Posts by ssolares

In the last lesson, you learned what ordinary income is. Do you remember? It’s basically income from most sources – work, rental income, whatever. I talked about how ordinary income is like pizza and how the IRS loves to get their hands on it. Are you with me? Is it coming back now? Okay, forget…

An extraordinary lesson on ordinary income. Person A makes $100,000. Person B makes $50,000. Who is going to pay more tax? Well, obviously the guy making $100,000 is going to pay a lot more tax than the guy making $50,000, right? Guess again! Here’s what’s going on. Not all money is created equal. Not all…

A boy getting a cavity filled asks his dentist, “Mr. Dentist, do I need to floss my teeth?” The dentist stops what he’s doing and replies, “No, definitely not. You only need to floss the teeth you want to keep.” And so it goes. Do you need to know about or care about taxes? Nope.…

Let’s test your tax knowledge. What are the different types of taxes? A)  Bad B)  Not Good C)  Terrible D)  Rotten E)  Horrible That’s a little tax humor for you. I’m here all tax season. Don’t forget to tip your tax preparer! So, what are the actual different types of taxes? I hope you’re sitting.…

A math teacher didn’t believe this calculation You’re learning a lot about taxes, but maybe you’re not convinced taxes are a big deal. I feel ya. Maybe you’re right. Maybe taxes aren’t such a big deal. Let’s run through a quick little example. Imagine you had an investment that doubled in value every single year.…

If you’ve ever thought to yourself, “The hardest thing in the world to understand is income taxes,” you may be a genius! You see, that little quote was said by the guy who brought us the theory of relativity, the one and only Albert Einstein. Yup, one of the smartest minds the human race has…

Don’t Kill The Chicken So I’m 15 minutes into an explanation of what I think is a pretty important and complicated subject when my client stops me mid-sentence. She says, “So basically, don’t kill the chicken.” I pause. I pause some more. She looks at me like I’m an idiot, and I look at her…

This is the story about two naughty monkeys. Your money is threatened by a Trojan horse that comes in the form of a wide grin, a wink, and maybe a hug. This threat is like a computer virus. It runs without your awareness, takes hold of your operating system, and undermines your intentions. This threat…

Here’s what I said about shopping addiction to Dr. Drew. Alcohol, crack, and heroin are known to be highly addictive, but can something as innocuous as shopping be addictive? Dr. Drew Pinksy is an addiction specialist. You may know him as just Dr. Drew. I’ve worked with him on a few TV shows. Here’s what…

Firstly, you rock. Listen, I get it. It’s easy to get into debt. Having debt reflects past decisions. Today is a new day. And today, you want to pay it off. Congratulations for coming to that decision! When you find yourself in a hole, the first step is to stop digging. That means chopping up…