Tom's Blog

My son, Max, is bipolar. Even with proper medication, he has days when he is very "up" and days when he is very "down." (The medication keeps the highs from being too high and the lows from being so low.) But, like most bipolar individuals, he is very intelligent.

The other day, on one of his "down" days, he and I had a discussion about the meaning of life and how to be happy. Intellectually, he recognizes that some of his moods result from the chemical imbalance that makes him bipolar. But, like all of us, he would like to be happy as much as possible.

I explained to Max that I believe that happy should be more of a verb than an adjective. In other words, I think that we are responsible for our own happiness. I do not believe that happiness should or truly can come form any event or outside influence. Rather, we have to choose to be happy.

My friend, Dani Johnson (http://www.danijohhnson.com tells a story about a bumper sticker she has on her little red sports car. The sticker simply says, "I am happy." She says that hundreds of people of rolled down their window to tell her that they would be happy too if they had a little red sports car. As Dani says, they are missing the point. Dani is not happy because of the little red sports car. She was happy before she got the little red sports car.

I find this to be true in my life. While there are certain things and people in my life that please me, whether I am happy is a function of my decision to be happy REGARDLESS of what I have or who I'm with.

Like all of us, Max wants to be happy. For me, this has never been a difficult challenge. My siblings tell me that I was born happy and was always smiling as a child. But I do believe that happiness can be learned as well as forgotten. I told Max that one of the keys to happiness is GRATITUDE. I have found that if I lose focus and my happy attitude, the best cure is to remember all of my blessings. Being thankful for everything we do have makes it so much easier to be happy.

One of my favorite Christmas songs as always been "Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow." My favorite line of this song is towards the end. "And when you're worried and you can't sleep, just count your blessings instead of sheep and you'll fall asleep, counting your blessings." Gratitude for our blessings takes away our stress and we remember that we have much to be thankful for regardless of what else happens.

At the beginning of this new year, I hope each of us can remember to be thankful for all we have, especially our friends and family and that we will each resolve to be happy every day of this year.

Warmest regards,

Tom

So just how committed are you to achieving your goals? Will you do whatever it takes to accomplish them? What if you have a hiccup in your plans and take a step backwards - will you quit or keep going?

These questions apply equally to any goal we set. I find a great similarity between goals we set for our physical fitness and goals we set for our wealth. I set a goal to get my weight down from 175lbs. to 165lbs. by May of this year. I started out well, losing 2 pounds in the first two weeks. Then, I stalled for a week or two and this past week I actually gained 2 pounds back. So what now? Do I quit because I had a bad week or do I redouble my efforts and keep after my goal? The real question is just how committed am I to losing those extra pounds?

The same questions apply to our wealth goals. Everyone wants to be wealthy, just like everyone wants to be thin. But are we really willing to commit to being wealthy the way we have to commit to being thin? What kind of commitment does it take to achieve wealth?

I have several clients who I feel are truly committed to becoming wealthy. We meet together twice a month to hold them accountable and to give them new tasks to perform to keep them on the fast track to wealth. We help them create budgets for spending and budgets for investing. I know they are committed because they never fail to do what we ask them to do, they never miss our meetings and they pay us a lot of money to help them become wealthy.

Whenever I talk to a prospective client, the primary qualifying question I ask is how committed they are to becoming wealthy. My experience is that anyone can become wealthy who is committed to it. But that commitment doesn't come easy. Just like it's not easy to pass up on that donut or cookie or piece of chocolate (my personal weakness), it's not easy to pass on buying that new cd, dvd, television or iphone. It takes dedication, commitment and perseverance.

And if you fall one day, just pick yourself up and re-dedicate yourself the next day. That's what I have to do this week. I'm going out of town Wednesday, and I always have a tougher time regulating my calories when I am away from home. It's really going to take commitment. I am committed to my weight loss goal. Are you committed to your wealth goal? If you are not committed, YOU CANNOT AND WILL NOT REACH YOUR GOAL.

So commit today to your wealth goal. Set your goals, your interim targets, and devise your investment strategy. Then get a wealth coach to keep you on track and give you the right advise. For more information about our wealth coaching, go to http://www.provisionwealth.com or call us at 1.866.467.5809.

Warmest regards,

Tom

What do you do when you have setbacks? Do you give up? Do you keep going? Do you buckle down and work even harder? Do you change tactics?

My weight is not coming down at all. But every day I weigh myself and I think about my goals frequently throughout the day. I have come to two conclusions. First, I need to have, as Chet Holmes would say, "pigheaded determination." Second, I need to change tactics.

Actually, I really need to add something to my life. That something is a coach. In this case, it may be a personal trainer or it may be a triathlon coach. Let me know if any of you know a good triathlon coach in Tempe, Arizona.

What do I hope to gain from a coach? A coach should not only make me accountable, but should also have the knowledge and experience to teach me how to train and how to eat in order to accomplish my goals.

The same is true when you are building wealth. A few people can do it on their own. They can read self help books or take a course and then build their own wealth. But, like losing weight, this doesn't work for most of us. Most of us new a personal trainer. We need someone who can keep us focused and give us advice on our spending habits, investing and wealth building.

Do you have a wealth coach? Is it time for you to stop messing around with self help guides? Most of you realize that ProVision http://www.provisionwealth.comsells self help materials. Why? Because many people want to take the baby step of going through some self help materials before accepting the long-term commitment of hiring a ProVision wealth coach. But once you have the confidence in us that we can train you, hold you accountable and keep you focused, you will want to hire us as your personal wealth coach.

Come see us today at http://www.provisionwealth.com or call us toll free at 1-866-467-5809 and see what a personal wealth coach could do for you.

Warmest regards,

Tom

In our School of Tax Strategy call last week, I was asked the question, "What constitutes travel away from home and why is it important?"

In order for certain business travel expenses to be deductible, you must be traveling "away from home." There are actually two parts to this question. The first is, "Where is my tax home?" The second is, "What constitutes being 'away' from home?"

Your tax home is a facts and circumstances question. That is, each person's tax home will be different, not just depending on location of the person's residence, but depending on the person's circumstances. For most of us, our tax home is where we live full time. But there are many circumstances where this is not clear. For example, where is a full-time student's tax home? Is it his permanent address with his parents or his temporary address while at school nine months during the year?

Or, what happens if you don't really have a permanent residence? This was the situation in a case several years back where a traveling salesman traveled so much that the IRS and the court concluded that he did not even have a tax home.

Then, we have the question of how far do we have to travel to be "away" from our tax home? Is an hour across town sufficient? What about going 50 miles away to a neighboring town? There are many court cases discussing this question. One court suggested that a taxpayer had to go beyond the metropolitan area in which he lived in order to be "away." Another court said that the taxpayer had to go into another county.

Finally, how long do you have to be away in order to qualify as "away" for tax purposes? The courts and the IRS generally have held that if you need to stay overnight to rest because of the work and the distance, then you are "away." But, if you can reasonably go to and from the location in a single day without rest, you are not away from home.

Why is this important? If you are away from home, your meals and lodging are deductible so long as they are ordinary and necessary to your business. Meals are always deductible if you have a business purpose for the meal, specifically if you are eating with a business associate or client. But what if you are eating alone? Then, you have to be traveling away from home for the meal to be deductible. Even lodging is only deductible if you are away from home.

Since everyone's situation is different, if you have a question about whether your trip is away from home, I suggest you contact your tax coach to get help. If you don't have a tax coach or would like to find someone new, please feel free to contact us at info@provisionwealth.com or toll free at 1-866-467-5809. We serve tax clients through the U.S. and wealth and business clients throughout the world.

Warmest regards,

Tom

Last week I had the privilege of visiting one of my premier clients, Jeff People at Window Book, Inc. in Cambridge, Massaschusetts. Window Book, http://www.windowbook.com is a wonderful company that provides a remarkable service for any business that uses the United States Post Office (USPS) to any substantial degree. Window Book's software can save a business thousands of dollars in postage, save time in getting postal bundles ready, and then actually track the location of the package, even using first class.

The reason I went out there was to help evaluate the business. The result should be increased sales volume and decreased costs. As I was writing up my report, I started to wonder how many businesses take the time to really evaluate where they are and where they are going with a view to understand what it will take to reach their goals?

As business owners, we think about our businesses constantly. Most of the time, we are focused on specific issues or opportunities and we tend to get caught up in the day-to-day routine of the business. Even if we take time to personally evaluate our business, we often don't have the perspective to see opportunities that someone else might see.

I have to hand it to Jeff People, the CEO of Window Book. He knows that he cannot see everything there is to see in his company and values the assistance from his business coach coming in to review the business and find additional opportunities for success.

It took less than two days and the result will be an immediate impact on profit and a long-term increase in sales. I encourage all of you to take advantage of your Business Coach to perform an evaluation of your company.

What are some of the areas to be evaluated? At ProVision, we break down a company into five distinct areas: Marketing, Sales, Production, Fulfillment and Administration. Each of these areas should have a complete strategy and each should have systems set up to maximize the productivity of every dollar that is spent.

Take time to have your Business Coach evaluate your company at least once a year. You will find amazing results. If you don't have a Business Coach or want to find a new coach, contact us at info@ProVisionWealth.com or call us toll free at 1-800-467-5809.

Warmest regards,

Tom

The other day, a client asked about how to handle receipts. And in our School of Tax Strategy group coaching call last week, we were talking about documenting meals and entertainment expenses. So, I thought now would be a perfect time to address this issue.

The IRS requires receipts to be saved for expenses in excess of $25. This can become a burden for our filing systems, particularly when it comes to little receipts for meals and miscellaneous expenses. And, these receipts tend to fade over time (especially the yellow copies of credit card receipts) so that by the time the IRS audits you, the receipt is illegible.

I think the best answer to this dilemma is to purchase one of the many scanning products that are available. You can get a scanner that is specifically for your receipts or you can use a normal scanner. The advantage of the receipt scanners is that they come with software to organize your receipts electronically. Kind of an electronic filing system. Some even maintain that they can download your receipts directly into Quickbooks.

I haven't personally used the scanning software, but I maintain all of my receipts electronically. My partner won't even let me bring any hard copy receipts to her office. She insists that they all be scanned and emailed to her. Since the IRS accepts scanned copies, there really is no reason for keeping hard copy receipts any more.

I encourage everyone to take advantage of this technology and to get your tax documentation in order. If you are a client of ours, we are very happy to accept scanned copies of any documentation you need to provide us to do your tax returns. In fact, our website is set up specifically so you can scan your documents and upload them to our secure site. For more information about this, please contact your Tax Coach or call us toll free at 1-866-467-5809.

Warmest regards,

Tom

Friday morning, as usual, I got up and weighed myself first thing. The scale read 171 lbs. Good news, right? This meant I was 4 lbs closer to my target of 165. I had a pretty good weekend (eating wise) and Monday morning was anxious to weigh myself so I could report to all of you how much weight I had lost. The scale showed 175lbs. So, either I gained 4 lbs over the weekend (possible, but not likely, even if I were retaining fluids) or the scale was wrong on Friday, Monday or both. Today's weight was 174lbs.

What can we learn from this? The obvious thing to learn is that I might want to try another scale to check the reliability of my scale. (Of course, I might also be retaining water.) So, I'm going to begin weighing myself at the gym and at home a couple of times a week to see if my scale is reliable.

I find the same thing happens in business and investing. We may think we are making progress, but it could be that we simply have a scale that is giving us incorrect information. This is why good accounting and good reporting is so important.

Tonight at 7:00p.m. I am speaking in San Diego at The Learning Annex (http://www.thelearningannex.com. The topic is Wealth Strategies and how to get your wealth on the fast track to financial freedom. The event is free to the public. It's not too late, so come join us if you are in the area. I am also speaking in Los Angeles on the same topic on Thursday evening.

One of the most important things I will be talking about is getting a handle on where you are and where you are going. You must have an accurate picture of where you want to go, both in terms of your dream as well as in terms of what it will take to reach your dream (i.e., net worth and passive income). Equally important is knowing where you are now. That's why our website has a tool for analyzing your wealth goals, http://www.ProVisionWealth.com/wealth_evaluator.asp and we offer software in our home study course, Financial Freedom Now! that allows you to create a current income statement and balance sheet. (Go to http://www.ProVisionWealth.com/products.

How good are your metrics? Are you sure you are using the right scale? If not, check out our Wealth Evaluator and Financial Freedom Now! course to find out if you are on the right track.

Warmest regards,

Tom