Why Smart Entrepreneurs Need Tax-Smart Financial Advisors

The world of money has gotten exponentially more complicated in recent years.

There are now almost twice as many mutual funds and other packaged investments than there are stocks to put in them. Due to the fact that the U.S. tax code is now over seven million words and growing every day with a constant stream of IRS revenue rulings, revenue procedures and private letter rulings, no entrepreneur should go very long or far without assembling a team of truly expert financial advisors and specialists who are looking out for his best interests.

There are a lot of good reasons you need one, or more likely, several of these experts working on your behalf:

1. As noted, there's way too much going on in the world of money, taxes, and investments for you to follow and be knowledgeable about.
   
   
2. Look for CPAs who offer sound financial advice, who go far to help you preserve and create wealth, save taxes, and achieve maximum financial benefit from your business.
   
   
3. You may miss exciting financial opportunities. Many entrepreneurs are focused on and very good at making money, but they usually work harder than they need to for a lot longer than they'd have to in order to reach their financial goals and desired levels of wealth. They get so busy "making," they give little time or attention to "multiplying" through tax savings opportunities and other financial strategies. Many opportunities are overlooked.
   
   
4. You are unnecessarily vulnerable. Without expert advice, assistance, and even nagging, most entrepreneurs leave more of their wealth than necessary locked up inside their businesses rather than extracting it as they go through better investing, overlooked tax savings strategies, and unique wealth extraction methods. As the old axiom goes, too many eggs in one basket is just not a wise strategy.
   
   
5. Many entrepreneurs still overpay taxes. They pay far more than is legally necessary because they are too busy and running too fast to get creative, expert advice on a wide variety of different strategies for tax reduction.
   
   

Sure, you've probably set up a retirement plan like a 40l(k), Keogh, simple IRA, or SEP /IRA, but these strategies are really just deferral strategies. Although these strategies are appropriate for many entrepreneurs, there are other tax savings strategies that aren't deferral based, they're deduction based. The difference? Deferral simply means that you deduct something now and you must claim it as income later. Many deduction-based strategies don't have that kind of trade off; they simply offer immediate tax savings.

Frankly, most entrepreneurs operate all out of balance with too much time and energy given to making money and too little focus on wealth building. Income is perishable. Income is NOT an asset. You need to convert income into wealth deliberately and systematically. That's where the right team of knowledgeable advisors comes in.

We live in the age of ultra-specialization. If you need heart surgery, you don't rely on your family doctor. If you own an exotic sports car or luxury automobile, you don't take it to the mechanic at the corner garage. You shouldn't take your wealth development to any ordinary financial advisors.

So, how do you find and choose an advisor or advisors to work with? It's not easy, but it is important. Every day that you procrastinate and put this off may add a hundred days to your work life. Costly mistakes may be made. Once made, money is lost forever to taxes that could be diverted to productive investments. I cannot urge you strongly enough to make the time right now, this week, to seek out and interview one or several advisors, and settle on one to get some "money diagnosis" and advice from.

To help, here are a few tips:

• Because many advisors out there are not really advisors at all but rather product salespeople, ask your prospective advisor to identify tax savings in your current financial situation. Ask him specifically how much the savings would be and ask him to explain how these savings will be obtained. Get some results BEFORE you hire him. Taxes are probably the most overlooked area and, ironically, often offer the greatest area of opportunity.
  
  
• Get referrals. If an advisor doesn't have a track record of getting results for busy, affluent entrepreneurs, you don't want him using you for a case study.
  
  
• Ask about his support team. At a minimum, in today's highly complex world of money and taxes, an advisor should be using three other professionals to help with your money diagnosis: a qualified asset protection specialist, a qualified tax planning specialist, and a qualified portfolio design specialist.
  
  

Why won't you follow this advice and seek out a top advisor to work with? There are four main reasons.

1. Procrastination. Putting it off until you have more money to invest or until some event or benchmark is reached. But then there's always another reason just around the corner, always another reason to wait. Tomorrow never comes.
   
   
2. Being too busy. The bottom line is that most entrepreneurs go their entire lives "too busy" making their livings and making their businesses work to actually extract, create, and multiply wealth. For as long as you are in business, you'll be working on and in your business. But you can put money to work for you and let it work to multiply itself without requiring your day-to-day attention or time. In many cases, a savvy advisor can find money you're now literally wasting, through overpaying taxes or letting it sleep idle, generating little or no yield. He can then make it work for you in vehicles that require little of your time.
   
   
3. Being intimidated. Many entrepreneurs feel that they can never understand all the ins and outs of investments, tax strategies, and wealth-building techniques, so it is easier and more comfortable to avoid serious discussions. However, one of the marks of a top advisor is his ability to simplify the complex and present strategies to you that you can quickly and easily grasp and intelligently decide on.
   
   

Quite simply, these are not legitimate, good reasons to avoid dealing with personal wealth development. They are actually excuses for failure. After all, you do have a plan for your business. You need a wealth plan, too. And not one from some off-the-shelf software program, a fill-in-the-blank template plan. You need and deserve a customized plan prepared by a top advisor who takes the time to understand you, your business, your family, and your objectives.