technical or apparently mundane issue?

In case you are still wondering what he said? Basically, he said no, FOR NOW.

Bringing this down to a usable level, the chances of another big bang collapse will remain for years. Change is the new normal and YOU need to listen to and develop more of an understanding of large picture risk exposures.

After all, when international Fortune 500 companies and even countries go through these issues, it is hard if not impossible for your smaller business not to be impacted.