Getting Frank Blog

Business Succession Planning
When developing a succession plan for your business, you must make many decisions. Should you sell your business or give it away? Should you structure your plan to go into effect during your lifetime...
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Creating a Business Plan for Small Businesses
Your business plan is an important part of creating a business and a critical tool for drawing in lenders and investors. If you're thinking about launching a small business or if you want to take your...
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Ready to Retire? How to Know for Sure
Retirement is an exciting time for many, and the reward for years of hard work. While there is no set age for retirement, it is important to be prepared before you make the leap so that you enjoy your...
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Three Main Benefits of Being a Mentor
Just about every success story involves the influence of one (or more) mentors along the way. Mentorship can provide benefits to both the mentor and mentee, helping build long-term relationships while...
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Getting a Jump on January Tax Season
From pandemic-related stimulus payments to job losses and furloughs, for many taxpayers, next spring's tax season may be more complex than usual. With the end of 2020 rapidly approaching, you should...
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Who to Ask When You Need to Help With a Business Plan
A business plan is critical when you're getting ready to launch a business. It helps you stay organized on the path to your goal, while also helping you to hone in on key concerns such as funding objectives...
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How to Retire in a Recession
Though market corrections and recessions are common enough to be expected once every decade or so, this can come as cold comfort to retirees who are now forced to navigate a declining market.1...
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How Taking Unemployment Can Affect 2020 Taxes
With the global pandemic leaving millions of people in the U.S. without jobs, unemployment numbers hit an all-time high. To help ease the burden for many jobless Americans, the federal government also...
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3 Tax Strategies to Consider at Year-End
With the year rapidly coming to a close, and the upcoming tax year looming with uncertainties, you should consider updating your tax strategy to best preserve your assets into the future. Don't wait...
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IRS Makes Annual Inflation Adjustments for 2021
The Internal Revenue Service announced annual inflation adjustments for the 2021 tax year for more than 60 tax provisions, including standard deductions and the tax rate schedules.
More details...
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End of Year Deadlines Checklist
2020 has been one of the most unprecedented years in recent history, but some things—like tax contributions and retirement deadlines—don't change much, if at all. And with the uncertainty...
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Get SMART: Tips for Effective Goal Setting
Regardless of which phase of the business life-cycle you’re in, you can get SMART about setting goals to motivate yourself, move forward to grow your business, and track your success.
SMART...
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6 Steps for Achieving Business Goals
Recently, I wrote about “squirrel syndrome,” the process of hopping from one idea to the next without completing anything or making meaningful progress toward the organization’s stated...
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Staying on Top of Your 401k Can Pay Dividends
Lots of investors never bother to check on their 401(k) regularly. But you should keep a constant eye on your funds’ risk level, whether your asset allocation is out of whack and if your beneficiaries...
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Motivating Employees Begins With Nurturing a Positive Company Culture
Motivation is an essential component of any high functioning team. Think about what happens if employees or team members are not motivated. Deadlines, goals and priorities are not met, and your clients...
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Tips for Navigating a Volatile Retirement
Retirement is the time in your life when you want to sit back, relax, and enjoy the fruits of years of hard work. But unfortunately, when the market is volatile, it may bring additional anxiety and ...
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My Top 3 Book Picks for Business Leaders
In today’s fast-paced world, taking the time to read a book from cover to cover can feel downright self-indulgent. After all, there’s a hundred other things you could or should be doing ...
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End of Year Planning: Set Goals and Reduce Taxes
By the last third of the calendar year, you're likely to have a pretty good idea of what your annual income will be and whether any major expenses or big life changes await you. This can allow you to...
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4 Practices to Avoid in Tax Aware Investing
Tax aware investing focuses on optimizing your returns by reducing your tax liability as much as possible. In theory, this investment strategy has the potential to help you earn more money on your investments...
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How Entrepreneurs Can Stay Nimble in the COVID Era
When one door closes, another opens—and entrepreneurs who keep this mantra in mind are more likely to remain on top once the world has moved beyond the novel COVID-19 pandemic. What can business...
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Managing Cash Flow in Retirement
Except for the fortunate few who don't have to worry about money, the ultimate goal for most retirees is making sure their assets last as long as they live. Once a person or household no longer can ...
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7 Criteria for Identifying New Business Opportunities
Identifying new business opportunities begins with recognizing that they are a subset of a larger process, a SWOT analysis, which defines strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. A SWOT analysis...
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Exit Strategies for Business Owners
After years spent launching and growing your business, the day will finally arrive when you can sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor. But, just as starting your business involved hard work and...
Read MoreSix Keys to More Successful Investing
A successful investor maximizes gain and minimizes loss. Though there can be no guarantee that any investment strategy will be successful and all investing involves risk, including the possible loss...
Read MoreWhat Should Women Entrepreneurs Do to Thrive in the COVID Era?
With COVID rocking the employment landscape for job-seekers, some women have taken this opportunity to reinvent themselves and take charge of their own financial futures by launching a business. Entrepreneurship...
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8 Steps for Pre-Retirees to Pursue Retirement Income
Sometimes people get caught up in the numbers so much that they forget why they're saving for retirement. At the beginning of your career, you may not have known what you wanted to do.
Now that...
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Planning for Retirement? Don't Forget About Long-Term Care
Your plans for retirement may include travel, home improvements, and more time spent with family. Few people enter retirement with the expectation (or even the thought) that they soon may be unable ...
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3 Priceless Ways an Advisory Board Can Help Your Growing Business
The most important business lesson I’ve learned is also the best advice I can give someone starting out in their business venture. Engage a mentor or board of advisors.
When we first start...
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How to Avoid “Squirrel Syndrome” and Focus on Business Priorities
Successful organizations often have more ideas and opportunities they would like to accomplish than the time, money, and resources to do so.
“Squirrel syndrome,” can quickly bury ...
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Making Sense of the Payroll Tax Executive Order
After negotiations for another stimulus bill stalled for two weeks, President Trump issued an executive order suspending the collection of Social Security payroll taxes from September 1st through December...
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What to Do If You're Working From Home Longer Than Expected
As the threat of the coronavirus swept through the nation in March, many businesses sent their workers home, and now, as fall in full swing, many people are continuing to work from home. If you're working...
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Revisit Your Investment Strategy at Each Age Milestone
As the saying goes, "50 is the new 40"—and with Americans living longer than ever before, it's not unusual for those in their 50s, 60s, or even 70s to be in their peak earning years.1...
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Investing in an Election Year
The world's events always affect the markets, and making smart investment choices requires you to look at what's happening around the world. But what about during an election year? How should you invest...
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Tax Planning for Family Business Succession
Many owners of family businesses are so busy running their companies that they never get around to making formal arrangements to pass on the business to the next generation or to other partners. But...
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Avoid Playing Politics with Your Portfolio
When the markets are shaky, it can be tempting to rely on political headlines or pending legislation to time your entry or exit points. However, letting politics drive your investment decisions can ...
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Three Tips for Planning Your Income in Retirement
If you've been diligently saving for your retirement, you may often find yourself wondering when you can afford to set an official retirement date. The answer to this question can often depend on how...
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How to Make Savings Last Longer in Retirement
Whether you dream of a travel-filled retirement or would prefer to relax and enjoy spending more time at home, you're probably wondering what you can do to make your golden years as stress-free as possible...
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3 High-Net Retirement Savings Mistakes You Want to Avoid
When it comes to retirement savings, the goal is quite simple for most. To accumulate as much wealth as possible so that they are able to retire in comfort and style, while they enjoy the fruits of ...
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401k Planning: 5 Questions to Ask
When was the last time you took steps to optimize your 401k?
If it's been a while, you're not alone. Research indicates that only one in three Americans utilize employer-sponsored 401k retirement...
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What You Should Know About Contributing to an IRA at Every Age
A traditional IRA offers a great way to shield income from taxation while boosting your retirement accounts. Meanwhile, a Roth IRA can let you pay tomorrow's taxes today. But how can workers who are...
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One Tax Shift Most People Miss in Retirement
See if you can spot the flaw in this couple's plan:
A husband and wife are retiring next month at age 62, with an equal amount saved in retirement and non-retirement accounts (let's call it $500...
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Critical Business Strategies for Entrepreneurs Preparing for Retirement
When you work for an employer, saving for retirement can be as simple as signing up for a 401(k) plan and making regular contributions, but when you own your own business, preparing for retirement can...
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How to Protect Your Wealth as You Get Older
As you get older and closer to retirement, your financial practices need to shift slightly as you transition from working and saving to relying on your nest egg. As you approach this stage of your life...
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Avoid The Market Timing Trap in Retirement
After decades of adding to your retirement accounts, making the mental switch to withdrawal mode can be a challenge. It may be tempting to try to time the market to mitigate the risk of any sudden drops...
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Planning Your Distributions After Retirement
When it comes to retirement planning, much ado is made of how much to save. But often, the real difference lies in shrewd distribution planning. By withdrawing funds from certain account types in a ...
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Market Volatility and the Importance of Staying the Course at Different Ages
When you invest in the stock market, you want to see growth, but unfortunately, in most cases, investments do not grow all the time. Inevitably, the market goes up and down, and to safeguard your potential...
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5 Types of Retirement Plans for Small Business Owners
Small business owners are different from the average hourly employee in a lot of ways. One often-overlooked difference is how they plan for retirement. Although small business owners may offer a classic...
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Preserving Business Culture While Working Remotely
The COVID-19 crisis has forced many businesses to pivot and engage their workforces in adopting new ways to continue to be effective and efficient, despite not being able to work collectively under ...
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Strategies for Managing Retirement Assets in the Event of a Layoff
Layoffs are a fact of corporate life as companies grapple with economic cycles and global competition. If you get caught in a corporate downsizing and you are not immediately moving to a new employer...
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Why Global Stimulus Measures are Not a Long-Term Solution
It’s déjà vu all over again. Looking back to the Great Recession of 2007-2009, governments around the world injected billions of dollars into their economies through massive stimulus...
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