A trust keeps you and your family out of court.

A simple probate-avoidance living trust has no effect on either income or estate taxes. More complicated living trusts, however, can greatly reduce your federal estate tax bill if you expect your estate to owe estate tax at your death. Professional guidance is needed to set up such trusts. A Living Trust will save nothing on income taxes. Income taxes will come out the same amount, trust or no trust. Thus, no tax savings here.

A living trust is a legal document that, just like a will, contains your instructions for what you want to happen to your assets when you die. But, unlike a will, a living trust avoids probate at death, can control all of your assets, and prevents the court from controlling your assets at incapacity.

When you set up a living trust, you transfer assets from your name to the name of your trust, which you control in the  trusts name and date.

Legally you  own nothing.   The concept is very simple, but this is what keeps you and your family out of the courts.

Contact for Assistances

If you need help preparing and organizing affairs, or have questions please seek a trusted professional.  Feel free to visit us as well.

Melissa M. Van, EA at info@aabsinc.com or visit www.aabsinc.com

FOOTNOTE: Excerpts  re posted from the www.aabsinc.com website written by CPA site solutions.

Bringing everything into focus

So remember yesterday when Igave then analogies of driving home after quitting your job. You had a focus or purpose; it was to go home to your family. So what is the purpose of Starting you own business.

Ok Now answer this >>>>>> is it a goal or desire to have your own business. What is the difference?

A goal is something you can accomplish on your own. You make the effort, plans and decisions to see the final result.

A desire is the end result with the help of others in conjunction with your goal.

Example: a marriage. Many people when they get married have a goal to have a long lasting marriage. Can you do this by your self?  NO! you need the help of your spouse. However being a good wife or husband is a goal. You have control of that part of the marriage which in turn gets you to the desire.

PUT YOUR IDEAS GOALS AND DESIRES INTO FOCUS,

( before you begin to work on your business plan)

What is your desire?

What Is your Goals?

Where do you want to be in 1 year?

5 years and 10 years?

Take some time to really think this thru. Take it from me I did this all backwards and recreating your business focus after 10 years is a real pain in the a@#.

My desire is to have a successful business consulting firm, specializing in QuickBooks reorganization /forensic research, and accounting back office procedures.

My goal is to secure the education needed. Getting my Enrolled agent license and business certifications to achieve the above desire.

WHAT IS YOUR OVERALL PURPOSE

As with your personal life your business life has 8 areas in which success is determined. Many people just jump into the meat of the business and forget the foundations And Foundations is the strong hold of everything. Would you step on a deck that had a pour foundation? How a bout  a relationship with no secure foundation. or go to the top of a building that you knew the foundation was week.

So if the answer is no to these questions, why would you start a business with a weak foundation:

• Intellectual
• physical
• Emotional
• Financial
• Social
• Spiritual
• Family
• Career

I bet you are saying to your self what is she talking about. I thought we are starting a business not self improvement.

Let me tell you from experience Starting and running a business is YOU……You have to figure out how ever aspect of your life will come into play with your business goals and desires.

Now take a good look at the list above. Take 8 pieces of paper and make two columns on each. Lable one personal and the other column Business.

Make a short statement for each category.

I will explain later this exercise.

Do it Trust me you will see the benefits very soon.

What am I thinking Starting my own Business!!!!!

OK Now you want to start out on your own.  You turned in your resume, handed over your keys, gotten into the car and driving down the open road.
Then it hits you what the H*$& am I doing.
Where am I going to get the capital?
How am I going to get Clients?
Where am I going to Hang my shingle?

This not going to be another how to blog. This is going to be the journey I discussed earlier. I have read countless books, Blogs and seminars to fill a the back of a pick up truck.
However after reading, highlighting and deep thought There are is a common method out lined in many of these books. Yes each book disguises them differently, plays around with the words, action but the core ideas are still there.
Over the next few days and even weeks we will discover these simple rules. So simple you can put them on a poster board and pin them to your wall to view them ever day.

I am not just another blog researcher and writer I am small business owner myself, running a consulting business out of my home.
I will share what I have learned and good and bad. As well document my success and failures.
I want you to follow along and share your thoughts as well.

We will discuss or should I document  the following

1. Planning your Strategy
2. Setting Shop
3. Time Management
4. Do I really need that
5. How do I price myself
6. Clients!!! How do I get CLIENTS
7. Bookkeeping
8. Cash Flow/Financial Management
9. Growing Is this a good thing?

A day in the Life

Day two of  trying to find my place in the business world.  The morning started out as every other morning does for  mom, wife and business owner. Up to get coffee for Husband see him off to work, get lunch for my daughter, a load of laundry in the washer, and schedule my hectic day with clients on site and all this is done before 6:00 am.

So after I get my daughter on the bus I make the 30 minute trek to a client. Mind you the 30 minutes gave me time to clear my mind but none the less all I kept thinking about was the client I am heading to ( let’s just say it is a challenging situation), the 3 clients after that one, the ones I still have to answer emails for, and 2 I have to research, on top of the marketing  and computer issues that I still have not fixed from yesterday. Needless to say it is not even 9:30 and I am already behind the 8 Ball.

Tell me again why did I start my own Business. Tell me there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and Assure me that I am not a failure because as I see it right now I will never get everything done to perfection like I want.

It is 10:33 pm as I write this. Why you ask, am I writing and not completing the list I mentioned above. Well , First of all everyone in the marketing world says blog, social network, tweet, ping and Pong. And that is to be added to my list of unfinished items.  What am I thinking.

But most importantly at the end of the Day I am A good accountant I am a good business consultant and I WILL Succeed. I just cant see it now and I want support and to share my journey with others that are in my boat so we can sink or swim together.  And If  I have it my way We will Sail away into to the sunset smiling and laughing all the way at what whiners and complainers we were on our journey to success.

Simple Tips For businesses to start Saving today!

So how can small business cut cost without cutting services? As with individuals there are many ways to save without sacrificing. Living Lean both in business and your personal life will reap benefits later.

Here are some tips that can be used and the cost savings will be show in your checking account immediately.

Overhead

• Reduce your variable expenses.
• Get a freelancer. Hire freelancers, consultants or contractors to work for you from home.
• Keep a close watch on energy consumption. Set your thermostats to a lower temperature, turn off all appliances when they’re not in-use and encourage staff to shut down their computers when they’re out of the office.
• Sublet office space. You’ll always need to pay rent, regardless of the economy. But try to avoid any additional bills and contracts that will come with having your own office. Subletting is a great way to accomplish this.
• Keep it in the family. Got kids? Hire them! You’ll get cheap help, your kid will learn responsibility and you may get some tax breaks, too.
• Hire college students or interns for credit.

Advertising

• Word-of-mouth marketing works.
• Create an e-newsletter
• Communicate on online forums and message boards.
• Start a blog.
• Use email..
• Get to know your neighbor businesses..
• Get your clients to advertise for you. Ask them to write a testimonial on your Web site or tell their colleagues about your products or services.
• Join trade associations.
• Be an early bird.
• Shop around for an overnight courier.
• Piggyback your advertising. Include advertising material in mailings such as invoices and sneak announcements or coupons into newsletters and other promotional fliers.

Insurance and Finances

• Re-evaluate your insurance coverage and policy costs.
• Consider a four-day work week.
• Consider outsourcing your HR, benefits and payroll to an external provider.
• Order your checks from a printing company.
• Consider raising your deductibles.
• Ask about cash management or sweep accounts.
• Time your payments.
• Commission your sales force. Overhead, salaries, incentives, training costs, fringe benefits and expenses add up when you’re hiring your own sales representatives. Contracting independent manufacturers’ sales reps, paid on commission only, is less expensive and often equally effective.
• Don’t overlook crucial tax deductions.
• Temp it out.
• Get the best business credit-card deal.

Technology

• Go green!
• Switch to open-source software.
• Consider a smaller ISP.
• Check out VoIP.
• Switch from a merchant account to an online payment service like Paypal.
• Look for cheap or free web hosting.
• Buy recycled printer cartridges.
• Eliminate unnecessary lighting.
• Turn off equipment when it’s not being used.
• If appropriate, use laptop computers.
• Stop paying for software. Visit sites like Download.com
• Do it online. Do all of your sales calls need to be in person? Internet-based technologies like Web conferencing
• Share printers.

Freelancing Pros and cons

Freelancer Pros
1. You set your own scheduleAs a freelancer,
2. You don?t work for a Boss
3. You determine how much you
.4. You are able to work from your own

Freelancers Cons
1. You can become overworked
2. You have to deal with clients who can be more difficult than
3. You don?t have a steady Income
4. You don?t have a way to separate work from home life,If you have a home office