Sampson12
Is our society denying laborers corporate ...

An article was recently published by Business Insider titled “Southwest asking corporate employees to work at airports; staffing”. https://www.businessinsider.com/southwest-asking-corporate-employees-to-work-at-airports-staffing-shortages-2021-12?op=1

It seems that the article is implying that operational employees no longer want to work at Southwest Airlines. In a free market society laborers usually don’t want to leave the stability of their workplace unless there is a reason. I don’t know why Southwest Airlines employees are leaving but based on reasons people typically do leave their employment it could be because of things like hostile working conditions, unfair compensation policies, or a threat against their safety.

So we know that something is causing a mass exodus of employees at Southwest Airlines. And it is a big enough issue that people who would otherwise remain in a stable, employed position are willing to disrupt their lives because of it.

From a corporate accountability standpoint, where consumers hold publicly traded shares in the company, this mass exodus should probably trigger some sort of corporate policy reform. There should be corporate accountability for how executives are directly causing employees to leave in mass at a publicly traded company.

But instead, according to the article, corporate executives are instead asking mid-level employees to “volunteer” to work for free. And yes, this DOES sound like a massive overstep of power. We have no way to know that the “volunteers” are not being coerced to “volunteer” out of fear. This fear might be driven from fear of losing their job, fear of not getting a promotion, fear of executive leadership choosing to run the entire company to the ground rather than reform their policies, or other reason.

I am curious though if the CEO “volunteered” to work any of these 8 hour shifts.

So here are some interesting things to consider. Southwest airlines is a publicly traded company and average middle class U.S. citizens do hold some of those shares. I’m sure that employees of Southwest Airlines also own shares of the company’s stock. So according to how our capital markets are supposed to be working, Southwest’s executive leadership should be aligning corporate policy with the best interest of its shareholders. But the shareholders (i.e. employees) are leaving, possibly being censored in the media, and the remaining employees are working for free.

In a world where corporate accountability was paramount, don’t you think the ideal response of a publicly traded company to be:

  • That it changes it’s policies that are making operational laborers uncomfortable?

  • That it changes it’s leadership which is pushing policies that operational laborers are uncomfortable with?

In a society where corporations were held accountable, I believe the results would be dramatically different. Mid-level employees would probably be paid for the work they are performing instead of “volunteering” to work for free over the holidays. Operational laborers would be able to keep the financial stability of the job they have held for however many years. And middle class consumers wouldn’t see the value in their investment decline as the company loses money over unpopular policies.

Is our society denying laborers corporate accountability? Thoughts on the recent Southwest Airlines labor exodus.
financial planning
Sampson12
5 steps to create your 2022 financial plan

Katelyn here! Earlier this month I shared with my followers in my private FB community “the Savvy Boss Club” the December 2021 financial planning calendar. This calendar is based on the same financial planning calendars that I used many times before at large multinational corporations.

This time every year you can expect your finance partners to be busy finalizing the draft version of the 2022 financial plan by using estimated Dec'21 results (because the full-year results won't be available until January when December has officially closed).

Technically though, I had my business unit dialed in and we had our plan mostly done all the way back in September. Which means that I started sending my team their planning templates back in March.

And I did that because if my team had any hope of getting the money they wanted approved by executive leadership in October, I had to start the negotiations back in July.

Keep in mind I was negotiating for a minimum of $400M.

I am very proactive when it comes to planning for a lot of reasons. One reason is because my dad is a real estate developer. I grew up hearing about how in order to make a profit, first you have to invest in all the resources you need. If you don't have the resources you need then you can't make the thing you want to make and you certainly can't sell it.

And those pesky finance folks can get in the way of allocating the right amount of budget to get those materials and build those houses!

I really do have so many stories of my internal battles with finance coworkers and leadership to advocate for my business to get the budget they requested.

But I couldn't advocate for anything if I didn't have my team dialed in working with me to create our financial plan at the right time.

It is critical for the success of your business to have a financial plan for 2022. And that's just in general, not even counting the sky-rocketing inflation, supply chain crisis, labor shortage, and a ridiculous list of current events that are currently taking a toll on people.

So here are five steps you can take today to create your 2022 estimated financial plan:

Step 1: Download your bank statement into csv or excel format.

Everything should always tie back to your bank statement! Now keep in mind that cash flow is not the same as profit and you have to take extra steps to correctly recognize revenue and expenses.

Step 2: Categorize your revenue and expenses in broad categories.

You can do this easily directly in the csv or excel sheet that you downloaded. Just pick a column next to the data and in the same row each transaction add common category.

Step 3: Make adjustments.

Be sure to add to the end of the data any additional revenue or expenses you expect to incur by the end of the year that are not yet reflected in your bank statement. An example would be if you are running Facebook Ads and the ad is running and you are incurring a liability but Facebook hasn’t charged you yet. Add this expense at the bottom of your transactions list with an estimated amount.

Step 4: Total everything up according to the categories in a P&L format.

If you need help with a P&L format comment below “P&L”.

Step 5: Duplicate the totals and use a multiplier for each category.

Take your 2021 estimated results and use that as the base for your 2022 financial plan. Then multiply each category by a growth multiplier. Especially when there is high inflation, you need to include the impact of expected higher expenses in the future.

If you want to see my live training on these 5 steps you can view it here: https://fb.me/e/4mQunQeoc

Comment below “financial plan” for help creating a custom 2022 financial plan today!

5 steps to create your 2022 financial plan
Commercial Real Estate
Sampson12
Is there trouble brewing for commercial real ...

On February 19th, 2021, the federal reserve issued its semiannual “Monetary Policy Report” (1). A report that I am particularly interested in because it mentioned that “commercial real estate prices remain at historically high levels despite high vacancy rates and appear susceptible to sharp declines, particularly if the pace of distressed transactions picks up or, in the longer term, the pandemic leads to permanent changes in demand.”

I’ve been anticipating this sentence since the beginning of the pandemic as the governors of many states shut down the profitability of many commercial buildings. I fear, however, that readers may not be sure what the federal reserve is talking about or why one could interpret it with concern.

So in this article, I will paint a fictional but relatable and realistic scenario of why there might be concern for the commercial real estate market.

Let’s pretend that there is a yoga studio, owned by Sally, operating profitably in January of 2020. The previous year, the business had the following:

Is there trouble brewing for commercial real estate? (part 1)
Financial Health
Sampson12
Don’t make business decisions based on how you ...

During one of my roles at a large multinational corporation, my business partners asked me to look into the tax benefits of donating material. You see, the team had already bought the material (so it was already expensed, aka “written-off” for tax purposes) but they did not need to use it anymore. They wanted to know if there was any reason for them to donate the material as opposed to just throwing it away. Throwing the material away would be easier so they were looking for an incentive to donate the material.

Since I am a business financial planner, I create and analyze financial budgets and forecasts compared to actual results, I reached out to a tax accountant for an answer. Similarly, in a corporate world, a tax accountant would not answer questions from business partners on planning out the financial impact of future business decisions. Those questions would be deferred to me.

When I reached out to a tax accountant I explained the situation and he answered that since the material had already been written-off (or expensed) there was no further tax benefit that could be gained. When something is expensed then the full value of the item is reduced from taxable income, simplified meaning: you don’t pay taxes on it. Then he said something which embodies so much of what we KNOW in corporate finance but that is not well-known to the average person outside of finance:

Please tell your business partners not to make any business decisions based on how they think it will impact taxes.

Why did he say that? The short of it is that taxes are complicated and a good tax accountant can do your taxes well whether you are making billions of dollars in profit or negative profit. Companies who are making BILLIONS of dollars in profit are paying a relatively small amount in taxes and are using the same tax code that you are as a small business owner. That means that the tax savings are in the tax code and are not based on the business decisions you make. You should make business decisions based on what is best for growing and improving your business not based on how you think it might impact taxes.

And it is something your tax accountant should be saying to you. Similarly to what highly paid tax accountants for large corporations say to their business partners.

Don’t make business decisions based on how you THINK they may impact taxes
Tips
Sampson12
Tips on Attracting Airbnb Customers

I was so excited to start working at a large Tech Company in the Bay Area, but I didn’t want to MOVE to the Bay Area. My family and community all lived a few hours away and I had just gotten out of a traumatizing lease in San Francisco. So I decided instead to commute to the Bay Area during the work week and stay at various Airbnbs or hotels. Needless to say I have quite a few thoughts on Airbnbs and hotels in the Bay Area and have picked up some tips based on my background and discussions with Airbnb hosts.

Let me tell you a little more about the kind of Airbnb guest I try to be:

  • Always try to pick up after myself even during the week that I am staying there

  • Mostly keep to myself especially after long workdays

  • Usually ate dinner at my company, at a restaurant, or lived off snack bars, cheese sticks, and pita chips since I didn’t like cooking in other people’s homes

  • Value cleanliness

  • Faith-centered so I try not to break or damage other people’s things and also not to steal

If you are an Airbnb host and you are looking for customers similar to me I have some tips on how to attract customers like me. And just so you know, if you are new to Airbnb I have heard from Airbnb hosts who have had some really tough customers who weren’t clean and did damage some things in the room. Everybody is different and I’m willing to share what I looked for when choosing an Airbnb room.

I want to preface these tips with the understanding that for many people and Airbnb is an alternative to a hotel room. Here are the accommodations I can usually expect from the hotel rooms (*pre-covid) I would consider as an alternative:

Tips on Attracting Airbnb Customers

Small Business

My Favorite Tax Filing Software in 2021

My Favorite Tax Filing Software in 2021

Each year as taxes role around it becomes a stressful time for many. Even with a tax accountant, you have to compile all of the supporting documents they need and provide it to them. Additionally, when they are done with your taxes, it’s important to take the time to check them before submission.

For the past few years it has been easier for me to do my taxes on my own because I had a simple filing (in the future it won’t be like this). Doing it myself has taught me a lot, not just about taxes but also about tax filing software applications. And, since I’m a numbers girl, I look directly into costs and fees before finally clicking the “file” button.

I filed my taxes this year using freetaxusa.com, a tool that I strongly recommend over other tax filing software (Note: I am NOT getting paid to share my opinion on this). I did my research in prior years and thought that TaxAct was the way to go and I actually used them for a while. Then about 2 years ago they dramatically increased their prices and it didn’t look like they improved their software or customer service to go along with it (a general rule is that businesses should have some reason or additional benefit to customers in exchange for increasing prices). So I figured that I would try some other tools out and if I didn’t like them I could always go back to TaxACT.

I am so happy that I ended up shopping around because I eventually found FreetaxUSA. I couldn’t really find any reviews online on Freetaxusa but I tried it out anyway. I found the software to be more helpful than TaxACT and on top of it SO MUCH CHEAPER. The software easily guides you through each part of your tax filing with simple questions. I was surprised as some of the questions that popped up helped me get a tax credit that I was not expecting!

I kept looking for “the catch” like how are they going to try and get more money out of me for something I don’t need. They do offer premium assistance that is not required to file your taxes which I really appreciated. Other tax software providers require that you purchase premium services in order to itemize expenses or file certain schedules. So I ended up paying a total amount of $15 to file BOTH my federal and state taxes.

Free Tax USA was easy, SUPER AFFORDABLE, and absolutely doable if you have a simple tax filing. So far I consider a simple tax filing to be for someone filing as a single adult, with or without itemized expenses and / or a schedule C. I definitely still recommend having an experienced tax professional that you trust file your taxes. However, if you have the time and just want to see what your taxes might look like if you do it yourself, you may just go through the process and see if your results match your accountants. You can always stop short of filing your taxes with Free Tax USA and have your tax accountant file them instead. By filing your taxes yourself you may find you have more understanding of the filing process and can contribute with your tax accountant more effectively.

As a special gift, I have uploaded to my FREE resource library the business expense tracking worksheet I used to file my taxes. I have also included a training video for how to use the worksheet. Check it out if you have business expenses that you want to include in your schedule C tax filing and let me know if you have any questions!

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Amazon's profits increased amid an economically devastating pandemic

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Amazon's profits increased amid an economically devastating pandemic

Amazon recently released in a current report Form 8-K(1) on February 2nd, 2021, that Jeff Bezos “plans to transition to the role of Executive Chair in the third quarter of 2021” and that “Andrew R. Jassy, currently CEO Amazon Web Services, will succeed Mr. Bezos as Amazon’s Chief Executive Officer and President in the third quarter of 2021.” This was unexpected news no doubt and worth a lot of attention.

In that same report, however, the company also announced record breaking sales and a higher profitability margin amid an economically devastating pandemic.

Amazon’s sales increased 38% in 2020 and its net income increased about 84%. To give context on how exceptional this was, the S&P 500 generated around 11-12% average annual returns from 1926-2019. So in a non-pandemic year we would expect on average for profitable corporations to generate a return of about 11-12%. So an 84% increase in net income is very very high compared to the average.

On top of that the United States expected real GDP decreased by -3.5% in 2020, compared to an increase of +2.2% in 2019. This means that in 2020 there was lower total wealth available to go around in the U.S. compared to 2019. We might assume from Amazon’s earnings then that a higher percentage of total wealth in the United States went to Amazon.

On the flip side, many small business owners and the people who work for those businesses have had a tremendously tough year. In some cases losing their life’s savings and their life’s work through no fault of their own and purely as a direct result from this pandemic. It’s hard to find a data driven prediction but I am estimating that something like 30% of small businesses across the country either have or expect to have to shut their doors for good. Government intervention destroyed small businesses and funneled customers and sales towards big tech companies like Amazon.

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