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Switching Investments

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Serious stressed asian senior old couple worried about bills discuss unpaid bank debt paper, sad poor retired family looking at tablet counting loan payment worry about money problemYour retirement plan gives you the flexibility to change your investment choices if you consider it appropriate to do so. When does it make sense to add or subtract from your holdings in one or more funds in your plan account? Here are some times when you might consider making a switch.

When Your Retirement Is Drawing Closer

Making your investment decisions based on the number of working years you have ahead of you is key to successful retirement investing. So, too, is basing your investing decisions on your tolerance for investment risk. Younger participants with many years left until retirement may be able to take on a higher level of investment risk since their long-term investment horizon gives them time to ride out any downturns in the investment markets. As you near retirement you probably can’t afford to take excessive risk with your retirement assets.

If you plan to retire in five years or less, it may be appropriate to shift from a strategy of growth to one that seeks to protect your assets. By emphasizing asset preservation, part of your retirement plan portfolio may be protected if the stock market falls significantly.

When Your Tolerance for Risk Changes

It’s important to have a long-term perspective as a retirement plan investor since the market can have periods of volatility. However, your tolerance for the market’s fluctuations may change due to unforeseen financial occurrences throughout your life — the loss of a job, the need to save for a child’s college education, or a health crisis. If it does, you may want to review your asset mix to see if you can restructure your portfolio so that you are more comfortable with its risk level.

When Your Portfolio Needs to Be Rebalanced

You choose how to allocate the investments among the different asset classes in your retirement plan account by considering your time frame for investing, your tolerance for investment risk, and other assets you may own. However, any change — up or down — in one investment class can throw your allocations off balance. When that occurs, you may want to rebalance your retirement plan portfolio to reestablish the percentages you had initially allocated to stocks, bonds, and cash investments. You may have to sell some investments and buy others to achieve the rebalanced plan account you originally constructed.

 

The Money Market: The Basics You Need to Know

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Young finance market analyst in eyeglasses working at sunny office on laptop while sitting at wooden table.Businessman analyze document in his hands.Graphs and diagramm on notebook screen.BlurredInvestors should consider the advantages and potential risks before investing in money market mutual funds.

If you’re looking for a place to park money temporarily or if you’re simply trying to maintain a cash cushion, a money market mutual fund may be an investment to consider.1

Money market mutual funds typically invest in high-quality, short-term securities, such as U.S. Treasury securities, certificates of deposit, federal agency notes, and commercial paper. Tax-exempt money market funds invest in municipal securities issued by state and local governments. They generally pay dividends that are exempt from federal and/or state income taxes.

The ease with which you can buy and sell shares may make money market mutual funds an appropriate place for assets you’ll need in the short term. Funds frequently offer limited checkwriting privileges, making withdrawals simple.

Breaking the buck. Money market mutual funds are structured to maintain a stable net asset value (NAV) of $1 per share. A fund “breaks the buck” when its NAV falls below this amount. Breaking the buck is rare. But since money market mutual funds are not FDIC insured, investors will lose some of their original investment when this happens.

Understand the risks. Low risk doesn’t mean no risk. Potential risks for investors include interest-rate shifts, unanticipated redemptions, major credit downgrades for firms represented in the fund, and loss of purchasing power should returns fail to keep pace with inflation. Before you invest, review the fund’s holdings. Keep in mind that the fund offering the highest return generally presents the most risk.

A different investment. A money market account (MMA) is not the same as a money market mutual fund. MMAs are deposit accounts that pay interest at a rate that’s typically higher than the rate earned in a savings account. Money market accounts generally are FDIC insured, may require a minimum balance, and often limit transactions.

Ask your financial professional if money market mutual funds are a good option for your portfolio.

Source/Disclaimer:
1An investment in the fund is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. Although the fund seeks to preserve the value of your investment at $1.00 per share, it is possible to lose money by investing in the fund. You should consider the fund’s investment objectives, charges, expenses, and risks carefully before you invest. The fund’s prospectus, which can be obtained from your financial representative, contains this and other information about the fund. Read the prospectus carefully before you invest or send money. Shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost.

Small Business Retirement Plans

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Happy old elderly senior grandparents family couple clients signs financial insurance, pension, startup, dealing handshake agent lawyer, agreement with customers on investment contract, bank managerDoes your business offer a retirement plan? Whether you’ve recently started a business or have been operating one for some time, setting up a retirement plan can be beneficial to both you and your employees. Besides providing tax incentives to defer income and save for retirement, retirement plans can help you reward and retain employees. Employer contributions are tax deductible, within certain limits.

SEP Plans

A Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) plan is relatively easy and inexpensive to set up and administer. You have complete discretion in determining whether or not to make annual contributions. To set up a SEP plan, you establish SEP individual retirement accounts (IRAs) for yourself and your employees. Qualifying contributions are tax deductible and not included in the employees’ current income. Taxes are deferred until money is withdrawn from the plan.

The maximum amount of your contribution for each employee is the lesser of 25% of annual compensation or $61,000, and no more than $305,000 of compensation may be considered (for 2022). There is a special computation for figuring the maximum contribution to a self-employed individual’s own SEP account. Additionally, contributions may not discriminate in favor of highly compensated employees.

Solo 401(k) Plans

A solo 401(k) plan may be a suitable option if you work alone or employ only your spouse. The chief advantage of a solo 401(k) plan is that it allows you to save as both the employee and the employer. As an employee, you may defer the first $20,500 of your compensation (or $27,000 if you’re age 50 or older). As the employer, you may also make a profit sharing contribution (subject to tax law limits). The combination of all contributions — including deferrals, profit sharing, and any others — may not exceed the lesser of (1) 100% of your compensation or (2) $61,000 ($67,500 if you’re age 50 or older). Contribution limits are adjusted annually for inflation.

SIMPLE IRAs

Like a SEP, a SIMPLE IRA plan entails setting up IRAs for yourself and each participating employee. You and your employees can elect to defer compensation to the plan (no more than $14,000 in 2022; $17,000 if age 50 or older). Additionally, employers must make an annual contribution by either (1) matching employee contributions up to 3% of pay (a lower 1% match is allowed in certain years) or (2) contributing 2% of pay for each employee who’s eligible to contribute, even if the employee chooses not to contribute.

A SIMPLE plan generally isn’t an option if you have another retirement plan or more than 100 employees.

Defined Benefit Plans

The chief advantage of a defined benefit plan is the high deduction ceiling, which allows owners to rapidly build up their retirement benefits. For 2022, deductible contributions may allow for an annual benefit that will, when the participant reaches age 65, equal the lesser of $230,000 per year or 100% of the participant’s average compensation for his or her three highest consecutive years of active plan participation.

The disadvantages of this type of plan include the funding and administrative requirements. Complicated actuarial formulas must be used to calculate the contributions to be made each year.

Mentoring the Next Generation to Take Over the Family Business

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Three Businesspeople Having Meeting In Outdoor RestaurantMany owners of small businesses would love to see a family member take over their business. If you have children, grandchildren, nieces, or nephews that you think might be interested in running the business in the future, you can help lay the groundwork for that potential transfer of ownership in several ways. Use the following strategies and tips to encourage the next generation to become part of the family business.

See Who Is Interested

One or more of your children may already have shown some interest in the family business and asked about its operations. It’s important to encourage that interest. Talk about the company’s history and your vision for its future. Share the excitement you experience as a business owner.

Over time, you can teach an interested child more about the business’s operations. Consider putting the child to work doing various tasks around the business on weekends and over school holidays.

Education Is Key

Over the years, the child’s interest in the business may wane or it may become more intense. If the child (or children) continue to express an interest in working for the family business, you might want to bring up future education plans. You can suggest that the child should consider obtaining a degree that would be beneficial in running all or part of the family business. For example, a degree in engineering could be a huge asset if the family business is involved in property development, construction, or design/build. A degree in accounting or finance can be helpful for businesses of all types. In addition, a degree in a related field would give your family member credibility when it comes to interacting with clients, bankers, and employees.

Insist on Outside Experience

Promoting a family member to a leadership position within the family business when that person has little experience can be a recipe for trouble. It can cause discord among employees, especially those who have worked hard with the expectation that they could move up in the ranks. Additionally, it can undermine the family member’s credibility in the eyes of clients and other business owners.

It often makes more sense and can be hugely helpful to have the family member obtain a post-college job outside the family business. Working in a different company in a similar industry to yours can give your family member a level of experience, confidence, and credibility that would not be obtainable by simply transitioning to the family firm. The skill set established through working elsewhere may help propel your family business in a new, more growth-oriented direction. Family business experts suggest that a child expected to take the reins of a family business should spend at least five years working elsewhere before joining the family firm.

When Multiple Children Are Involved

What happens when more than one family member is interested in becoming part of the business? Encourage them to follow the areas of the business that interest them most. With the appropriate education and experience working for other firms, they may be ready to run their own areas of the business when they rejoin the family firm. This is when their talents can develop and shine.

Bring in Outside Experts

The input of outside professionals who are skilled in different business areas, such as operations, finance, manufacturing, logistics, or marketing can be invaluable to the upcoming generation of family members joining the business. Mentors can guide and serve as a sounding board for the ideas of the child or children working for the family business.

Consider Staying on as an Advisor

You could consider making yourself available as an advisor to the incoming new generation of family members. Whether the arrangement is formal or informal, it should not be open-ended. Determine how long you will offer your services. The goal is to ensure that the new generation of leaders in the family business will be able to run the business independently.

Successfully transitioning a family business to the next generation takes time and planning. For planning assistance, consult an experienced financial professional.

How to Overcome Accounting Challenges Most Small Businesses Face

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Business colleagues in meetingPerhaps the number one action you can take to support the financial health of your small business is to stay on top of accounting. Make sure you’re aware of most small businesses’ accounting challenges and learn how to overcome them. We’ll tell you how here!

Banking

You’ve been banking for years, and you know how to manage the task. However, when you own a business, banking isn’t like managing personal checking and savings accounts. Unfortunately, many small business owners use their personal funds to pay for business expenses, especially when first starting out. Even small costs add up over time. This “cross contamination” of spending between personal and business accounts can lead to costly mistakes, not to mention headaches for your accounting team. Keep personal expenses, and business expenses separate all the time. Have dedicated bank accounts and credit cards only used for one or the other. If you need to track down an expenditure, you only need to look in one place.

Budget

When bank accounts are separated, budgeting becomes exponentially easier. You can even use an accounting software program to help you keep up with money coming and going to and from your business. However, recognize that simply entering information into a software program is not the end of the work when balancing a budget. Thinking that is true ends up being the downfall of many small businesses. Budgeting for a business means forecasting to ensure that unexpected expenses can be covered, managing inventory, taxes, and more. A shift in any direction can throw off any budget. That’s why many small businesses opt to outsource their accounting. The known upfront expense of doing so can far offset costly budgeting errors down the road.

Unexpected expenses

As mentioned above, you must consider the unexpected as part of your budget. Additional (new) taxes, payment delays from customers, rising costs of materials and supplies, new employee training, etc., are all possibilities. A qualified accountant is aware of these unexpected expenses and others that your business could face and knows how to prepare you for them. Awareness of what could financially happen in business is crucial to long-term profitability.

Payroll

While unexpected expenses are likely the most daunting for a small business, payroll is almost always the most significant. Payroll entails more than what you pay employees. New employee classification, if incorrect, could cost you a bundle in penalties. Other payroll-related accounting challenges are pay accuracy, proper tax filing, compliance, and paid time off tracking.

Unless you’re an HR professional, and chances are you’re not if you’re the business owner, consider recruiting a qualified accountant to help you manage payroll. It will save you headaches in the short term and money in the long term.

Taxes

A conversation about accounting and small business isn’t complete without discussing taxes. The tax struggle can be daunting, from filing to making sure you pay enough but that you don’t overpay. A significant challenge regarding taxes is merely keeping up with the ever-changing tax laws. A qualified accountant or CPA will be up-to-date on new regulations and guidelines so that you don’t have to be.

Overcoming accounting challenges like these is easy with a qualified accounting team on your side. Consider outsourcing your accounting needs so that your focus remains where it should – on running your business your way.

Contact our accounting professionals now for help managing your small business finances.

4 Tips on How Small Businesses Can Reduce Taxes

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Female florist using laptop in flower shopAs a small business owner, tax liability is the money you owe the government when your business generates income. With changing laws and gray areas regarding deductions, exemptions, and credits, it’s no wonder small business owners rank taxes at the top of the list of the most stress-inducing aspect of business ownership. To reduce that stress, taxes shouldn’t be something to focus on only at year’s end. Use these tips on reducing your business tax year-round and see your taxes and stress level decrease!

1. Business structure

Your company’s business structure is how it is organized – it answers questions like who is in charge, how are profits distributed, and who is responsible for business debt. The most common business structures are:

  • Sole proprietorships have one owner who takes all profits as personal income. The owner is personally liable for any business debts.
  • Partnerships are structured like sole proprietorships but can have an unlimited number of owners.
  • C corporations have unlimited shareholders who each own part of the company. Profits are distributed as dividends between them. Owners are not personally liable for business debts.
  • S corporations are structured like C corporations, but the number of shareholders is capped at 100.

In addition to affecting how a business operates, business structure impacts how much a company pays in taxes. The U.S. tax code is complex and includes four main tax categories:

  • Income tax – paid on profits
  • Employment tax – employee Social Security and Medicare contributions
  • Self-employment tax – Social Security and Medicare contributions for self-employed individuals
  • Excise tax – special taxes for specific goods and services like tobacco, alcohol, etc.

IA sole proprietorship or partnership is a good idea for businesses wanting tax simplicity. For those with less than 100 owners, an S corporation might be the right fit and best tax option. Again, business structure and tax laws are complex and are best determined by a qualified, experienced accountant.

2. Net Earnings

Net earnings (i.e., net income or profit) is the gross business income minus business expenses. Regardless of the business, it begins with gross income (the income received directly by an individual, before any withholding, deductions, or taxes), and allowable expenses are deducted to arrive at net income. How this figure is calculated is dependent upon business structure.

Net earnings are used to calculate business income taxes. Again, the calculation process differs slightly for different business structures. It is best to seek a professional to help with net earnings calculations for the proper calculation and maximum legal deductions.

3. Employ a Family Member

One of the best ways for small business owners to reduce taxes is hiring a family member. The (IRS allows a variety of options for tax sheltering. For example, suppose you hire your child, as a small business owner. In that case, you will pay a lower marginal rate or eliminate the tax on the income paid to your child. Sole proprietorships are not required to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on a child’s wages. They can also avoid Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) tax. Consult a trusted accounting professional for details about the benefits of hiring your children or even your spouse.

4. Retirement contributions

Employee retirement plans benefit employees, but they can also be good for your small business. Employer contributions to an employee retirement plan are tax-deductible. They can also carry an employer tax credit for setting up an employee retirement plan. Again, this is a task an accountant can handle for you. They can guide you on retirement plan choices based on your business’s situation, employees, and other factors.

As a small business owner, you can deduct contributions to a tax-qualified retirement account from your income taxes (except for Roth IRAs and Roth 401(k)s). Sole proprietors, members of a partnership, or LLC members can deduct from their personal income contributions to their retirement account.

As with any tax situation, consulting your trusted accounting professional is always best. They are up to date on the latest tax laws, information, and allowable deductions. By being aware of ways your small business can reduce taxes, you can bring these topics up with your accountant, discuss the best options for you, and be prepared long before tax time rolls around.

Contact our tax professionals to learn more about how you can control tax exposure for your small business.