Episode Transcript
[00:00:25] Speaker A: Welcome to your life and legacy. I'm Christopher Nuto. On this show, we talk about the decisions that shape not only what we build, but what we leave behind.
And a few areas really reveal our priorities more clearly than the way we earn, spend, save, invest, give, and plan for the future.
My guest today is Joseph Reyes, a certified public accountant, business strategist, and founder of Jo Reyes Accounting and Tax CPAs.
Joseph works with business owners across the country to help them move beyond simply filing tax returns and towards a more proactive understanding of their finances.
He's advised many businesses at many stages of growth, from small entrepreneurial companies to organizations generating more than $100 million in annual revenue.
Joseph's message is simple. Good financial planning should do more than reduce a tax bill. It should help strengthen a business, improve decision making, and create opportunities for long term wealth.
Joseph, welcome to your life and legacy.
[00:01:44] Speaker B: All right, Chris, thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.
[00:01:48] Speaker A: Hey, before we get really tactical into the really sophisticated stuff you do for clients, I want to start with something just, just a little deeper. What does it look like for a business owner to treat money not as a result, but rather as a responsibility?
[00:02:08] Speaker B: Well, money is a powerful thing, isn't it?
The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.
So responsibility, you, you earn the money, what are you going to do with it? Right. So are you planning for the future?
Are you going to be a spendthrift? Are you going to be responsible?
Are you going to treat it as such a toy that it can ruin you? Many people have been ruined by irresponsible money management.
So my take on that is it is a responsibility if you go into business.
Most of the time, people go into business to make money, to earn a living, to support a cause, to leave a legacy.
And your show is about legacy.
So treat it with the respect that it deserves and you'll have a fulfilling life and you do a lot of good. For a lot of people feel like a toy and be irresponsible, you're gonna have problems.
[00:03:14] Speaker A: I totally agree.
And you know, many owners work incredibly hard and may even grow revenue, yet they do not feel, you know, financially clear.
Where should a business owner begin if they really want to understand their company and what it's truly producing?
[00:03:36] Speaker B: Yeah, so I'm a cpa. So I, I, I do accounting and taxes. Not every CPA does taxes. Not every CPA does accounting. I do both and have a small accounting firm. We do both.
What I would say is you need to have a Good finger on the pulse of your business. But what does that mean? Well, your business is producing, selling goods and services, whatever it is, but ultimately it's going to be producing cash. Cash flow.
Revenue is cash coming in, but what good is cash kept coming in if the cash going out is greater than the cash coming in?
And ultimately it's up to the business owner to have his or her finger on the pulse to make sure that the cash is flowing in the direction you want it to flow.
If you want to lose money, then fine, have at it. You won't be around very much longer. But if you want to be responsible and be fruitful, you want to multiply the money, make sure that it's growing, make sure that it's doing what you want it to do, especially if you have a family and even more especially if you have children. You have a huge responsibility to make sure that your children are well taken care of. So produce an income, have financial statements that you're looking at every month regularly and have a pulse in your business.
And use the advice of professionals if there's stuff you don't understand because it is critical to manage your cash flow.
[00:05:12] Speaker A: And you know, that really ties into the concept that, you know, some. If you asked any business owner, they would say, listen, trying to be wealthy or I'm trying to, you know, in the underlying tone of what they say is I'm going to be wealthy. But in the end they so often get lost in just making money. So what's the real difference you see between somebody that's focused on their business or, and, or even their personal life for that matter? And you can tell they're really understand and dialed in on wealth building versus just making money.
[00:05:46] Speaker B: Yeah, because wealth building is a different, a different engagement psychologically. Right. I mean there are people whose metric for their lives is how much money can I earn and make and spend and enjoy etc?
Then there are people who just want to build a legacy. They want to, like I said earlier, support a cause. Could be a church. Right.
It could be some life saving treatment for children with leukemia or something. It's just, you put it to good use, you do a lot of good.
So at the end of the day, wealth building is being fiscally responsible while enjoying your life. There's nothing wrong with making an income and enjoying life.
You can have a life of abundance and not be crazy irresponsible, but building that wealth, leaving something to your family and doing some good with it, in my view is the way you handle wealth not just for money's sake because, you know, one day we all die and we can't take it with us. So what are we going to do with it?
[00:06:54] Speaker A: That's right. And you know, I love the way you moved right into this concept of stewardship. You know, often here on your life and legacy, we talk about stewardship. And from your perspective as a CPA and advisor, what are some really good financial habits that tell you that your business owners are managing what they have really with intention, rather just than just like, you know, reacting to the day of the day or month to month?
[00:07:25] Speaker B: Yeah, reactionary financial processes are just not healthy.
I often like to tell people, when do you buy a burglar alarm?
Before you get robbed or after you get robbed? A lot of people don't have burg alarms. They get robbed, they go out and they buy a burg alarm. I'm like, well, kind of too late for that. Okay, you're good for the next time, right?
Same thing with money. You know, you got to plan for it.
You can't be reactionary. So how does a business owner plan for the money that his business or his or her business is producing?
Well, you have to have financial controls in place. Make sure that the people that you have working for you are not getting paid a little bit more bonus than you had intended for them. To get another word, stealing.
Make sure that the money is flowing so that your financial professional, whether it's a bookkeeper or an accountant, is able to produce monthly financial statements, balance sheet, income statement and a cash flow statement. They all serve different functions. And if you just. Business owners just spends a few minutes every month asking the question, how did the business do? Where do I stand? How are things looking from a financial perspective?
Solves a lot of problems. But a lot of people, a lot of businesses and families, by the way, have gone out of business or have gone bankruptcy because they didn't have to. Finger on the pulse. That one habit right there is critical, you know, because you can't make good decisions for a business without financial data. You need data. You know, in this day and age, we're all about data.
[00:09:09] Speaker A: I assume that data is really some of the biggest blind spots you see is, you know, they're focused on how many widgets, where they're coming from, what are the purchase orders, but not really focusing on the big picture as it relates to, are we charging enough? Is shipping Costinius alive to some somebody stealing from us? So really, what are some of them blind spots you see in business that may, they may look very successful on the outside. But you know what, on the inside, they're bleeding to death.
[00:09:42] Speaker B: Yeah. If you, if, if you, I mean you look at your bank statement, that's always a good tell of how the business is doing. If it's flush with cash, you're probably doing okay. But how okay are you doing? Right? Are you doing massively okay or a little bit okay? So watching your financials, watching the business, the money coming in, money going out, like you said earlier, making sure things are priced correctly, make sure you're well staffed and just make sure that the business is humming along the way it needs to. So blind spots are not knowing what you not knowing what the money's doing, where it is. You know, money in and of itself is not evil.
It should not cause the amount of stress that I think it causes.
Having good financial controls and good financial results at your, at the ready will solve a lot of problems. You might be, you might be bleeding. Well, why am I bleeding? Triage. Right? Let's deal with, let's deal with it. But if you're not dealing, you know, doing the triage, you're going to bleed out. You're going to go out of business.
[00:10:45] Speaker A: That's really good. We have like 30 seconds here. What, what would you say the one monthly habit that our business owner should create just to at least try to maintain some semblance of stewardship.
[00:11:05] Speaker B: Watch your financial statements.
[00:11:07] Speaker A: I love that.
[00:11:08] Speaker B: Every month.
[00:11:09] Speaker A: That's great. You know what? Financial clarity is not about becoming obsessed with every number. I think you heard that from Joseph really clearly. It's about knowing enough to decisions with intention instead of say, fear or habit or.
So many of us just downright guesswork. Listen, after the break we'll talk about the one thing that one area where planning can have an immediate and lasting impact.
Taxes. And why the most valuable tax conversation usually happens long before the tax return is due. Stay with us.
Foreign.
Hey, welcome back to your life and legacy. Stay connected to this show and every NOW Media tv favorite live or on demand, anytime you'd like. Download the free Now Media TV app on Roku or iOS and unlock non stop bilingual program programming both in English and in Spanish. Are you on the move? Why don't you just catch our podcast version? You can get it at NOW Media tv. From business and news to lifestyle, culture and beyond, NOW Media TV is streaming around the clock. Ready whenever you are. Well, listen, welcome back to your life and legacy and I'm here with CPA Joseph Reyes, who is founder of JL Reyes Accounting and Tax CPAs.
Before the break, we talked about financial clarity and stewardship. Now I really want to focus on taxes because, you know, many business owners still think about tax strategies. Well, they actually only think about tax strategies at the end of the year when it's already over, when it's in the rear view mirror and the return is ready to be filed. But Joseph, I think you're going to tell us that your approach is actually much more proactive, that the gold should not be chasing deductions for the sake of deductions.
It's to make informed decisions throughout the year so that tax planning supports the broader health, profitability and future of the business.
Is that accurate?
[00:14:08] Speaker B: Well, it is.
What are taxes? Well, it's money going out the door.
Well, I don't know about you, I don't know about anybody else, but I'd rather money not go out the door so fast and do absolutely nothing. Or maybe that money goes out the door to a government that maybe doesn't use it as wisely as we would like them to use it for business taxes or money out the door that can be spent on buying equipment, expansion, raising salaries, giving out benefits to employees, doing all kinds of positive things for your life.
Tax planning, it does that for you.
It controls the money going out the door.
Tax preparation, well, that's just a historian viewpoint, Mr. Mrs. Business Owner. This is how the business did last year and this is how much tax you owe. Or maybe you're getting a re fun.
Whereas tax Planning says when 1231 comes along, we kind of have an, we have an idea what the tax bill is going to look like and we know that we can utilize the money for various things in the next year.
So I suggest that people be intentional and by the way, not only business but your personal life try to control the taxes.
It's a surprise to many people that even W2 wage earners who do not have a business can do things to control the tax.
But they don't know because a lot of CPAs and tax people just, they just want to do the historian part, which we need. But AI is taking care of that. AI is going to be doing all that for us.
Oh, actually it's doing it now.
So the really, the real question becomes is your tax person helping you control the tax or are they just processing stuff and getting paid?
[00:16:04] Speaker A: Yeah, legitimately. That's such a great question. And you know, I know from a personal standpoint, I never like going into January 1st without knowing how my books closed on 1231, I think. But I think many Business owners take a different approach, and they say, oh, this is not a problem until April.
And that just scares me to death. And I'm glad there's people like you, Joseph, who are out there helping people understand that tax planning is really important.
So you get the average entrepreneur who says, you know, Joe, Joseph, I want to pay less in taxes.
So really, what's the next financial move you make with them so that, you know, you can help them understand that their question may be much bigger and much more involved than just paying less taxes?
[00:17:03] Speaker B: Well, I always love to hear somebody say, I want to pay less in taxes.
This great country was founded because of taxes, I believe.
We don't like to pay taxes, but if you're not careful, taxes will overtake you.
So what I like to see people do is do the planning, control the tax, have an idea what it's going to be, and be intentional about it.
You know what your tax bill is probably going to look like.
Be ready for it, save your money and set aside the cash. So when the tax bill comes due, you have the money to pay the tax. But, you know, interesting tidbit is April 15th is not when a lot of people pay their taxes. A lot of people go on extension. So they prolong the misery.
After summer comes and goes, they've used all the money they have for vacations and, you know, trinkets or whatever, and then they have to pay taxes come October 15th. And people think that, well, if I extend, my taxes are due October 15th, but the tax return is due October 15th. The money was due in April 15th. So the government, IRS doesn't care about the timing of that. They want the cash at April 15th.
So what we're seeing is a lot of people not being as intentional and proactive as they should be on their tax bill.
And it matters because like you said, you want to know what's going on at 12:31. Well, if you know that, that means you've been having your finger on the pulse, you know, throughout the year, and you're making decisions now.
[00:18:40] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:18:40] Speaker B: Paying less taxes does not equate to good business decisions. Because I can get you to pay less taxes. I can get you to buy. Buy a machine in December, and then that comes with a tax break. But what if you didn't need the machine?
Or you see, you got a tax break, so you pay a hundred thousand dollars for a machine, you save $37,000 in taxes, you have a machine you don't need, so you have $63,000.
[00:19:06] Speaker A: So what are some of the strategies. So, you know, you just pointed out a really good one that, you know, you don't go buying things you don't need because that's not helping your business. But what are some of those really good things that people good can do? What are some of the strengths, strategies that really strengthen businesses instead of just lowering a tax bill?
[00:19:27] Speaker B: Yeah, so a financial decision that comes with a tax benefit that's going to benefit the strength of the business, that you can utilize a machine, like I just said, it's going to, you're going to utilize it. So do I buy it in January of the next year? Do I buy it now? Well, I get the deduction for it now and I. I'm ahead 37,000 in taxes, but I still need the machine. Hey, that's going to strengthen your business. You know, you're going to make investments into people, machines, whatever it is, real estate, you have to need it. That's the only way that the tax system is going to work for you. But there are so many tax strategies out there nowadays, and it's absolutely amazing how many tax professionals do not study it out and cannot deliver that information.
So I would say financial planning involves tax planning. You have major corporations that they are dealing with billions of dollars and when they're making a major move, guess what? The CEO is always going to want to know what's the tax impact? What's the after tax effect of this decision?
Because you want to, it's got to be a good decision for the business, but you also want to know what the tax impact so you can plan financially because taxes are money.
[00:20:44] Speaker A: So one of the things that really stands out to me, Joseph, is that, you know, you're very proactive in understanding what's available for business owners and for personals, for people, even W2 earners, with regard to strategies, what's available, what's current but yet many CPAs are not. What are some of the steps that you take on a personal level just really to keep up on these things? You know, I'm sure our viewers are fascinated by just the knowledge that you've put forth so far.
[00:21:16] Speaker B: I am 68 years old and I am a relentless learner.
My brain does not shut down. I didn't get any sleep last night. I have so many thoughts right into my head.
So I'm constantly studying out what's going on in the tax world right now. I'm also studying out what's going on with the AI world because as it is right now, AI is overtaking the tax preparation World, there are products out there right now that will prepare your tax return for you, you know, and for tax practitioners.
So gee, I just tell people, you know, study it out, get on subscriptions. I get newsletters left and right. I do spend a little bit more money than I probably should on learning, but I've been a lifelong learner. You know, I graduated in 2007 with a theology degree and two months later with a master's in finance. Right. And I was already a cpa. I was already had a bachelor's degree. And from my entire life I've been trying to learn more and get this credential, but not for the sake of the credential, but also because I just love to learn and. Right. It's exciting, you know, taking piano lessons and singing lessons. And so the tax world, you have to keep up with it. It changes every year practically. So you want to keep up with it and then you start to learn all these great nuggets that save people money.
[00:22:41] Speaker A: That's fantastic. So we have like, you know, 45 seconds left before this segment runs out on us. So in that time, what planning opportunities, Joseph, do business owners commonly miss because they wait till the end of the year?
[00:22:58] Speaker B: Yeah, they don't make retirement contributions.
They don't, they don't invest in something that they should have invested now. And they do it, they think they're going to do it later.
The entity structure. Are you an S corporation, C corporation?
Are you a schedule C, a sole proprietor? Do you have an llc? Don't you have an LLC there? Just. I mean, I can. There's so many opportunities for making it, you know, making a good tax saving move.
But you have to talk to a knowledgeable CPA about that. But the ones I just listed are very common, you know, that people just don't take advantage of.
[00:23:43] Speaker A: That's excellent information. And, you know, a lower tax skill, a lower tax bill can be valuable, but the larger goal is a stronger financial position.
Good planning asks not only what can I save, but also what does the decision allow me to build?
Next, we'll move beyond tax strategy and talk about the financial systems. Discipline and advisory relationships help a business become more resilient, makes them more profitable and less dependent on last minute decisions. Stay tuned.
Welcome back to your life and legacy. I'm your host, Christopher Nudo and we're continuing the conversation with Joseph Reyes.
Will. We have talked about financial clarity and proactive tax planning. Now I really want to widen the lens and look at business itself because a tax strategy cannot repair a company that does not understand its cash flow or its margins or its systems or really its long term direction.
Joseph's firm has evolved from a traditional tax practice into a broader advisory business that that shift reflects an important idea. Sometimes the most valuable question is not what happened in the numbers last year but what the numbers are telling us to do for the next period that's coming up.
So Joseph, what changes when a business owner stops viewing the CPA as somebody only that files tax returns, but starts using that relationship as an ongoing source of, of financial strategy?
[00:26:12] Speaker B: Well, in order to become a CPA you have to be pretty expert in accounting principles, financial statements, financial data, handling financial data.
Part of it is also tax preparation and tax law.
And then of course when you go into industry you can pick and choose whichever direction you want to go in.
So the, the CPA is typically a very well educated, robustly intelligent, licensed by the states account, a financial professional.
And we bring a lot to the table. We look at a financial statement, we look at your business, we see things you might not be seeing and that maybe a financial advisor may not be seeing a financial advisor. Many financial advisors don't know accounting. They don't need to know accounting.
But CPAs we can look at a financial statement. I'll give you a quick example.
A balance sheet is a financial statement. It's almost like a house. You know, you have a house, that's an asset. Well, businesses have assets.
Most people own, have a mortgage on the house and that's a liability. Well, liabilities is what you owe. Just like a business in a house, they have the same thing. Well, what's the difference, right? The difference is your equity.
That's your equity in the house. Well, the difference between your assets and liabilities in a business is the equity in your business.
Well guess what? If you, you don't know, you probably many people don't know that if your assets are greater than your liabilities, you have positive equity. That's a good thing.
But what happens when your liabilities exceed your assets?
This is nasty word that takes people by surprise and is called insolvency. You are technically insolvent.
If your liabilities exceed now, it may not be a big deal. It could happen just one month, you have less cash than you wanted to have, whatever. But a lot of people have loans with banks or they have investors that they have to keep happy and they may have something called the loan covenant that says you must never be technically insolvent, you must never enter if you're insolvent. We're going to call the loan.
Well, I know many business owners who are technically insolvent and they have no clue that they're in technical default of the loan covenants. And unless you tell the bank or the bank is getting monthly statements, irregular statements, it may not surface. But the fact of the matter is, like we found out in Covid, there are a lot of people who have businesses that were in trouble going into COVID 19 and then they have problems getting a line of credit, you know, the free money that the government was giving us.
So maybe a financial advisor won't see that, but a good accounting professional is going to spot that in a, in a flash.
So.
[00:29:06] Speaker A: Absolutely. And during.
Yeah, absolutely, totally. And that is, I love the fact that you point out that during COVID many businesses got exposed because all it took was the fact that they didn't have 30 days of Runway cash and the next thing you know, they're exposed as being upside down. Now they were upside down before that 30 day Runway of cash ran out, but that was the exacerbating point. So we know that, you know, one of the most common points of confusion for entrepreneurs is the difference between cash flow and profit.
So, you know, and I think we just keep skirting around the same edge. But it's so important for our viewers to understand what can a business, how can a business look profitable on paper yet still constantly be short on cash?
[00:30:06] Speaker B: I'll give you an easy example.
You had a great month.
You sold $100,000 worth of goods and services. You sent your bills out to your clients, your customers.
Terms to pay that Bill may be 30 days, 60 days, but you don't have the cash to make payroll next week.
Well, guess what, that's trouble.
[00:30:28] Speaker A: Right?
[00:30:28] Speaker B: Imagine employees who don't get paid. How long is that going to last? So cash flow does not equal equate to profit. You know, having profits in the long run, hopefully that's going to happen. But you got to have, I, I just recommend people have a line of credit always for their business in case there's trouble and maybe a client or customer, maybe they went out of business and now they can't pay your bill.
And you were expecting that money to pay payroll, rent, utilities, whatever it is.
So having a cash flow is critical. Just because you're making a profit on paper does not necessarily, necessarily equate to positive cash flow, especially if you're dealing with organizations that pay the bills 30, 60, 90 days later, you know, and you're waiting for the money. So if it's and Especially if you're a startup and you don't have that line of credit or you're not well funded, the trouble will be at your doorstep before you know it. So you got to manage the cash flow as well as the profits.
[00:31:33] Speaker A: Makes perfect sense. And I, there's also this other tension that I know that business owners really suffer with and that is, you know, when do I take money and put it back into my business, whether starting to, you know, take the money out and build my own personal wealth and security.
[00:31:52] Speaker B: What?
[00:31:52] Speaker A: Talk to us a bit about that balance.
[00:31:57] Speaker B: Yeah, so it depends on what you want, right? If you're just starting out, right, your early stage company, startup or whatever, you're applying back every dollar into the business to grow it, to staff it, to get it to where you want it to get. Now if you just want to have a small business and you're happy making X amount of dollars and the business is producing that and you're not interested in growing, then fine, take the money out of the business, pay yourself a salary or take a draw, distribution, whatever it is and then invest that money into hopefully your life and your family's life. But then invest it also in maybe real estate investments and just develop a wealth profile that's diversified, you know, and if you know what you're doing, great. If you don't, use a financial planner, financial advisor. So the recommendation is just, just to know what your goals are. But if you're early stage and you want to grow, you got to put the money back into the business, a business, a profitable business, a world demanded product or service. It's a great world building tool. It'll probably exceed what you make in the market, you know, on stocks, in stocks and bonds, you know, you could be making 30 cents on the dollar in your business, a 30 net profit, whereas the market might produce 10, 12% year over year. So investing in your business is a great investment, but at some point in time you don't want to have it, just all your money in one basket as they say.
So when you can, you start taking money out and start investing it, putting it away. 529 plans for the kids, education, you know, your retirement, a home, you know, real estate and just start diversifying. But never, never, never start the business of the blood that it needs. And that's cash.
[00:33:47] Speaker A: That's great, good wisdom there. Now I know Joseph, your firm uses a lot of technology and a national team to serve clients across the entire country.
Where can or how can these better systems and automation that you really work with make financial management more useful without really, you know, removing the human element at this point.
[00:34:16] Speaker B: Yeah, so I, I, I'm just enamored with technology. I love technology.
And I would say that technology and automation, they can do things faster and better and more efficiently than human beings can. You know, just like when the calculator came out and the commuter came out, you know, it was proven that it can. These things can do things faster and better than human beings can do it. But the one machines cannot do is provide judgment and wisdom.
It can mimic it probably, but it doesn't provide judgment and wisdom. So we want to employ as much technology as possible to get the grunt work out the door, get it done and then give me the data that I need so I can look at something and say this business is in trouble, this business needs help, this business needs to do this or that. And here are the weak points, here are the strong points of the business and then here's how we correct, take corrective action.
And it's not like a self driving car, right? Running a business is going to require some wisdom and then you intermingle that what's going on in your head and what do you want for life? And so you have to mix all that together with how the business is doing. And you need wisdom and understanding and knowledge to figure out, well, the business is doing what I want to do, let me go do something else, let me invest in something else, let me take classes, let me go back to school, you know, any number of things, let me give to charity or churches or something like that. So judgment and wisdom, you know, it we, that's what you use once you get the data, you know, the data is automated.
[00:35:54] Speaker A: I love the fact that you were able to bridge all of that technology and networking in with the human element that is so required. And you know, sustainable growth is rarely created by one clever move. As Joseph has identified.
It is built through clear information, discipline habits, better systems and really making good decisions repeatedly like a habit, even when no one decision feels all that dramatic. We don't want that dramatic in our business. That's, that's not good. Listen, after the break we'll bring everything back to legacy. How financial strategy can create options for a family, how a business can become an asset rather than a burden. And really what it means to build wealth with purpose beyond the next tax year. So stay tuned.
[00:36:57] Speaker B: Sam foreign.
[00:37:28] Speaker A: Hey, welcome back to your life and legacy. Hey, stay connected to this show and every now media TV favorite live or on demand, anytime you'd like. Download the free Now Media TV app on Roku or iOS and unlock non stop bilingual programming in English and in Spanish on the move. Listen. Catch the podcast version at NowMedia TV. From business and news to lifestyle, culture and beyond, Now Media TV is streaming around the clock. Ready whenever you are.
Welcome back to your life and legacy. I'm Christopher Nudo and we're closing today's conversation with Joseph Reyes, CPA and founder of JL Reyes Accounting and Tax CPAs.
We've talked about clarity and stewardship, taxes, profitability, cash flow and discipline. But in this final segment, I want to connect those ideas back to legacy because eventually every business owner has to ask the bigger question.
What is all of this work meant to be and why is it possible and what am I going to do with it? You know what? Financial success can be great choices. It can create security and opportunity, generosity, time and a stronger foundation for the next generation.
But those outcomes usually don't happen automatically or just by happenstance. They require the owners to think beyond this question quarter, this tax season, and sometimes even beyond themselves.
So, Joseph, as we wrap things up here, at what point does tax planning really become legacy planning?
[00:39:23] Speaker B: Well, legacy planning usually involves money, right?
And that, and consequently money that you get to keep.
Well, taxes, taxes of money going out the door.
So if you're able to limit the tax going out the door, the money going out the door, you're keeping money in the house. Hopefully you're not spending it unwisely. Hopefully you're taking advantage of the opportunity to save money to do proper investing.
And therefore you're investing in, if you have kids, your kids, their education, their future, maybe create a trust, make sure you have a will. I always tell people, make sure you have a will at least, which is usually not enough. I like to see people have a trust because you can control your kids from the grave with a trust.
Make sure if you're married, your spouse is well taken care of, make sure that you know your liabilities are taken care of, make sure you're paying your bills and make sure that you're going in an upward direction, in a steady direction with finances so that you're not being reactive and you're bleeding cash. You're always trying to keep up and never knowing what the future is going to look like because you're not saving money, you're not putting money away for a rainy day, things of that nature. So the legacy in my view is how am I going to take care of my family, maybe extended family, and then of course, you know, causes you know, what do I love, you know, what I want to see happen in this world?
What can I do to help things, you know, make things better for certain types of people, you know, and fund it. And you can do all that with cash, more so than with taxes, going to a government that throws money away and all kinds of crazy stuff because, you know, it's not their money really, it's our money.
[00:41:15] Speaker A: Yeah, it's so funny because whether it's children with parents money, whether it's, you know, nobody ever treats somebody else's money the way we treat our own. And the government's a great example of that. So, you know, changing the subject just a little bit, you know, business owners often are trying to make their companies more financially strong. And you know, a lot of business owners would say, listen, I want to build my company in such a way that I don't have to be there every day for the day to day and it doesn't rely on me every single moment. But many business owners get trapped in that cycle. What are some of the things they can do to make the business less dependent on them and really honestly, more transfer, transferable in the future?
[00:42:03] Speaker B: Yeah, you know, that's a, such a common thing that goes on with business owners.
If, if the business is dependent upon you, if every major decision is on your lap, that means you have to constantly be present and then what you've got is a glorified job.
The only thing that can happen is you can't fire yourself. Other than that you've got a job.
And versus hiring competent personnel, reinvesting in the business by increasing your payroll, increasing your people, buying machines, buying whatever it is you need to, to grow the business and train people so that eventually you can take a day off, a week off, a month off, a year off and not even be around and the business runs itself. That's a business. Because if a business is usually one of our largest assets, more so than houses, and so there may come a day where you want to retire, you know, get out of the business, but if it's dependent upon you, you don't have an asset that you can sell. Because nobody in the right mind is going to want to buy a glorified job and spend a lot of money doing that and then have all the stress and, and grief and aggravation that comes from running a business that is not producing the lifestyle that you want, which hopefully comes with, you know, less stress and gratitude and, and a sense of well being and financial well being and a bright future.
So invest in people invest in structures and processes, property, things that you need to run the business and then let it monitor it, of course. But don't be the one in the middle of it all because that is the case of that.
[00:43:48] Speaker A: That's right.
And you know, speaking of that, you know, families can inherit assets, but they can also inherit, you know, good and bad habits about their belief about money. And so really how important are intentional conversations about finances, responsibility and wealth across generations?
[00:44:16] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, one name comes to mind. Warren Buffett.
Massively wealthy.
[00:44:24] Speaker A: Massively.
[00:44:26] Speaker B: He doesn't. He has the same house, he's had decades. He drives same old car he's been driving forever.
He doesn't go and buy every single trinket that's out there. He doesn't go spend wisely. He doesn't need to be in the limelight and have, you know, so called beautiful woman on his elbow and you know, maybe, you know, you know, maybe second, third or fourth wife or whatever. He doesn't need to be in the limelight.
He's careful with his money. And you could be sure that whoever is around him, he's teaching them a proper work ethic, a proper approach to money.
And that is treat it with respect, don't spend it. And if you have children, they're watching you. So if you're going out and buying every dumb thing that comes out, that's not going to add anything to your life or anybody else's life. It's just that it's self gratification, if you will.
There's a saying that says a fool and his money assume soon parted, something like that. So don't be foolish for the money and your kids will pick up on it. And you talk to your kids. I talk to my son. I got a 22 year old boy, he's a mechanic, he loves cars, he loves a grease monkey. But we're always talking and I know that he's hearing what I'm saying and he may be rejecting what I'm saying, but I know it's getting into his ears and into his soul and eventually one day I hope it springs, you know, fruit. But he's become a hard worker and he likes to make money, but he doesn't like to throw it away. And that's, you know, a gift in my opinion. So absolutely, talk to your children, talk to your family about it and don't. And be an example, don't throw it away.
[00:46:13] Speaker A: There's wisdom there. And you know, for those business owners, Joseph, who are watching today and want to make good financial decisions and start doing some tax planning. Where can they learn more about your firm?
[00:46:28] Speaker B: I have a website, it's Reyes accounting.com. it's very simple. It's got all my contact information.
We're constantly working on improving it with more data and more newsletters and tax planning tips. We are getting now more aggressive with putting a lot of tax planning tips in there that provide real dollars into the pockets of the of the readers and the business owners and even, you know, employees. If you're making a good salary, we can show you how to tamp down that tax bill.
So that's great. There's a lot of information in there.
[00:47:04] Speaker A: Fantastic. I love that. And you know what, what we've learned here is legacy is not simply about the amount of wealth we accumulate. It's also what that wealth allows us to protect or support or teach, build and really pass forward that legacy and the value that guide us while we're creating it.
Joseph, thank you so much for being with us and teaching us about JL Reyes accounting and tax CPAs.
And thank you for joining us on your life and legacy where we've looked at, you know, tax planning and financial strategy through a much wider lens. One that includes stewardship, discipline, profitability, freedom and long term purpose for everybody watching. Financial legacy is not created only by earning more. It's created by understanding what you have, making thoughtful decisions with it and protecting what matters and building structures that can continue serving the people and purposes. Ask yourself, do my financial decisions reflect the future I say I want? Am I treating the resources in in my hands today with something larger and really planning or am I just looking for the tax bill?
Great questions to reflect on. I'm Christopher Nudo and thank you for watching.
