Episode Transcript
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Let me ask you something. Doesthe thought of tax season fill you
with dread? You know, siftingthrough mountains of scattered papers
and missing receipts? What ifyou could transform that annual scramble
into a calm and organizedprocess? And trust me, doing taxes
for a living, I would love tosee that and even uncover some hidden
savings. Well, stick with metoday because I'm going to show you
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exactly how to make thathappen and I'm going to do that on
today's show. This isFinancially Confident Christian,
your daily dose of gospel,grounded insight and faith driven
tips to help you break thecycle of financial shame with confidence.
Hey there and welcome back toyour daily Financially Confident
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Christian. As always, I'mRalph and I'm super happy that you're
able to join me today. And wecontinue to seek to answer that big,
hairy, audacious question. Andthat's how can I become a financially
confident Christian? And weare in our series Smart Money for
Back to School and Beyondtalking about equipping your family
for a thriving school year.Now if you missed yesterday's show,
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we we talked about preparingfor those higher fall and winter
utility bills with some savvyenergy saving tips. So I'm going
to encourage, if you missedit, to go check it out. You can see
all of our shows and hear allof our shows@financially confidentchristian.com
well, today we're going tobuild on that, looking ahead and
we're going to start talkingabout, yes, that dreaded year end
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financial management. We'regoing to talk about how to get organized
for tax planning. But we'regoing to do it now and not later
to save yourself a ton ofstress. Don't down the road. So today's
big question is how cangetting organized now save me tax
season stress later? Andlisten, you're going to save me a
lot of stress too. Well, maybeyou have this feeling. It's April
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and tax season is in fullswing. You're sitting there, you're
scrambling through piles ofpapers. You're searching for those
lost statements. You've gotthat meeting with somebody like me.
Or maybe you're where you'reworking on the weekends to get your
taxes done. You're trying toremember those donations and trying
to find all of those expensereceipts. And that tax season struggle,
it feels chaotic, it feelsstressful. You feel like you're rushed
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due to scattered documents andreally truthfully incomplete records.
And if you're not careful,that can lead to misdeductions. It
can lead to frantic scramblingand fear of errors or audits and
Listen, I do this for aliving. Nobody wants an audit. And
it puts this heavy burden ofanxiety on you and this disorganization
surrounding your taxes. And ifyou're not careful, that will hinder
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peace and it truly gets in theway of efficient management. But
here's the thing. Taxpreparation shouldn't be this one
time scramble. If you want todo it right. It's really a year round
process of diligent recordkeeping on a week by week or at least
month to month basis. Becauseorganization brings clarity, organization
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reduces stress. And hey, letme just tell you something right
now. Organization ensures whatthe main principle of the show is.
And that's why stewardship.Well, let's look at a few biblical
examples right from the Bible.The first one, the first principle,
let's talk about orderliness,that's a big word. But thought that
was so important for whatwe're talking about today. So look
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at the book of FirstCorinthians, chapter 14, verse 40.
And it says this. Buteverything should be done in a fitting
and orderly way. Hey, as atype A personality, I love the idea
of fitting and orderly. Andthe application of this is pretty
strong as it relates to taxes.And honestly, for your whole financial
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life, an orderly financialrecord keeping system is a wise application.
It just is. So if you want to,you want to follow the biblical principle
here, everything should bedone in a fitting and orderly way.
Let's look at another biblicalprinciple, and that's diligence.
And I use this particularBible verse from the book of Proverbs,
chapter 21:5 on the show allthe time says this. The plans of
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the diligent lead to profit assurely as haste leads to poverty.
And how does that fit today?Well, it fits like this. Diligent
tax recordkeeping is a plan.See, it's all about planning. It's
all about not waiting to thelast minute, you know, and having
that, that shoebox, if youwill, that's kind of a funny thing
in our trade is a shoebox thatpeople bring in with all their receipts.
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But diligent tax recordkeeping, that plan can lead to financial
profit. See, it pays itself individends. Well, let's look at the
third biblical principle, andthat's accountability. Hey, we all
need to be accountable. Let'slook at the book of Romans, chapter
13, verse 7, because itinstructs us this, give to everyone
what you owe them. If revenue,then revenue, if respect, then respect.
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And this is often talkedabout, give unto Caesar what is due
to Caesar as it talks totaxes. But it also directly gets
into that faithfully managingyour tax obligations. Because all
of these things lead us tothis big thing and that's getting
organized for taxes now. Notwaiting till the last minute, not
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waiting to, you know, it's taxseason, I gotta go scramble and find
that stuff. But gettingorganized for taxes now is an act
of responsible stewardship.And in the end the benefit is this.
It's going to ensure that youhave accurate obligations, it's going
to optimize your financialposition and hey, if you do it right,
it's going to bring peace frombeing prepared. So now you might
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be saying, Ralph, I love theidea, that sounds like a fantastic
issue. But, but how can we doit? You might be asking this question,
how do, how do I transformthis dread of tax season? And trust
me, listen, haven't done taxesfor 30 years now. People dread tax
season. But you're asking thisvery important question, how to transform
the dread of tax season intocalm, organized process. Well, I've
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got a single solution for youtoday and it's really pretty simple.
It's just consistently set upa system now to organize all your
financial documents and thosereceipts throughout the year. It's
all about being proactive toprepare for a stress free tax season
next year. And here's thebenefit from it. You're going to
be building a year roundfinancial organization. So here's
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your one action step for todaywith the goal of getting organized
for year end tax planning.This is what I tell all of my clients.
First thing I want you to dois create a dedicated tax and financial
documents spot. Now you noticeI said spot because everybody's situation
is different. But I reallyencourage you set up one central
easily accessible place. Maybethat's a physical box or maybe it's
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a folder, maybe hey, you're amore of a tech person. You have a
dedicated digital folder,maybe says something like taxes 20,
25 on that. We actuallyencourage our clients to use either
an envelope system. You know,I'll say to my clients, listen, just
get one of those big manilaenvelopes right on there the tax
year and start putting allthose documents throughout the year
into it. Now you also can usedigital storage. I'm one that believes
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in it. I scan documents inand, and put them in digital storage.
But I just want you to startby choosing one system that works
for you and making that yourcommitment for the year. So second
thing I'm going to encourageyou to do is let's get this, let's
get this party started. Asthey say, start the process. File
one recent document. Soimmediately go look for one financial
document. Maybe that's yourbank statement, maybe that's a utility
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bill because you're writingoff an office in home. Or maybe you
had a major purchase and youwant to see if that's deductible
at tax time. But start tobuild momentum in that new system
because that's going to startto build a habit. And, and it's going
to make the system feel realbecause you're going to actually
be doing it. So that's thesecond step. And then I just want
you to identify one or two keycategories to continue that momentum,
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to continue that process. Youknow, really think about the potential
deductions that are relevantto you. Maybe you're somebody that
does a lot of charitablegiving throughout the year, so you
want to make sure you'rekeeping those receipts. Maybe you're
a small business person, youhave this side hustle that we talk.
We'll be talking about that inthe next few days about how to make
extra money with a sidehustle. But this is a very important
time to start setting asidethose receipts so you're. You're
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not scrambling when it comesto time to figure out your taxes.
Hey, maybe you'reunfortunately in a position where
you've got a lot of medicalexpenses. And these medical expenses
seem to be going up and up andup. Well, this is a great time as
you're going through thosetreatments or as you're spending
that money on those medicalexpenses to start keeping track of
those things instead ofwaiting till year end and trying
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to figure out, hey, whathappened last March. And this is
a commitment. It's acommitment to consistently collect
receipts and records for oneof these categories moving forward.
Just pick the one that's mostimpactful to you. And then the last
thing I'm gonna remind you todo, and I think this is really important,
is set a monthly reviewreminder. Hey, just put it right
on your calendar or put it onyour phone and just say, hey, you
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know what? I'm gonna put thisrecurring reminder on my calendar
for maybe 15 or 20 minutes,just once a month. Once a month is
gonna be my monthly. Hey, I'mgonna remember Ralph, and I'm gonna
do my tax checkup. And duringthis time, make it a sacred time,
you know, quickly file any newdocuments. Think about the things
that we talked about today,the things that you're going to need.
Review your spending. Maybeyou can think about some new tax
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deductible items that youhadn't thought about, hey, I just
recorded a show about the bigtax change from this big beautiful
bill. And I'll put a link tothat in the show notes. But I would
encourage you to go listen tothat because there are some tax planning
opportunities based on thatthat you should start planning for
now. So, so you're notscrambling a tax season. And trust
me, this is really going tohelp you because it's going to fight
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that struggle, it's going tofight that stress of those chaotic
tax season preparation times.And listen, people tell me coming
to see me is like going to thedentist. They just dread it sometimes.
I don't know how to take that.But hey, maybe if you're more organized,
it doesn't feel that way. Soit's going to help you create order.
It's going to help bringclarity for your financial records.
And more importantly than mostthings, I think it's really going
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to help you avoid missing somevaluable deductions or opportunities.
I don't know how many timesclients have said to me, you know,
Ralph, I wish I had reallykept track of that. And I'll say
to him, well, can you go backand no, Ralph, I don't really have
way to get those records. Butit's really going to empower peace,
it's going to empowerconfidence, and hey, it's going to
make you more efficient at taxtime. How about we pray together
today? Father God, we justthank you for the resources that
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you provide for us and ourcalling to be accountable. And Lord,
we have to confess that taxseason often brings stress. And most
of the time, Lord, it's stressdue to our own disorganization and
many times it's due to ourfear. So we ask that you would grant
us wisdom in managing ourfinancial records and really keeping
things in order. Lord, help usto be diligent in setting up and
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maintaining an organizedsystem. Guide us to meet our obligations
faithfully, Lord, as your wordcommands, and to optimize our financial
position for your glory. AndLord, may our preparation of this
bring us peace and honor youin the whole process. And we ask
this in confidence. In Jesusname, amen. Listen, proactive organization
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for taxes isn't just aboutavoiding a headache. Yes, it will
help you avoid a headache, butit's really also about wise stewardship
that brings peace. And hey,don't we all want peace? So I'm just
going to encourage it again,take that step today to set up your
financial document system. Itdoesn't have to be complicated. And
then file that first itembecause hey, the truth is you're
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moving towards true freedom.And now I want to ask you for a favor.
If this episode or if thisshow has resonated with you, I want
to encourage you to share itwith somebody else who might need
to hear it. Hey, one of thethings that's certain about life
is death and taxes. So thisshow is impactful for anyone who
needs to file taxes. So just,hey, you can share our website with
them. That'sfinanciallyconfidentchristian.com. send
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them a text, send them anemail. Said, hey, you want to get
organized for tax time now inAugust? Hey, listen to this show.
This guy's got some greatideas. Now, tomorrow we're going
to be talking about anotherway to boost your income as fall
approaches. I promise we talkabout this and we're going to explore
some savvy fall side hustles.Yeah, I'm going to help you earn
some extra income, perhapsmaybe for that holiday prep so you're
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not stressing about it, so youdon't want to miss it. So make sure
you join me tomorrow. Nowlet's all go out there and be those
financially confidentChristians. You can do this. I have
confidence in you. Haveconfidence in yourself. Stay financially
savvy. God bless you. And youhave a great day today.