Tax Time

          It is now time to gather your receipts and accounts; the dreaded tax time. Have you already spent the big return that you think you will be getting? Or maybe you are scrambling to pay an anticipated bill. This could be the last year that you will have to live this nightmare. With just a little bit of adjusting you could owe nothing and get nothing. Coming out even is the goal.
         Contact your boss or HR manager to change your W4 form Adjust the number deductions so that the right amount of taxes are withheld; not too much and not too little. There are two benefits to following this system; you will not have to deal with the stress of tax time, and you are likely to increase your take-home pay.
           Check you return carefully. There are often deductions people miss because they are so weird. Believe it or not you can deduct the cost of a babysitter as a charitable deduction if you are leaving the house to do charitable/volunteer work. Unusual deductions like this are lurking everywhere and you are initiated to use any you can find.
         We have used Turbo Tax for a number of years and find that it is very good a t finding the hidden deductions. If you have kept your records in Quicken it will even enter most of your information for you, and remember it for subsequent years. This is an easy fix, but whatever system you choose be aware that you have lots of choices. The aim of the game is to come out even., and the ideal from a sound financial point of view.
        

Have you noticed the ratio?

Most of us were born with two ears and one mouth. There is a special significance to this ratio. We should be leaning more heavily on listening than talking. While you are doing the talking you can’t possibly hear what the other person (parent, child, client, or friend) has to say.

A lot of us seem to subscribe to the misconception that only way to get our point across is to keep talking ( sometimes with increasing volume) until we wear the listener down. However, if you didn’t listen to your customer describe the widget he wanted and the fact that it had to be blue, you would have egg on your face when you delivered a red one. You would stand a good chance of losing the sale, future transactions and all the referrals that may come along with it.

You should consider retuning your communication tools so you can really comprehend what your client has in mind and how you can help solve their problem. Ask a few open-ended questions to determine their exact needs. Restate the challenge to be sure you are all on the same page. After this fact-finding and attentive listening you should have no trouble offering the right solution.

By keeping in mind the ratio between ears and eyes: listening and talking, you will find that all your communications will be more rewarding and you will be easily able to build on your successes.