January 7, 2025 • 28 mins
In this episode of the Teaching Tax Flow Podcast, co-hosts Chris Picciurro and John Tripolsky dive into actionable personal and business goal-setting strategies for 2025. Recognizing the universal desire to start anew each January, they challenge both individuals and business owners to think beyond the typical New Year’s resolutions. Instead of letting Quitters Day—the second Friday of January—mark the end of ambitions, they encourage listeners to sustain their momentum throughout the year.
Chris emphasizes the importance of aligning financial goals with life stages, creating realistic and SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) goals. For individuals, he advises on crafting a budget, managing debt, building emergency funds, and tax planning to meet both short-term needs and long-term financial health. Detailing his personal approach to goal setting, Chris shares insights on balancing various life priorities, such as fitness and faith, with financial responsibilities.
Key Takeaways:
- Align Goals with Life Stages: Define personal or business priorities by life stage and align financial strategies accordingly.
- Budget Wisely: Create a detailed budget to track income and expenses, ensuring efficiency in financial planning.
- Use SMART Framework: Apply the SMART criteria for setting and pursuing goals to ensure they are achievable and realistic.
- Include Professional Guidance: Collaborate with financial advisors and tax professionals to optimize strategic planning.
- Engage with Communities: Leverage community resources and accountability partners for support and shared progress.
Notable Quotes:
- "Without a plan, your business will run you; you won't run it." – Chris
- "Creating a budget is like stepping on a scale; it's tough but necessary." – Chris
- "Your financial goals should align with where you are in your life." – Chris
- "Plan for taxes effectively; if you do, you choose your tax, not the IRS." – Chris
- "Set goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound." – Chris
Episode Sponsor:
Strategic Associates, LLC
Roger Roundy
www.linkedin.com/in/roger-roundy-86887b23
- (00:00) - Setting Financial Goals for Individuals and Business Owners
- (06:53) - Aligning Life Goals with Financial Priorities
- (09:54) - Creating a Budget and Financial Plan for Future Goals
- (20:00) - Smart Goal Setting for Business and Personal Finances
- (26:25) - Finding Accountability Partners for Goal Achievement
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Intro (00:03):
Welcome back to the Teaching Tax Flow podcast,
everybody. Episode 117 here intothe new year of 2025. We're
gonna take some time and we'regonna dive into what some goals
are that you as an individual ora business owner can look at
here in the new year. But beforewe do that, as always, let's
take a brief moment and thankour episode sponsor.
Ad Read (00:27):
This podcast is brought to you by Strategic Associates.
Are you a high income earner,real estate investor, or
successful entrepreneur who isfrustrated by having to pay
$75,000 or more of annual taxliability? If so, Strategic
Associates can help. Your firststep to saving 1,000, if not 100
of 1,000, is to contact RogerRoundy at roger@strategicag.net
(00:50):
or by calling 801-641-2956, andbe sure to tell them TTF sent
you.
John Tripolsky (00:59):
Alrighty. Let's dive into this one here. We're
gonna look at, as we mentionedin the preview or the intro,
some goals here getting into thenew year. So everybody always
starts off the new year. Oh, I'mgonna join a gym.
I'm gonna, I don't know, do thedishes more. I'm gonna walk the
dog more. I'm gonna go to theplayground more. Any of those
things, but we're gonna look atsome of those as it relates to
(01:21):
the financial goals. So, Chris,I'm actually really glad, before
we jump into this, that we didpivot off of a different topic
into this one because this issuper relevant.
Right? We're coming up on whatdo they call, like, quitters'
day is, like, the 2nd Friday ofthe new year. So let's, let's
quit the quitting, I guess, andI don't know. I can't come up
(01:42):
with any cheesy dad jokes, but
Chris Picciurro (01:44):
that's alright, John. First of all, happy New
Year to everyone in the teachingtax flow community. We truly
appreciate you. We had a lot oflisteners in the last year.
We've had amazing guests.
We've had, we went on toYouTube. So now you can either
listen to the audio version orwatch. This is gonna get salesy
for a minute, but we really,really need one thing from you.
(02:09):
To rate, review, and subscribeto this podcast. 5 stars.
Why? Because that allows us thatputs the fuel in us to be able
to continue to providecomplimentary content. It allows
us to expand our footprint, tohave more people in the teaching
tax flow community. The morepeople in the teaching tax flow
community we have, the betterresources we have to talk about
(02:31):
these issues and because thesethe best topics are derived from
our teaching tax flow community,be that of defeating taxes on
our private LinkedIn group.That's defeatingtaxes.com if
you're feeling left out.
And, so, yeah, that that's myask, and I'm excited about the
new year. I I always do somegoal setting on my own. But
(02:52):
before we get started, John,what what were you doing when
the ball dropped?
John Tripolsky (02:56):
Oh, I hate to admit it. I was sick as a dog,
so I think I was in bed by,like, 10 o'clock. But you know
what? You're like you said itwas gonna get sales either. You
would be a terrible used carsalesman because you actually
meant that from the heart.
It's not like the car salesman'ssnake oil. So oops. I got a
little tear up here for aminute, buddy. Look at them. I'm
wiping my tears up and all.
(03:17):
Watching.
Chris Picciurro (03:19):
Well, we have, for the last 3 years, our family
are so my we visit Michigan forChristmas, and we visit Texas,
visiting my wife's family and myfamily and both our families, I
guess you would say, for forThanksgiving. So we've made a
tradition with our family, justus 5, my wife and my 3 kids, to
(03:39):
do something. And the last fewyears we've gone to Orlando,
didn't step foot at Disney. Wewent to Disney Springs, that's
it. We had an amazing time andwe got to go to this annual New
Year's party at the, it's calledthe Marriott, World Center
Hotel.
Hey, you should be a sponsor,Marriott. And we got to see the
(04:03):
ball drop, fireworks show. We'llkick you know, there's a awesome
heated swimming pool, and it wasjust a blast. So great year to
great way to ring in the newyear. And as a new year came in,
I started thinking about mypersonal goals, thinking about
the goals that I obtained in2024, the ones I did not yet
obtain, but I'm I'm satisfiedand I'm gonna live in the gain
(04:25):
as we like to say, on the on thegoals obtained.
And then thinking aboutpersonally, I've got faith
goals, fitness goals, personalgoals, and business goals, but
since this is a podcast aboutfinance and tax, we're gonna
stick with business or personaland and personal financial and
business goals. So I'm hopingthat if you I'm hoping that
(04:49):
you've started the goal, goalprocess. But if you haven't,
because if you don't have agoal, you can't measure
something, this could be thatspark, for you to to figure out
what your goals are for the nextyear. And, we're gonna focus on
how to do that and what youshould consider from a finance
setting financial goals, notjust what that process is, but
(05:11):
also who you should include. Andthen we're gonna talk a little
bit about goals if you have abusiness.
So, John, have you done any goalsetting here for I know you
wanna get your, pickleball duperscore up.
John Tripolsky (05:20):
Oh, of course. And you know what's funny too,
Chris? I mean, this is, youknow, whether it's financial or,
you know, house stuff oranything in life, Actually, I've
found myself probably in aboutthe past, maybe 4 or 5 years,
not doing them in the new yearbecause I think I'm more
inclined to get busy with otherstuff and then kind of fall into
the, oh, I'm gonna tweak them orput them off. So I always tend
(05:42):
to do them around, like, I don'tknow, October ish something. So
that that I feel because I'm alittle competitive in some
sense.
That way I feel like I have aleg up on everybody else. You
know? Yeah.
Chris Picciurro (05:51):
You're kinda going in well, I mean, this is
just a good way to to get theyou know, start fresh. And, you
know, we've got goals forteaching tax flow in this
podcast. So, we're we're gonnacontinue to strive forward, and
so let's talk let's talk aboutwhat someone should do, in
setting some financial goals for2025, personal financial goals,
(06:15):
and then we will jump intobusiness. So if you have already
started setting goals, great.Congratulations.
I still think this could be veryvaluable to you. But the but the
first thing you're gonna wannado is kind of figure out, just
figure out what your where yourlife what season of your life
are you in? What's yourpriority? Like, for me, I'm in
the thick of things. You know,I've got my child turning 16
(06:38):
this week.
I've got a 5th 14 year old andan 11 year old. So we're heavy
into, you know, planning forfinancially for for school, and
they have activities. So a lotof our travel is is around those
activities. So that season oflove life that my wife aren't in
IRN, which we're truly enjoying,many of our resources are going
(07:02):
towards those memories and thoseactivities. And it's kinda sad,
John, because my son my oldestson's a sophomore in high
school, and I was like, man, howmany Christmas breaks or holiday
breaks or what have you do wehave left here?
You know? Who knows where life'sgonna take us? So making so
you're already thinking about25. My yeah. My wife and I were
(07:23):
looking at next year, NewYear's, what what trip are we
gonna do a year, you know, nextyear to after Christmas and that
before, you know, through NewYear's and and budgeting for
that.
So identifying your priorities,like, are you saving for a
house? Are you trying toconsolidate that? Is it
education? Are you looking atretirement? Figuring out are you
(07:43):
just getting started in yourcareer?
You know, are you determininghow much money you should be
putting aside towardsretirement? Or are you worried
about retirement? Are youlooking at buying rental
properties? So figuring out whatyour life goals are first and
then making sure your financialgoals align with those. Right?
Because if you're someone John,I mean, yeah, I'm saving for
(08:05):
retirement and and however, Ilove what I'm doing. I don't
know that I'm ever gonna, like,fully retire, unless for some
reason I just mentally can't orphysically can't do what I'm
doing. So I'm the retirement'simportant to me, but I'm not one
of the you know, like ourparents, John, in in many of our
many people that maybe wereworked maybe in the big three or
(08:26):
big corporations, they havethat, like, boom. I got my 30
years in, and I'm and I'm havingmy retirement party, and then
I'm not checking an email again.You know?
I just I'm not wired like that.So for me to focus on retirement
as my number one financial goaldoesn't align with my personal
goal.
John Tripolsky (08:44):
Right. Right. It's one of those things too. I,
you know, I always referencekinda wild abstract articles
that I've read. You know, howFacebook became known as the,
the high school reunion killer.
Now people are saying that the,I don't know what it was. It
wasn't the economy, butsomething became the retirement
party killer because there's fewfar and few retirement parties
(09:07):
they said over the past 5 yearsbecause nobody's really
retiring. They're just doingsomething else. Can you imagine
that going to a going to aretirement party in the next
week? You're like, this clownwent out and got another job.
Chris Picciurro (09:18):
Right.
John Tripolsky (09:18):
They're like, it just duped me into coming to a
party for nothing. I don't evenlike the guy. So
Chris Picciurro (09:23):
I know. And I feel like a lot of times
retirement I mean, a lot ofpeople that are retired are are
very active too. You know? So,where they're doing some type of
work that's very meaningful tothem. It could be just getting
out of the house.
Maybe, you know, I love theholidays, so, like, I would I
could see doing mad or they liketraveling or they like to
volunteer. You know? So so,yeah, I would say figure out
(09:46):
your life goals and and thenalign your financial goals to
that. The next step is gonna bedoing some type of budget. Now
this is a tough one.
It's it's basically theequivalent of stepping on a
scale. Right? We don't like todo it. We we but but we have to
look at tracking our income andexpenses. And that's something
my wife and I have done.
(10:07):
I mean, I I I become, I succumbto this, oh, gosh. I've got a
couple subscriptions that Isigned up for. I'm pretty good
at if I sign up I'm signing upfor, like, a week, you know, a
week later or a month later. Butbut sometimes I just cancel the
subscription that I had that Ireally wasn't using anymore, and
I figured out there's somethingelse I could do. So figuring out
(10:29):
what your income is and makingsure your expenses, align up
with that.
Now we have so much technology.A lot of us, you know, if you
use it if you do online bankingor if you use one specific
credit card for all of youractivities, you can kick out a
report showing you what you wantwhat what your, your spending
is. But a lot of times, youknow, there there's a general
rule of thumb. You about 50% ofyour your income should go to
(10:52):
your needs, 30 per to yourwants, and about 20% to savings
and debt repayment. Again,that's just a rule of thumb.
Your seasonal life will dictatewhat that means for you. But
creating a budget, trust me.It's tough. I'm a CPA. I've been
a CPA for 20 years.
I hate looking at how much moneywe all we spent last year on
what we spent it on. So, butyou've gotta create a budget. I
(11:15):
mean, that's that's theframework for for creating these
goals.
John Tripolsky (11:20):
Mhmm. Absolutely. And a lot of it too,
it's you know, once you create abudget for something, whether
it's, you know, your life for aspecific project. Right? I've
always found it where you mightlook at it and say, oh, wow.
You know, I'm I'm not spendingas much as I thought I was in
one area, which is surprising,and it just it it gives you a
little bit more comfort in somesense. Or it scares you to
(11:41):
death, and you're like, holycow. I need to cancel, you know,
x y z, my Peloton membership,and I forgot I even had the darn
thing. And, you know, it's you'dbe surprised. And that could be
anything.
You might look at it and say,wow. You know, Between 3 or 4
people in the household, we'reall leasing vehicles, and we're
spending $27100 a month. Like,this is crazy. Why don't we
Chris Picciurro (12:00):
Right.
John Tripolsky (12:00):
You know, do something else that's
surprising?
Chris Picciurro (12:02):
Like, groceries are expensive, but eating out
like, one thing I think abouttrying to cut out is, you know,
when you go out to eat, it's notas fun. But if you don't order a
either an alcoholic drink or asoft drink, you save a lot of
money. You know, just drinkingwater is not very fun. However,
it it does definitely you know,our kids have now out of that
(12:23):
age where they get a free popwith their little with their
with their kid meal. I mean,we're out of the kid meal stage
except my little youngest atsome restaurants.
So but, yeah, create a budget.And then and then once you
create that budget, you know, ifyou if you're, whatever you
allocate towards that savings ordebt repayment, that's where you
look at, okay, well, if I wannacontribute to retirement, where
(12:45):
am I at marginal tax rate wise?I'm gonna go back to teaching
tax flow, red, green, purple,gold. Do you are you in a higher
marginal tax bracket? Highermarginal tax bracket means
you're a red diagnosis.
Okay. You might wanna go withpretax with your retirement
accounts. Are you in a lowermarginal tax bracket right now?
That's green. Should youconsider doing Roth accounts?
And then within those accounts,are you rebalancing? Are you is
(13:08):
your risk appropriate with whereyou're at? I've I can't tell you
how many people I run into that,you know, they started a job 10
years ago. They've contributedto their 401 k. At that point,
they were 30 years old and and,you know, they had a high amount
of risk tolerance.
And let's just say they're 50now. Let's say it's 20 years,
and they have a lower risktolerance, but they never
adjusted that with theircontribution. So make sure
(13:30):
you're balancing your risk andreturn, and that's where I would
I would say that work with awith a licensed financial
adviser. Now if you need areferral to 1, please reach out.
Let us know.
We work with a ton of financialadvisers. We're gonna make sure
that you get a find someone witha great fit. But but so you're
doing the job of you'recontributing that retirement
account. Why don't you havesomeone help you out with
(13:52):
managing that account? And andfigure out how much you how what
what percent of your income areyou willing to to put into that
retirement account based on youryour marginal tax rate.
And that plays a role, John. Wehad a real interesting content.
We had we did we did a podcast,I think, on should you pay your
house off if you had the cash?And debt management's another
(14:14):
thing. So, ultimately, yes, ifyou have high interest debt, I
would seriously consider payingthat off.
It's kinda like just carryingextra weight, and it can but if
you've got if your only debts of3% mortgage, maybe you wanna
allocate more towards yourretirement.
John Tripolsky (14:31):
Right. I I've seen a video too a while back
here. I come with one of mycrazy examples where somebody
broke down. You know, they theylooked at and said everybody has
an ambition or, you know, a goalto be a, you know, an investor
in something in hopes of makingit I'm just pulling a number out
of out of thin air, in hopes ofmaking a 10% return every year,
but they carry, say, a $100,000in credit card debt at, like,
(14:56):
24% interest. And they'recomfortable with that, but yet
they're trying to make 10%somewhere else.
They said, if you looked ateverything you have, you'd
realize that if you just paidoff your debt, you're making 20
something percent guaranteedreturn. So it's, and that comes
down to what you had mentionedtoo. Right? Laying everything
out, creating kind of a budget.You could do it in a
(15:16):
spreadsheet, a napkin.
There's all kinds of tools outthere. I know Rocket, I think,
has a a great one out there.Just an app that looks at all
your subscriptions and yourspending and exports, and
there's all kinds of stuff.
Chris Picciurro (15:29):
Absolutely. That's that's huge. And and
then, also, I I would try to getthis is really hard. I'd try to
get some type of emergency fundbuilt up. You know, 3 months of
living expenses at a minimum, 6months at a max.
So if your monthly livingexpenses are 5,000 a month, try
to get that $15,000 saved up,put that website, in your
(15:52):
savings account. And then beyondyou know, and then and then if
you get to 30,000, great. Over30,000 now, let's look at either
looking at some differentinvestments, in in that sort of
stuff. And when you're youngertoo, I mean, really take a look
right now at at your do you havethe appropriate appropriate life
insurance, especially if youstart a family? You know, it's
(16:16):
those are the things that youhave to think about.
And, again, if you havequestions, jump into the
teaching tax law community. Weare happy to help. But build up
that emergency fund. Sometimespeople have too much in their
emergency fund, in my opinion,And it's especially with
interest rates, not the best.That's might be something where
you say, okay.
Well, hey. I've got my emergencyfund set up. Now I'm gonna start
saving towards investing in arental property or or doing
(16:38):
something else. So build up thatemergency fund and plan for
taxes. Remember, if you don'tplan for taxes the IRS picks
your tax.
If you do plan then you pickyour tax. So think about, okay,
are my tax withholdingsappropriate? Do I do I am I
being tax efficient? Can Icontribute to a health savings
account? Does my life goal say,hey.
(16:59):
I wanna help my children. I wantmy children to go to college. If
that's your goal, you mightwanna put more in your 5 29 plan
than your retirement a littleless than the retirement plan.
There's no one size fits all.But if you don't have some goals
that you set, right, then you'rereally running around like a
chicken with your head cut off.
Imagine a sports a hockey teamor a let's talk about, more
(17:22):
popular sports. A football team.Just kidding John, we know how
much you love hockey. Or asoccer team. Running, especially
football.
What would happen if footballwent out there and there are
people just running around andthey didn't have a play? That's
what's happening if you don'thave a plan. You're going
through the motions but youdon't have a plan. So come up
with that plan, figure out whatyour tax marginal tax rate is,
and that helps with the taxplanning and strategy. Now
(17:46):
sometimes you can get analysisby paralysis and, I mean,
looking at your bank account andbudget every day might drive you
crazy.
Right? You wanna enjoy the ride.You know, you if you wanna stop
and get a premium coffeesomewhere instead of make it at
home, great. I found myself fromgetting into a rut with my
oldest that we would stopping ata at a coffee shop, not a
variety of different coffeeshops here in Franklin after
(18:07):
school and I'm like even he'slike, man, we're wasting a lot
of money. So Wednesday's our dayto go get a nice go get a
coffee.
The other days we make ourcoffee at home. And and I can
live with that and he could livewith that. So regularly review
and adjust your can adjust youryour goals and your budget, but
don't over like, you know, ifsomeone's trying to lose weight,
(18:29):
for instance, usually you don'twanna weigh yourself every day.
Right? You wanna do it once aweek or once a month.
So review and adjust, make yourgoals realistic, and use
personal advice. Like I said, afinancial adviser or a tax
professional could really,really help you do this. So if
you're, you know, if you'remarried, you guys it's an
(18:50):
exercise you wanna do with yourspouse. If you're not if you're
unmarried, that's okay. Great.
It might make it a littleeasier. Right? Create your so
create that create the thatbudget. So define life goals,
make sure your financial goalsalign. Step 2.
Step 3, create a budget thatmakes sense for you. Step 4 is
figure out how you're going toimplement implement the things
(19:12):
in your budget. And then step 5to me is you surround yourself
we talked about the board ofdirectors, right, with the
people that can help you makethis happen. So if you're
putting away, you know, 22% ofyour income in a savings, great.
At some point, that savingsaccount is gonna be more than 6
months of your living expenses.
Let's sit down and let's createa plan and work with a financial
(19:34):
adviser in that case.
John Tripolsky (19:36):
Mhmm. And a lot of this too carries over, you
know, even if you're a a a soleproprietor. You know, if you're
a freelancer, you know, reallyif you own a business of any
size. Right? A lot of this like,we're talking about budgeting
and setting things aside andworking with a professional and
kind of all these these avenuesfor it.
It's almost the exact same thingfor the business. Sometimes it's
(19:57):
one and the same. Sometimesthey're very different. Right?
Chris Picciurro (20:00):
Absolutely. Great segue to business. So what
for those of that are selfemployed or even if you're
you're doing the side hustle,business could be a lot of
times, unpredictable. Right?Especially where in what type of
business you're in and could beseasonal.
But without a plan, you know,your business is not is gonna
(20:21):
run you. You're not gonna runit. So for business, we've gotta
be a little more intentional.Right? We've gotta be a little
more, because we've we've gottaprobably be a little more
disciplined.
And I can't tell you how manyyou know, working with business
owners for over 20 years, mostof them very closely held
businesses. Some of them aresmall. Some of them are bigger.
(20:43):
But the the ones that know theirnumbers do much, much better
than the ones that they don'tknow their numbers. Right?
Because we've got verysuccessful people that I can't
tell you how many times I'veheard, like, hey. I made, you
know, a couple and this might beyou. You might be listening to
this. You might be on a walk, atreadmill. You might be
relaxing, driving.
You're not alone. If you'resitting there saying, man, I
made $200,000 last year but Idon't know where it all went. I
(21:05):
made 50,000 fill in the blank ofthe top. I made x amount of
dollars. And if you're thinkingto yourself, I don't know where
it all went, that's when it'stime to say, okay, Let's sit
down and let's figure out somegoal setting for 2025.
So for businesses, very similar.Figure out where you're at in
your stage of your business. Didyou just get started? Are you in
the growth may mode? Are you ina transitional mode?
(21:26):
Are you looking for a asuccessor? And define specific
financial targets. So everyindustry is a little different.
So for our industry, we're lookwe have a a target for new
client, you know, revenue buy indifferent divisions. But it
doesn't always it could it couldbe client satisfaction, client
retention.
But use the acronym SMART. Okay?SMART stands for specific,
(21:52):
measurable, achievable,relevant, time bound. SMART.
Specific, measurable,achievable, relevant, time
bound.
If you use the SMART goalsetting, then it makes life a
lot easier. Try to be asspecific as possible. And again,
not all of your business goalsfor 25 have to be financial.
(22:13):
They could be something like,hey. We want to like, for
teaching task well.
Right? We wanna have x amount ofdownloads in the next in 2025.
We don't get necessarilycompensated per download, but
then tells us our reach isgrowing and that we're making an
impact, the impact we want on onour taxpayers. Right? And then
(22:37):
look at your past performance.
Make sure that your, you know,your goals are achievable. It's
great to have goals, But butmakes an unachievable goal
saying, this is my 1st year inbusiness. I wanna make
$5,000,000 in net profit. Youmight be setting yourself up for
for failure. So make sure it'smeasurable, but also achievable,
but challenge yourself.
So look at your prior yearfinancials. And, you know, John,
(23:00):
we could be quite get a littlebit of an open book to everyone.
We do it ourselves here atTeaching Tax Law. Right? We do a
SWOT analysis, strengths,weaknesses, opportunities, and
threats.
So what went well? What could weimprove on? And what are the
drivers to make our goals,obtainable? And then come up
with a plan, you know, like aevery quarter look at things.
(23:23):
Every there's certain thingsthat we look at weekly in our
business.
There's certain things we lookat monthly, quarterly, and
annually. And then make surethat your cash flow, is is
analyzed too. Right? Becauselet's say you have a c let's say
you have a sales goal. We have aseasonal business and and and
Christmas is your biggest month.
I think 50% of your revenuecomes in on Christmas. That's
(23:45):
different that's different thansomeone that maybe is in a
professional service that has asubscription model. And then tax
planning. Right? There are tonsof tax deductions and credits,
industry specific things thatyou need to be aware of, changes
in legislation.
Hopefully, you're you'resubscribing to this podcast
because we put a lot of contentout there or the teaching tax to
the YouTube channel. But makesure that you're working with
(24:08):
again, as a business owner, yourboard of directors of tax
professional, that you couldeither that you that could be
there for you, not only to dothe tax compliance work or the
tax preparation work, but alsobe there to answer questions and
help you moving forward.
John Tripolsky (24:25):
Absolutely. And there's so much overlap. Right?
Like, we're talking betweenbusinesses and individuals where
a lot of it if you almost startI mean, what I look at this,
right, is start on theindividual side and then kind of
follow that a little bit throughas much of the business side as
you can. You'll it'll make yourlife a lot easier, I think, than
maybe going the other wayaround.
Right?
Chris Picciurro (24:45):
Absolutely. Because just like the just like
business, you know, build upthat 3 to 6 months of operating
expenses just like personal, andthen your business can start
investing in in differentthings. Or or, you know, one of
the things questions we get alot as CPAs is that, hey. Can I
should I take money out of thisbusiness? Well, first of all,
depending on how how you'restructured, the answer would
will would be different.
(25:06):
Right? Situation situationallydependent. But once you build
that 3 months of operatingexpenses, I'd say if you have a
significant amount if you're asole proprietor, 3 months is
great. If you have employees oroverhead, getting up to 6 months
is is probably better. And thenyou might have a goal of, hey.
I really I really wanna buy anoffice building for myself. I
wanna build instead of renting,I wanna buy something. Then
(25:28):
that's that's the goal. Right?So start working towards that
goal.
So you're right, John. It's verysimilar to personal. The goal
setting for businesses, usingsmart, specific, measurable,
achievable, relevant time bound,making sure that you have a
plan. I think you gotta be alittle more strategic and I
think the cash flow management'smore is is more challenging.
Right?
Because if if you're someonethat's on a salary or you have
(25:50):
predictable amount of hours,let's say you get paid hourly,
but let's say you know you'reyou're you work at a at a
warehouse or a factory, and youknow you guys are have work
throughout the year. There'smaybe there's a layoff in July,
But you have your income's morepredictable as an employee maybe
than someone that's selfemployed.
John Tripolsky (26:07):
Right. Right. Right. Well, I definitely look
forward to knocking out somemore episodes as we're talking
through this. I was, you know,speaking of planning, I I was
looking at our schedule here forsome upcoming shows.
So we won't give away the, giveaway any tips or or I should say
hints, but just subscribe, andyou'll figure out what we're
what we're talking about. And Ithink one of the Absolutely. And
Chris Picciurro (26:26):
you know what? I'm a fan of the to this. Right?
John Tripolsky (26:30):
What's that?
Chris Picciurro (26:32):
No. I'm sorry. You're one of the sorry. I
interrupted you, but what I'mgonna challenge you, if you've
listened to this, find anaccountability partner. Write
down I'm I I look at my goalsevery day on my whiteboard.
Find and so if you're notcomfortable sharing their goals
with someone, write them down soyou could look at them. Or go on
share them with our team sharethem with the teaching tax law
(26:52):
community. Go on to defeatingtaxes and post anonymously. Just
say, hey. These are my goals.
What do you guys think? This isit's a group effort. You know?
You can't get all your goals onyour own.
John Tripolsky (27:04):
And that's a great way to do it too. Yeah.
Post anonymously in there and Imean, you might you might have a
great conversation withsomebody, and then you could,
you know, offline it and andtake it from there. But, yeah,
ton tons of resources on there.You know, obviously, finding an
accountability partner isprobably the best thing you can
do.
And, really, somebody that's notkinda tied into your life on a
daily basis anyway. So theyreally have no skin in the game
(27:27):
except helping you succeed.Right? They're not gonna try to
skew you on one directionbecause they want a new car or
or something specific. So shouldwork out pretty well.
And and, yeah, we look forwardto more and more of these shows
here. Again, we got our topicsplanned out, and, it's gonna be
great. So until next time, we'llsee you back here again. I can't
say next year because it is nextyear already. So next week,
(27:49):
roughly the same time,completely different topic here
on the Teaching Tax Wellpodcast.
Disclaimer (27:56):
The content provided is for educational purposes
only. We encourage you to seekpersonalized investment advice
from your financialprofessional. For all tax and
legal advice, please consultyour CPA or attorney. Investment
advisory services are offeredthrough cabin advisors, a
registered investment adviser.Securities are offered through
cabin Securities, a registeredbroker dealer.
The content of this podcast doesnot constitute an offer of
(28:17):
securities. Offerings can onlybe made through an offering
memorandum, and you shouldcarefully examine the risk
factors and other informationcontained in the memorandum.
Examine the risk factors andother information containing the
memorandum.
Welcome back to the Teaching Tax Flow podcast,
everybody. Episode 117 here intothe new year of 2025. We're
gonna take some time and we'regonna dive into what some goals
are that you as an individual ora business owner can look at
here in the new year. But beforewe do that, as always, let's
take a brief moment and thankour episode sponsor.
Ad Read (00:27):
This podcast is brought to you by Strategic Associates.
Are you a high income earner,real estate investor, or
successful entrepreneur who isfrustrated by having to pay
$75,000 or more of annual taxliability? If so, Strategic
Associates can help. Your firststep to saving 1,000, if not 100
of 1,000, is to contact RogerRoundy at roger@strategicag.net
(00:50):
or by calling 801-641-2956, andbe sure to tell them TTF sent
you.
John Tripolsky (00:59):
Alrighty. Let's dive into this one here. We're
gonna look at, as we mentionedin the preview or the intro,
some goals here getting into thenew year. So everybody always
starts off the new year. Oh, I'mgonna join a gym.
I'm gonna, I don't know, do thedishes more. I'm gonna walk the
dog more. I'm gonna go to theplayground more. Any of those
things, but we're gonna look atsome of those as it relates to
(01:21):
the financial goals. So, Chris,I'm actually really glad, before
we jump into this, that we didpivot off of a different topic
into this one because this issuper relevant.
Right? We're coming up on whatdo they call, like, quitters'
day is, like, the 2nd Friday ofthe new year. So let's, let's
quit the quitting, I guess, andI don't know. I can't come up
(01:42):
with any cheesy dad jokes, but
Chris Picciurro (01:44):
that's alright, John. First of all, happy New
Year to everyone in the teachingtax flow community. We truly
appreciate you. We had a lot oflisteners in the last year.
We've had amazing guests.
We've had, we went on toYouTube. So now you can either
listen to the audio version orwatch. This is gonna get salesy
for a minute, but we really,really need one thing from you.
(02:09):
To rate, review, and subscribeto this podcast. 5 stars.
Why? Because that allows us thatputs the fuel in us to be able
to continue to providecomplimentary content. It allows
us to expand our footprint, tohave more people in the teaching
tax flow community. The morepeople in the teaching tax flow
community we have, the betterresources we have to talk about
(02:31):
these issues and because thesethe best topics are derived from
our teaching tax flow community,be that of defeating taxes on
our private LinkedIn group.That's defeatingtaxes.com if
you're feeling left out.
And, so, yeah, that that's myask, and I'm excited about the
new year. I I always do somegoal setting on my own. But
(02:52):
before we get started, John,what what were you doing when
the ball dropped?
John Tripolsky (02:56):
Oh, I hate to admit it. I was sick as a dog,
so I think I was in bed by,like, 10 o'clock. But you know
what? You're like you said itwas gonna get sales either. You
would be a terrible used carsalesman because you actually
meant that from the heart.
It's not like the car salesman'ssnake oil. So oops. I got a
little tear up here for aminute, buddy. Look at them. I'm
wiping my tears up and all.
(03:17):
Watching.
Chris Picciurro (03:19):
Well, we have, for the last 3 years, our family
are so my we visit Michigan forChristmas, and we visit Texas,
visiting my wife's family and myfamily and both our families, I
guess you would say, for forThanksgiving. So we've made a
tradition with our family, justus 5, my wife and my 3 kids, to
(03:39):
do something. And the last fewyears we've gone to Orlando,
didn't step foot at Disney. Wewent to Disney Springs, that's
it. We had an amazing time andwe got to go to this annual New
Year's party at the, it's calledthe Marriott, World Center
Hotel.
Hey, you should be a sponsor,Marriott. And we got to see the
(04:03):
ball drop, fireworks show. We'llkick you know, there's a awesome
heated swimming pool, and it wasjust a blast. So great year to
great way to ring in the newyear. And as a new year came in,
I started thinking about mypersonal goals, thinking about
the goals that I obtained in2024, the ones I did not yet
obtain, but I'm I'm satisfiedand I'm gonna live in the gain
(04:25):
as we like to say, on the on thegoals obtained.
And then thinking aboutpersonally, I've got faith
goals, fitness goals, personalgoals, and business goals, but
since this is a podcast aboutfinance and tax, we're gonna
stick with business or personaland and personal financial and
business goals. So I'm hopingthat if you I'm hoping that
(04:49):
you've started the goal, goalprocess. But if you haven't,
because if you don't have agoal, you can't measure
something, this could be thatspark, for you to to figure out
what your goals are for the nextyear. And, we're gonna focus on
how to do that and what youshould consider from a finance
setting financial goals, notjust what that process is, but
(05:11):
also who you should include. Andthen we're gonna talk a little
bit about goals if you have abusiness.
So, John, have you done any goalsetting here for I know you
wanna get your, pickleball duperscore up.
John Tripolsky (05:20):
Oh, of course. And you know what's funny too,
Chris? I mean, this is, youknow, whether it's financial or,
you know, house stuff oranything in life, Actually, I've
found myself probably in aboutthe past, maybe 4 or 5 years,
not doing them in the new yearbecause I think I'm more
inclined to get busy with otherstuff and then kind of fall into
the, oh, I'm gonna tweak them orput them off. So I always tend
(05:42):
to do them around, like, I don'tknow, October ish something. So
that that I feel because I'm alittle competitive in some
sense.
That way I feel like I have aleg up on everybody else. You
know? Yeah.
Chris Picciurro (05:51):
You're kinda going in well, I mean, this is
just a good way to to get theyou know, start fresh. And, you
know, we've got goals forteaching tax flow in this
podcast. So, we're we're gonnacontinue to strive forward, and
so let's talk let's talk aboutwhat someone should do, in
setting some financial goals for2025, personal financial goals,
(06:15):
and then we will jump intobusiness. So if you have already
started setting goals, great.Congratulations.
I still think this could be veryvaluable to you. But the but the
first thing you're gonna wannado is kind of figure out, just
figure out what your where yourlife what season of your life
are you in? What's yourpriority? Like, for me, I'm in
the thick of things. You know,I've got my child turning 16
(06:38):
this week.
I've got a 5th 14 year old andan 11 year old. So we're heavy
into, you know, planning forfinancially for for school, and
they have activities. So a lotof our travel is is around those
activities. So that season oflove life that my wife aren't in
IRN, which we're truly enjoying,many of our resources are going
(07:02):
towards those memories and thoseactivities. And it's kinda sad,
John, because my son my oldestson's a sophomore in high
school, and I was like, man, howmany Christmas breaks or holiday
breaks or what have you do wehave left here?
You know? Who knows where life'sgonna take us? So making so
you're already thinking about25. My yeah. My wife and I were
(07:23):
looking at next year, NewYear's, what what trip are we
gonna do a year, you know, nextyear to after Christmas and that
before, you know, through NewYear's and and budgeting for
that.
So identifying your priorities,like, are you saving for a
house? Are you trying toconsolidate that? Is it
education? Are you looking atretirement? Figuring out are you
(07:43):
just getting started in yourcareer?
You know, are you determininghow much money you should be
putting aside towardsretirement? Or are you worried
about retirement? Are youlooking at buying rental
properties? So figuring out whatyour life goals are first and
then making sure your financialgoals align with those. Right?
Because if you're someone John,I mean, yeah, I'm saving for
(08:05):
retirement and and however, Ilove what I'm doing. I don't
know that I'm ever gonna, like,fully retire, unless for some
reason I just mentally can't orphysically can't do what I'm
doing. So I'm the retirement'simportant to me, but I'm not one
of the you know, like ourparents, John, in in many of our
many people that maybe wereworked maybe in the big three or
(08:26):
big corporations, they havethat, like, boom. I got my 30
years in, and I'm and I'm havingmy retirement party, and then
I'm not checking an email again.You know?
I just I'm not wired like that.So for me to focus on retirement
as my number one financial goaldoesn't align with my personal
goal.
John Tripolsky (08:44):
Right. Right. It's one of those things too. I,
you know, I always referencekinda wild abstract articles
that I've read. You know, howFacebook became known as the,
the high school reunion killer.
Now people are saying that the,I don't know what it was. It
wasn't the economy, butsomething became the retirement
party killer because there's fewfar and few retirement parties
(09:07):
they said over the past 5 yearsbecause nobody's really
retiring. They're just doingsomething else. Can you imagine
that going to a going to aretirement party in the next
week? You're like, this clownwent out and got another job.
Chris Picciurro (09:18):
Right.
John Tripolsky (09:18):
They're like, it just duped me into coming to a
party for nothing. I don't evenlike the guy. So
Chris Picciurro (09:23):
I know. And I feel like a lot of times
retirement I mean, a lot ofpeople that are retired are are
very active too. You know? So,where they're doing some type of
work that's very meaningful tothem. It could be just getting
out of the house.
Maybe, you know, I love theholidays, so, like, I would I
could see doing mad or they liketraveling or they like to
volunteer. You know? So so,yeah, I would say figure out
(09:46):
your life goals and and thenalign your financial goals to
that. The next step is gonna bedoing some type of budget. Now
this is a tough one.
It's it's basically theequivalent of stepping on a
scale. Right? We don't like todo it. We we but but we have to
look at tracking our income andexpenses. And that's something
my wife and I have done.
(10:07):
I mean, I I I become, I succumbto this, oh, gosh. I've got a
couple subscriptions that Isigned up for. I'm pretty good
at if I sign up I'm signing upfor, like, a week, you know, a
week later or a month later. Butbut sometimes I just cancel the
subscription that I had that Ireally wasn't using anymore, and
I figured out there's somethingelse I could do. So figuring out
(10:29):
what your income is and makingsure your expenses, align up
with that.
Now we have so much technology.A lot of us, you know, if you
use it if you do online bankingor if you use one specific
credit card for all of youractivities, you can kick out a
report showing you what you wantwhat what your, your spending
is. But a lot of times, youknow, there there's a general
rule of thumb. You about 50% ofyour your income should go to
(10:52):
your needs, 30 per to yourwants, and about 20% to savings
and debt repayment. Again,that's just a rule of thumb.
Your seasonal life will dictatewhat that means for you. But
creating a budget, trust me.It's tough. I'm a CPA. I've been
a CPA for 20 years.
I hate looking at how much moneywe all we spent last year on
what we spent it on. So, butyou've gotta create a budget. I
(11:15):
mean, that's that's theframework for for creating these
goals.
John Tripolsky (11:20):
Mhmm. Absolutely. And a lot of it too,
it's you know, once you create abudget for something, whether
it's, you know, your life for aspecific project. Right? I've
always found it where you mightlook at it and say, oh, wow.
You know, I'm I'm not spendingas much as I thought I was in
one area, which is surprising,and it just it it gives you a
little bit more comfort in somesense. Or it scares you to
(11:41):
death, and you're like, holycow. I need to cancel, you know,
x y z, my Peloton membership,and I forgot I even had the darn
thing. And, you know, it's you'dbe surprised. And that could be
anything.
You might look at it and say,wow. You know, Between 3 or 4
people in the household, we'reall leasing vehicles, and we're
spending $27100 a month. Like,this is crazy. Why don't we
Chris Picciurro (12:00):
Right.
John Tripolsky (12:00):
You know, do something else that's
surprising?
Chris Picciurro (12:02):
Like, groceries are expensive, but eating out
like, one thing I think abouttrying to cut out is, you know,
when you go out to eat, it's notas fun. But if you don't order a
either an alcoholic drink or asoft drink, you save a lot of
money. You know, just drinkingwater is not very fun. However,
it it does definitely you know,our kids have now out of that
(12:23):
age where they get a free popwith their little with their
with their kid meal. I mean,we're out of the kid meal stage
except my little youngest atsome restaurants.
So but, yeah, create a budget.And then and then once you
create that budget, you know, ifyou if you're, whatever you
allocate towards that savings ordebt repayment, that's where you
look at, okay, well, if I wannacontribute to retirement, where
(12:45):
am I at marginal tax rate wise?I'm gonna go back to teaching
tax flow, red, green, purple,gold. Do you are you in a higher
marginal tax bracket? Highermarginal tax bracket means
you're a red diagnosis.
Okay. You might wanna go withpretax with your retirement
accounts. Are you in a lowermarginal tax bracket right now?
That's green. Should youconsider doing Roth accounts?
And then within those accounts,are you rebalancing? Are you is
(13:08):
your risk appropriate with whereyou're at? I've I can't tell you
how many people I run into that,you know, they started a job 10
years ago. They've contributedto their 401 k. At that point,
they were 30 years old and and,you know, they had a high amount
of risk tolerance.
And let's just say they're 50now. Let's say it's 20 years,
and they have a lower risktolerance, but they never
adjusted that with theircontribution. So make sure
(13:30):
you're balancing your risk andreturn, and that's where I would
I would say that work with awith a licensed financial
adviser. Now if you need areferral to 1, please reach out.
Let us know.
We work with a ton of financialadvisers. We're gonna make sure
that you get a find someone witha great fit. But but so you're
doing the job of you'recontributing that retirement
account. Why don't you havesomeone help you out with
(13:52):
managing that account? And andfigure out how much you how what
what percent of your income areyou willing to to put into that
retirement account based on youryour marginal tax rate.
And that plays a role, John. Wehad a real interesting content.
We had we did we did a podcast,I think, on should you pay your
house off if you had the cash?And debt management's another
(14:14):
thing. So, ultimately, yes, ifyou have high interest debt, I
would seriously consider payingthat off.
It's kinda like just carryingextra weight, and it can but if
you've got if your only debts of3% mortgage, maybe you wanna
allocate more towards yourretirement.
John Tripolsky (14:31):
Right. I I've seen a video too a while back
here. I come with one of mycrazy examples where somebody
broke down. You know, they theylooked at and said everybody has
an ambition or, you know, a goalto be a, you know, an investor
in something in hopes of makingit I'm just pulling a number out
of out of thin air, in hopes ofmaking a 10% return every year,
but they carry, say, a $100,000in credit card debt at, like,
(14:56):
24% interest. And they'recomfortable with that, but yet
they're trying to make 10%somewhere else.
They said, if you looked ateverything you have, you'd
realize that if you just paidoff your debt, you're making 20
something percent guaranteedreturn. So it's, and that comes
down to what you had mentionedtoo. Right? Laying everything
out, creating kind of a budget.You could do it in a
(15:16):
spreadsheet, a napkin.
There's all kinds of tools outthere. I know Rocket, I think,
has a a great one out there.Just an app that looks at all
your subscriptions and yourspending and exports, and
there's all kinds of stuff.
Chris Picciurro (15:29):
Absolutely. That's that's huge. And and
then, also, I I would try to getthis is really hard. I'd try to
get some type of emergency fundbuilt up. You know, 3 months of
living expenses at a minimum, 6months at a max.
So if your monthly livingexpenses are 5,000 a month, try
to get that $15,000 saved up,put that website, in your
(15:52):
savings account. And then beyondyou know, and then and then if
you get to 30,000, great. Over30,000 now, let's look at either
looking at some differentinvestments, in in that sort of
stuff. And when you're youngertoo, I mean, really take a look
right now at at your do you havethe appropriate appropriate life
insurance, especially if youstart a family? You know, it's
(16:16):
those are the things that youhave to think about.
And, again, if you havequestions, jump into the
teaching tax law community. Weare happy to help. But build up
that emergency fund. Sometimespeople have too much in their
emergency fund, in my opinion,And it's especially with
interest rates, not the best.That's might be something where
you say, okay.
Well, hey. I've got my emergencyfund set up. Now I'm gonna start
saving towards investing in arental property or or doing
(16:38):
something else. So build up thatemergency fund and plan for
taxes. Remember, if you don'tplan for taxes the IRS picks
your tax.
If you do plan then you pickyour tax. So think about, okay,
are my tax withholdingsappropriate? Do I do I am I
being tax efficient? Can Icontribute to a health savings
account? Does my life goal say,hey.
(16:59):
I wanna help my children. I wantmy children to go to college. If
that's your goal, you mightwanna put more in your 5 29 plan
than your retirement a littleless than the retirement plan.
There's no one size fits all.But if you don't have some goals
that you set, right, then you'rereally running around like a
chicken with your head cut off.
Imagine a sports a hockey teamor a let's talk about, more
(17:22):
popular sports. A football team.Just kidding John, we know how
much you love hockey. Or asoccer team. Running, especially
football.
What would happen if footballwent out there and there are
people just running around andthey didn't have a play? That's
what's happening if you don'thave a plan. You're going
through the motions but youdon't have a plan. So come up
with that plan, figure out whatyour tax marginal tax rate is,
and that helps with the taxplanning and strategy. Now
(17:46):
sometimes you can get analysisby paralysis and, I mean,
looking at your bank account andbudget every day might drive you
crazy.
Right? You wanna enjoy the ride.You know, you if you wanna stop
and get a premium coffeesomewhere instead of make it at
home, great. I found myself fromgetting into a rut with my
oldest that we would stopping ata at a coffee shop, not a
variety of different coffeeshops here in Franklin after
(18:07):
school and I'm like even he'slike, man, we're wasting a lot
of money. So Wednesday's our dayto go get a nice go get a
coffee.
The other days we make ourcoffee at home. And and I can
live with that and he could livewith that. So regularly review
and adjust your can adjust youryour goals and your budget, but
don't over like, you know, ifsomeone's trying to lose weight,
(18:29):
for instance, usually you don'twanna weigh yourself every day.
Right? You wanna do it once aweek or once a month.
So review and adjust, make yourgoals realistic, and use
personal advice. Like I said, afinancial adviser or a tax
professional could really,really help you do this. So if
you're, you know, if you'remarried, you guys it's an
(18:50):
exercise you wanna do with yourspouse. If you're not if you're
unmarried, that's okay. Great.
It might make it a littleeasier. Right? Create your so
create that create the thatbudget. So define life goals,
make sure your financial goalsalign. Step 2.
Step 3, create a budget thatmakes sense for you. Step 4 is
figure out how you're going toimplement implement the things
(19:12):
in your budget. And then step 5to me is you surround yourself
we talked about the board ofdirectors, right, with the
people that can help you makethis happen. So if you're
putting away, you know, 22% ofyour income in a savings, great.
At some point, that savingsaccount is gonna be more than 6
months of your living expenses.
Let's sit down and let's createa plan and work with a financial
(19:34):
adviser in that case.
John Tripolsky (19:36):
Mhmm. And a lot of this too carries over, you
know, even if you're a a a soleproprietor. You know, if you're
a freelancer, you know, reallyif you own a business of any
size. Right? A lot of this like,we're talking about budgeting
and setting things aside andworking with a professional and
kind of all these these avenuesfor it.
It's almost the exact same thingfor the business. Sometimes it's
(19:57):
one and the same. Sometimesthey're very different. Right?
Chris Picciurro (20:00):
Absolutely. Great segue to business. So what
for those of that are selfemployed or even if you're
you're doing the side hustle,business could be a lot of
times, unpredictable. Right?Especially where in what type of
business you're in and could beseasonal.
But without a plan, you know,your business is not is gonna
(20:21):
run you. You're not gonna runit. So for business, we've gotta
be a little more intentional.Right? We've gotta be a little
more, because we've we've gottaprobably be a little more
disciplined.
And I can't tell you how manyyou know, working with business
owners for over 20 years, mostof them very closely held
businesses. Some of them aresmall. Some of them are bigger.
(20:43):
But the the ones that know theirnumbers do much, much better
than the ones that they don'tknow their numbers. Right?
Because we've got verysuccessful people that I can't
tell you how many times I'veheard, like, hey. I made, you
know, a couple and this might beyou. You might be listening to
this. You might be on a walk, atreadmill. You might be
relaxing, driving.
You're not alone. If you'resitting there saying, man, I
made $200,000 last year but Idon't know where it all went. I
(21:05):
made 50,000 fill in the blank ofthe top. I made x amount of
dollars. And if you're thinkingto yourself, I don't know where
it all went, that's when it'stime to say, okay, Let's sit
down and let's figure out somegoal setting for 2025.
So for businesses, very similar.Figure out where you're at in
your stage of your business. Didyou just get started? Are you in
the growth may mode? Are you ina transitional mode?
(21:26):
Are you looking for a asuccessor? And define specific
financial targets. So everyindustry is a little different.
So for our industry, we're lookwe have a a target for new
client, you know, revenue buy indifferent divisions. But it
doesn't always it could it couldbe client satisfaction, client
retention.
But use the acronym SMART. Okay?SMART stands for specific,
(21:52):
measurable, achievable,relevant, time bound. SMART.
Specific, measurable,achievable, relevant, time
bound.
If you use the SMART goalsetting, then it makes life a
lot easier. Try to be asspecific as possible. And again,
not all of your business goalsfor 25 have to be financial.
(22:13):
They could be something like,hey. We want to like, for
teaching task well.
Right? We wanna have x amount ofdownloads in the next in 2025.
We don't get necessarilycompensated per download, but
then tells us our reach isgrowing and that we're making an
impact, the impact we want on onour taxpayers. Right? And then
(22:37):
look at your past performance.
Make sure that your, you know,your goals are achievable. It's
great to have goals, But butmakes an unachievable goal
saying, this is my 1st year inbusiness. I wanna make
$5,000,000 in net profit. Youmight be setting yourself up for
for failure. So make sure it'smeasurable, but also achievable,
but challenge yourself.
So look at your prior yearfinancials. And, you know, John,
(23:00):
we could be quite get a littlebit of an open book to everyone.
We do it ourselves here atTeaching Tax Law. Right? We do a
SWOT analysis, strengths,weaknesses, opportunities, and
threats.
So what went well? What could weimprove on? And what are the
drivers to make our goals,obtainable? And then come up
with a plan, you know, like aevery quarter look at things.
(23:23):
Every there's certain thingsthat we look at weekly in our
business.
There's certain things we lookat monthly, quarterly, and
annually. And then make surethat your cash flow, is is
analyzed too. Right? Becauselet's say you have a c let's say
you have a sales goal. We have aseasonal business and and and
Christmas is your biggest month.
I think 50% of your revenuecomes in on Christmas. That's
(23:45):
different that's different thansomeone that maybe is in a
professional service that has asubscription model. And then tax
planning. Right? There are tonsof tax deductions and credits,
industry specific things thatyou need to be aware of, changes
in legislation.
Hopefully, you're you'resubscribing to this podcast
because we put a lot of contentout there or the teaching tax to
the YouTube channel. But makesure that you're working with
(24:08):
again, as a business owner, yourboard of directors of tax
professional, that you couldeither that you that could be
there for you, not only to dothe tax compliance work or the
tax preparation work, but alsobe there to answer questions and
help you moving forward.
John Tripolsky (24:25):
Absolutely. And there's so much overlap. Right?
Like, we're talking betweenbusinesses and individuals where
a lot of it if you almost startI mean, what I look at this,
right, is start on theindividual side and then kind of
follow that a little bit throughas much of the business side as
you can. You'll it'll make yourlife a lot easier, I think, than
maybe going the other wayaround.
Right?
Chris Picciurro (24:45):
Absolutely. Because just like the just like
business, you know, build upthat 3 to 6 months of operating
expenses just like personal, andthen your business can start
investing in in differentthings. Or or, you know, one of
the things questions we get alot as CPAs is that, hey. Can I
should I take money out of thisbusiness? Well, first of all,
depending on how how you'restructured, the answer would
will would be different.
(25:06):
Right? Situation situationallydependent. But once you build
that 3 months of operatingexpenses, I'd say if you have a
significant amount if you're asole proprietor, 3 months is
great. If you have employees oroverhead, getting up to 6 months
is is probably better. And thenyou might have a goal of, hey.
I really I really wanna buy anoffice building for myself. I
wanna build instead of renting,I wanna buy something. Then
(25:28):
that's that's the goal. Right?So start working towards that
goal.
So you're right, John. It's verysimilar to personal. The goal
setting for businesses, usingsmart, specific, measurable,
achievable, relevant time bound,making sure that you have a
plan. I think you gotta be alittle more strategic and I
think the cash flow management'smore is is more challenging.
Right?
Because if if you're someonethat's on a salary or you have
(25:50):
predictable amount of hours,let's say you get paid hourly,
but let's say you know you'reyou're you work at a at a
warehouse or a factory, and youknow you guys are have work
throughout the year. There'smaybe there's a layoff in July,
But you have your income's morepredictable as an employee maybe
than someone that's selfemployed.
John Tripolsky (26:07):
Right. Right. Right. Well, I definitely look
forward to knocking out somemore episodes as we're talking
through this. I was, you know,speaking of planning, I I was
looking at our schedule here forsome upcoming shows.
So we won't give away the, giveaway any tips or or I should say
hints, but just subscribe, andyou'll figure out what we're
what we're talking about. And Ithink one of the Absolutely. And
Chris Picciurro (26:26):
you know what? I'm a fan of the to this. Right?
John Tripolsky (26:30):
What's that?
Chris Picciurro (26:32):
No. I'm sorry. You're one of the sorry. I
interrupted you, but what I'mgonna challenge you, if you've
listened to this, find anaccountability partner. Write
down I'm I I look at my goalsevery day on my whiteboard.
Find and so if you're notcomfortable sharing their goals
with someone, write them down soyou could look at them. Or go on
share them with our team sharethem with the teaching tax law
(26:52):
community. Go on to defeatingtaxes and post anonymously. Just
say, hey. These are my goals.
What do you guys think? This isit's a group effort. You know?
You can't get all your goals onyour own.
John Tripolsky (27:04):
And that's a great way to do it too. Yeah.
Post anonymously in there and Imean, you might you might have a
great conversation withsomebody, and then you could,
you know, offline it and andtake it from there. But, yeah,
ton tons of resources on there.You know, obviously, finding an
accountability partner isprobably the best thing you can
do.
And, really, somebody that's notkinda tied into your life on a
daily basis anyway. So theyreally have no skin in the game
(27:27):
except helping you succeed.Right? They're not gonna try to
skew you on one directionbecause they want a new car or
or something specific. So shouldwork out pretty well.
And and, yeah, we look forwardto more and more of these shows
here. Again, we got our topicsplanned out, and, it's gonna be
great. So until next time, we'llsee you back here again. I can't
say next year because it is nextyear already. So next week,
(27:49):
roughly the same time,completely different topic here
on the Teaching Tax Wellpodcast.
Disclaimer (27:56):
The content provided is for educational purposes
only. We encourage you to seekpersonalized investment advice
from your financialprofessional. For all tax and
legal advice, please consultyour CPA or attorney. Investment
advisory services are offeredthrough cabin advisors, a
registered investment adviser.Securities are offered through
cabin Securities, a registeredbroker dealer.
The content of this podcast doesnot constitute an offer of
(28:17):
securities. Offerings can onlybe made through an offering
memorandum, and you shouldcarefully examine the risk
factors and other informationcontained in the memorandum.
Examine the risk factors andother information containing the
memorandum.
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