The $70,000 Tax Mistake Most Women Business Owners Make with Emily Bowie
You are making good money. So why does tax season still knock the wind out of you every year?
Earning more does not automatically mean keeping more. Without a strategy, a higher income can just mean a bigger, more painful tax bill.
In this episode, we have Emily Bowie, CFO of Thorne Advisors, a firm built specifically for women earning over 100K in net income. A Cash Flow Strategist with more than 15 years of experience, including her time as an audit manager in Big Four accounting, Emily co-built Thorne Advisors with founder Andrea Mason to close a gap they kept seeing: plenty of tax strategy floating around, but almost no one helping women find the actual cash to use it. She joins us to make taxes make sense, from the S corp election that saved one client a fortune to the cash leaks quietly draining businesses everywhere.
Why do high-earning women still get ambushed every April? Because the books get pushed to the 11th hour. When you are juggling everything, bookkeeping only happens right before taxes are due, and by then it is too late to be strategic. You are just working with whatever you have instead of a plan.
What is the difference between tax prep and tax strategy? Tax prep is the filing everyone knows, due in March or April. Tax strategy is proactive and year-round: a strategist understands the code so they can help you leverage what is actually available to you. As Emily puts it, not all tax preparers are tax strategists, so it pays to know who is really in your financial corner.
When should you switch from sole prop to an S corp? Emily’s benchmark is netting 100K or more. That election alone can save you money, and it unlocks strategies like an accountable plan and the Augusta Rule. The goal is not to pay yourself less, it is to pay yourself strategically. One client who waited too long overpaid roughly $70,000.
Why is a big tax refund not the win it feels like? A large refund means you overpaid all year and handed the government an interest-free loan. The sweet spot is landing close to even, so that cash stays in your business or your pocket where it can grow. Emily even packaged her top fixes into a free guide, 5 Cash Leaks & 5 Missed Tax Deductions.
00:00 Building a firm for high-earning women.
03:15 Why April keeps ambushing you.
04:45 The $70,000 S corp mistake.
08:15 Tax prep vs tax strategy.
13:15 Why a big refund is not a win.
17:15 The S corp unlock and the cash leaks.
29:30 What financial freedom really means.
We would love to hear what you thought of this episode, any questions it sparked, what resonated most, or any topics you would love us to cover next. Click here to send us a message!
Ready to stop overpaying and start keeping more of what you earn? Join us for the next Money Talks, “Three Numbers Every Self-Employed Woman Should Know by Heart” with Laura Ann Strobel. Click here to register for FREE and bring your questions!
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YouTubeAbout the Hosts
Barbara Provost, EdD and Maggie Nielsen, MBA are the co-founders of Purse Strings, a national platform helping women make confident financial decisions by connecting them with vetted financial professionals who truly understand women’s lives and money needs. Purse Strings connects women across the U.S. with vetted financial professionals who specialize in supporting women through divorce, money transitions, and financial independence.
Full Episode Transcript
(This transcript was generated using AI, so please excuse any misspellings or errors)
PS: Emily Bowie (MP3)
[00:00:00] At Purse Strings, one of the number one things right away we pawned off was our bookkeeping and taxes I would not touch it with a 10-foot pole. They just ask me what they need and we send it, and voila. Like, I could not pay enough to have someone do it. Even when I was like a W-2, I think I paid, I don’t know, H&R Block or whatever it is to do your taxes.
But there’s so much intricacy, so [00:00:30] many, I don’t know, like what even questions they’re asking anymore. And I kind of work in this realm, you know, but it’s so complex. Tax laws are ever-changing, and I always was afraid, like if I got audited, I’m gonna have no idea. So I just need somebody else to kind of pawn that problem off to.
So when people do the taxes themselves, especially business owners, I am amazed, especially when they’re not a CPA, because there is so much going on. But the thing I think people realize, and [00:01:00] we try to talk about at Purse Strings, is taxes are not just April. Yes, that is like filing them, but there’s so much pre-work that can be done to strategize, to pay less money or at least amount and to make it really successful.
As a business owner, I was shocked how much we had to pay in taxes just because income that you make, you have to pay your taxes on which like you’re kind of used to the company paying, but then as a business you have to pay your taxes as well. And so it was just like, “Oh my God, Uncle Sam, please [00:01:30] lay off.”
You know what I mean? We’re just trying to grow. But taxes are a lot, and so having someone who can help you with the nuances, help you save some, is essential. And I know it sounds snorey, like nobody really wants to talk about taxes, but it can save you a ton of money. They’re super complex.
Pawn them off to somebody. Ugh, I swear it’s the best investment you could make. And so we’re excited to have Emily on today, who is a mom and a CPA. She runs a business with a couple other women who really help other [00:02:00] women who are making money in their businesses to save on taxes. And just side note, I have never met more CPAs who are moms and business owners, and they find it to be such a great career, but they really have to kind of create this career themselves.
Because kind of the old CPA model is, you know, come in nine to five in your cubicle. But so many women are amazing at C- being CPAs and so, I know we work with a women-owned CPA business who are all [00:02:30] moms. This one, they’re all moms as well, and so it could be a really great business opportunity.
Moms are awesome and so are CPAs, so check this out. And as a reminder, we do have a new little section on our podcast where you can put in an audio message. So would love to hear back what you thought of the episode, any tax questions that you would have or what was super helpful, resonated, or if you got a tax bill that you just wanna complain about would love to hear about it.
So Dive into this [00:03:00] episode. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts, and talk to you soon.
[00:03:30]
Maggie: Emily, welcome to Women & Money, the sh*t we don’t talk about. I am excited for this conversation today because everybody loves taxes. Just kidding, everybody hang on. This is gonna be okay. This is gonna be great. So let’s start with Emily. Could you share who you are, what you do, and kind of what made you wanna build a firm specifically for high-earning women?
Emily: Sure. My name is Emily Bowie at Thorne Advisors, [00:04:00] and a lot of what drove us to creating this firm is that we knew people were paying a ton in taxes, and we wanted them to know what was available to them, but we also recognized a lot of tax strategy was missing cash flow help and, actually helping them identify where to get the cash to do the tax strategy.
Emily: And so we found that, gap in the market, and we were like: Hey, we should probably do this. And both my business partner, Andrea, and I came out [00:04:30] of public accounting. I was Big Four. I did audit, and she did taxes. And so it was one of those things for us that it started with helping the business owner, and then it turned into, ” Hey, what if we could reimagine accounting firms for accountants?”
Emily: Because we were like: Hey, we wanna be parents and be able to be available for our kids as much as we are for our clients. And so that really encouraged us to create Thorne in the first [00:05:00] place.
Maggie: Oh, so you want to have like a work-life balance. That’s radical thinking, Emily.
Emily: Especially as an accountant.
Maggie: And it’s fun when you meet like accountants that have personality, you know what I mean? It’s like this is not, we are not behind the desk always kind of people. I mean, you guys are on social media. Clearly you’re on the podcast.
Maggie: You have kids, so it’s like a full life.
Emily: Yeah. It’s very different than people imagine, I think sometimes when they meet
Maggie: I’m sure. And that’s what I always tell people, like who… I met a couple women who are doing CPA, and I was like, “Dude, I meet so many CPAs [00:05:30] who are women-owned businesses who only work, are all moms,” you know? So it’s like, I don’t care when you get the work done, but we’re, you know, and we know we have our busy season, but as long as it gets done.
Maggie: So it can be a really great opportunity, but you kind of have to make it yourself, we’re kind of finding. You know? It’s a plus and minus.
Emily: and it’s one of those things where it’s not a paved path, right? So even if there are other ones, we’re all kind of starting at the same time, you know? And I think it’s interesting because [00:06:00] kind of the conversation around it is like, you know, moms tend, well, we don’t focus, but like society focuses on the fact that it’s so hard we’re doing everything.
Emily: But we really wanna reimagine that to be like, “Hey, look, this is an opportunity where we can be super present in our children’s lives while also building legacy and wealth and helping other people do the same thing.” Because that is a gratitude that we want to live in on our part, because it truly [00:06:30] is so freeing that we can do both and do it well without burning out and like, you know,
Maggie: I see your superwoman cape on.
Emily: Yeah.
Maggie: Yeah, I mean, we love the and that’s coming in. You know, we can do both these things. We just have to do them kind of on our own terms. We’re not gonna be nine to five in your cubicle, but we can get it all done.
Maggie: So you work more specifically with women earning over 100K in net income, and so many of them are still shocked by their tax bill every April.
Maggie: So [00:07:00] what is actually going on there? Why does it keep happening when women are really making good money?
Emily: I think what I notice is that when you’re trying to juggle all the things, and potentially when you’re starting out in business, you’re used to doing all the things in business because you do all the things in life. And so there becomes a time that a lot of people do not outsource their bookkeeping, and so then their bookkeeping only happens in the 11th hour to get taxes done.
Emily: And so at [00:07:30] that point, you’re just working with what you have. It’s really hard to be strategic then. And so I notice that women may struggle with that outsourcing option because they can do it. But I always try and challenge them to figure out if they should be doing it or even looking at the opportunity if you do outsource that, then you can rely on those numbers and get real strategic and grow and scale so much [00:08:00] faster
Maggie: It was like the number one thing we outsourced right away. We’re like, “We are not doing, we’re not doing our own books. Like, it’s not gonna, they’re not gonna get done.” And you do need to be, like, a little proactive about that thing, because also when people do it at the 11th hour, you are doing everybody and their brothers at the 11th hour and don’t have time to, like, really be, like, a supportive help.
Maggie: It’s like, “No, we’re filing and getting it done. If you talked to me in December, we could’ve had some more chitchat.”
Emily: Exactly.
Maggie: Do you have, like, any good client stories of, like, a woman maybe who got [00:08:30] everything right but kind of ambushed at the end with all her tax bills?
Emily: So I think what I tend to see and where I tend to see this happen, we have one client in mind having this conversation, is that they probably should have made that S corp tax election earlier than they did. And what happened was they paid about $70,000 more in taxes than they should have. And so, that is why it’s so important of really [00:09:00] knowing what your numbers are, where you’re progressing to, so not just where you’ve been, but what business is gonna look like going forward because it’s not fun to be in the 11th hour after the fiscal year has ended and saying, “Oh man, I should have changed my tax election.”
Emily: Now, the beautiful thing is, even though on paper it says you can only become an S corp by March 16th is this year’s deadline, I think it was[00:09:30] you actually can do a late election. And so even if you determine this October, November, December timeframe, as long as you get that paperwork done and in by the 31st, you can still get it backdated for the year, but you have to have all the boxes checked and all the metrics hit in order to get that done.
Emily: And I don’t recommend waiting until then, but it is a possibility. It’s just usually when we’re talking about people getting ambushed in [00:10:00] April, it’s after the fiscal year. So in this case, we were able to convert them into an S corp after a fiscal year for the current one, and then they ended up making that savings and more because they made that election, and then they implemented some tax strategies that are available to you when you become an S corp.
Maggie: 70K is not a small number. Like, paying a professional is 100% worth it, pays for itself time and time again. I mean, that’s the thing is like, yes, [00:10:30] I can do it. Am I doing it well? And what is it costing me for not having an expert? Because the thing I always highlight about, like, tax code, it is forever changing.
Maggie: I don’t know how you guys keep up with it. I mean, like, I get professionals need CEs, but I feel like you guys need it the most because it’s forever changing and so it’s like all these nuances, and then it’s just… That’s, I’m n- there’s a reason why I’m not a CPA, so I’ll let you do it.
Emily: Well, and I think too with that same sentiment is I think there’s some confusion of like [00:11:00] who all those finance professionals are, right? So like having a bookkeeper is one thing. Having everybody will say my CPA. Most people who do your taxes, well, I shouldn’t say most. In general, you do not have to be a CPA to be somebody who prepares taxes.
Emily: And no, not all tax preparers are tax strategists either. And so I think it’s also really important to know who is in your ecosystem of who you work with [00:11:30] too, because to your point about outsourcing and just knowing like what it’s taking from you to not ma- take action is so big because we’re not just talking about taxes here.
Emily: This is growth and potential and scaling that has to be delayed because we didn’t have the cash to then be able to keep going, you know?
Maggie: And so we work with like a lot of financial advisors too, who some kind of do work on that tax strategy standpoint, but they say like, “I can’t prepare your taxes, but I kind of wanna work with your tax advisor,” all [00:12:00] those different things. We love when everyone works together. So let’s kind of talk about that difference between tax preparation and tax strategy, and like why this matters so much for women who are building wealth, as I think it really gets lost in the shuffle of just taxes, you know?
Maggie: And you’re like, “Oh, these are very different things and very different times of the year.”
Emily: For sure. So tax prep is essentially what everybody’s familiar with. It’s what’s due in March if you’re an S corp, in April if you have a sole prop or [00:12:30] just filing your regular taxes. And so that’s, you know, your normal H&R Block, all of those things. That’s tax prep. And it is then kind of met with someone who is a tax strategist, and not all tax preparers are tax strategists.
Emily: Tax strategists are people that understand the tax code so that they can help their clients leverage what’s available to them. And for a tax strategist typically you will [00:13:00] see they have some continuing ed. For us, we’re CPAs, so we make sure that’s where our continuing ed is. And the good thing about that is you know that you have someone in your back pocket when you’re not sure how to handle a situation that you can call and say, “Hey, this is, these are my opportunities,” and then we can run like a scenario analysis.
Emily: The one thing we noticed in the industry is there was a [00:13:30] gap with the cash flow side of things, where there were a lot of tax strategists that had good strategies, but then they couldn’t help the client figure out how to have the cash to use the strategies. And so I have a fractional CFO background.
Emily: I was an auditor in Big Four accounting, so I kind of came in and said, “Hey, we need to create this offer for people where they need help being able to identify the cash leaks they [00:14:00] have in their business, operational inefficiencies that’s really impairing their cash flow,” and then we then help them with the tax strategy side.
Emily: And I think it’s interesting because we lead with taxes because everybody knows they have to get their taxes done. Not everybody knows they need cash to do their taxes.
Maggie: And so like, when do you– like if someone wants to work with a tax strategist, we don’t meet in April. When do you meet? How [00:14:30] often do you meet? Like what’s kind of that cadence of a relationship to make this effective and productive for, you know, a business and personal finances?
Emily: So no matter if you come in just doing tax strategy or tax strategy with cash flow, we always start with goals because I think one thing that a lot of strategists can get wrong is they can get you so much money back, but then impair you from being able to do life things like get a mortgage or get a line of credit for your business.
Emily: So we wanna understand what your [00:15:00] goals are so then we can create a strategy that makes sense for you. Then we will meet with you after you fill out this, like, detailed tax organizer that tells us all things about you, and then we create a projection, and then from there we’re kind of on call of sorts, is the best way to explain it, and then we do a tune-up quarterly from there.
Emily: So the idea behind it is you keep us abreast of what’s changing in your business, and [00:15:30] that’s why we think it’s important and imperative that we are connected to your CFO, your bookkeeper, your financial advisor, because all of those decisions then impact the tax strategy. And one thing I just wanna note about financial advisors and their tax strategy, they share tax strategy based on the products that they can give to you.
Emily: And so that’s a really good thing to keep in mind is when we’re talking tax strategy, we’re looking [00:16:00] at the holistic portion of it above and beyond just any kind of investing and retirement related to it. And so it is a very key relationship that needs to be there, and also a recognition that there’s so much value added from having that financial advisor or financial planner in the mix because they’re gonna have insight on everything that comes into play as well.
Emily: But also it’s not competing with them so [00:16:30] much as a, it’s a good collaboration, if that makes sense.
Maggie: Yeah, and that’s what we like to kind of show is like it enhances everybody’s decisions together, you know, and they can work kind of in unison. And it’s interesting that you kind of ask about their goals because it’s like, “Well, my goals is to make more money and pay less to Uncle Sam.” Like, what’s anybody else’s goal?
Maggie: But it is kind of different on the cash flow and how you take money out of the business and those things, which I think are harder to realize ‘ cause again, tax, we just have like pay as least as we can to Uncle Sam.
Emily: Yeah, for [00:17:00] sure. And it also matters personal goals too. So if you don’t own your home now and you wanna go own a home, you don’t wanna look like you’re broke on paper. So sometimes tax strategies can work in that way. We don’t recommend those tax strategies, but sometimes that will happen, and I can’t tell you how many times we have people that come to us that they’re like, ” It was great.
Emily: I got a huge return last year.” And I’m like, “Yeah, but have you talked to a lender? Because a lender’s gonna see this [00:17:30] and be like, ‘ Well, you can’t pay anything.’ Or y- you know, you won’t qualify for that line of credit,” which is, you know, typical in the business world piece of it too.
Maggie: And a big return is not always great. Can you kind of dive into that? Because like I get it, it’s like we all love a paycheck. We all love some money coming to us that we didn’t plan on. But why is that not always– We really just wanna be even, and so why do we not want money?
Emily: So in general, like let’s say not from a [00:18:00] tax strategy realm as much as like the individual tax person getting their taxes done, you really want to be closest to baseline of not having a return but not owing, because that means you paid the government exactly what you owed them, and you didn’t give them a free loan that they don’t have to pay interest on, you know?
Emily: And so that is why if you are getting big returns and you’re not implementing strategic tax strategy, that means you’re [00:18:30] prepaying way more in taxes than you should. And then that, again, is another thing that can hinder your growth because that money could have been in the business growing it or in your pocket and allowing you to be compensated well too
Maggie: Yeah, ’cause I was watching one of your reels where, like, somebody got like 15K back, and great, I would rather have that money at the end of the day than never. But also, I could really use 15K in my business today, tomorrow, the next couple weeks, [00:19:00] or in my personal pocket, or just earning sh*t in a high yield savings account of 3.5%.
Maggie: I don’t care where it is, but like it’s interest growing. And so versus just like, “Oh, you hold onto this for a bit and I’ll just come back and get that later from you.” Like
Emily: Yeah, and I feel like, you know, it’s one of those things I live in personal finance realm as well, and I talk a lot about this too, where some people are not great at saving, so they utilize this as their windfall in order to make up [00:19:30] even every year. And my thought process or the hard question I ask them is like, “What if you just grew in that area of your life?
Emily: Like, how much would life be easier than you having to be stressed about that credit card debt that’s piling up or whatever it’s causing?” Same thing to be true with businesses. Like, this stuff is hard to talk about when you’re not a numbers person. However, I can tell you, if you’re working with the right people, they [00:20:00] will explain it in a way that educates you and enables you to start making these decisions on your own, you know?
Maggie: And 100% agree. And that’s why we also love working with, like, a money coach, is that’s somebody who can hold your hand week to get it done. Because sometimes it’s like, you know, when it’s like, “I’m all hyped up in this meeting,” and then I go home and then it’s like, “Oh,” you know? And so, like, having someone who will check in and hold you accountable to really change those habits will be worth your money
Emily: Well, and being– having [00:20:30] someone that can talk to your specific situation is also invaluable because you can get all this information online. You won’t necessarily know if it’s good or not. And, but having someone you feel like you can ask and they have been in– feel invested in your situation, they can then help you make decisions that would otherwise feel like you’re just rolling the dice, you know?
Maggie: Yeah, I know. So what is like one thing [00:21:00] women earning over 100K are most commonly doing wrong with their money, especially when it comes to this kind of tax prep, tax plan situation?
Emily: Yes. So I think first and foremost, if you are netting 100K or more, meaning revenue less all your expenses, and you still have 100K, then that means you should be a tax election of S corp, right? I want you to make that transition from sole prop to S corp because that [00:21:30] transition in itself will save you money, but it also unlocks all this tax strategy that’s available to you, such as an accountable plan, Augusta Rule, those things are invaluable once you have that in– because they can be tax-free vehicles into your home in different ways, so you’re paying less in taxes.
Emily: So when you then become an S corp, you have to pay yourself a reasonable compensation, and I used quotations as I said that, is [00:22:00] basically if somebody were to replace you for the job duties you do, then you would have to pay them a reasonable salary. And when you do an S corp conversion with us, we help you figure out what that is.
Emily: When you do strategy, we help you figure out all the strategies you can use, right? But the reason I say that this is a problem is you don’t have to pay yourself less. You just need to be strategic in how you pay yourself. And I think there’s a lot of misinformation [00:22:30] online where they only give you, like, the high– the headline and not all the details of how it works, like paying your kids, the right way to pay your kids, and how to do it so you don’t have to pay associated taxes with it.
Emily: And so I think that’s what women are potentially missing at that benchmark is not only these opportunities, you know, that sunk cost opportunity piece, but then also having this inordinate amount of [00:23:00] stress on them because they don’t know what they don’t know. They just know they’re paying a lot in taxes.
Maggie: And it’s a rabbit hole. I mean, it’s a full rabbit hole. Especially w- I mean, yeah, on social media all you hear is like, “My kid’s now a millionaire ’cause I paid them…” And you’re like, ” Okay,” like, “How?” You know? And they’re like, “You just made an account.” And you’re like, “Okay, well, I know it’s more than just opening an account.”
Maggie: Like, there is more to that, and especially with the auditing, you know? And so sometimes I’m like, “I’m hiring a pro just in case I get audited. It’s your problem now.” You [00:23:30] know what I mean?
Maggie: I won’t remember what I did.
Emily: the professional service realm, like I don’t pretend to be a lawyer. Like at the end of the day, if something comes up and I’m like, “That’s a lawyer’s job,” I’m not going to pretend like I know what I’m talking about. I can give you advice as CYA as a business owner, but like I’m not– I’m gonna say, “Hey, let’s bring somebody in that [00:24:00] can actually support you and review the law behind it.”
Emily: And I would say the same thing when we’re talking about taxes. They are confusing, and sometimes you wonder if they are confusing for a reason. So,
Maggie: Oh, crazy
Emily: But I mean, I think that’s the biggest thing is not to be afraid to outsource because it really does unlock capacity for you and gives you these opportunities to be more strategic.
Emily: And, you know, I’m all about anything that gives you your [00:24:30] time back, gives you your capacity back, because I think capacity is one of those like under valued things sometimes in women’s lives because we literally use every inch of our capacity to do everything.
Maggie: If you’re a business owner and a mom, you’re at max capacity and trying to keep, like, your love relationship also intact and your friendships and maybe going, plan a vacation, like, absolutely not. Outsource.
Emily: Yes.
Maggie: and so could you kind of just walk us through, like, what a 360-degree view [00:25:00] of finances actually looks like in practice?
Maggie: Like, what are those cash leaks and missed deductions that most women don’t even know to look for?
Emily: Yes. We actually have a guide for this. I think the thing with the cash leaks are, you know, one is pricing. Oftentimes business owners price based on how the market is or how Sally prices over here or whatever the case may be, and they don’t really know if at the end of delivery they actually are [00:25:30] making a profit or not.
Emily: So pricing without covering your overhead is usually the first cash leak I look at in all businesses. And overhead is everything that’s under that expense line in comparison to the revenue you generate. So it’s a percentage that you can use to figure out if you’re pricing well, and if not, you can then just up it to what you want it to be.
Emily: It makes it a predictable margin. Or you can up it [00:26:00] $5, $10, $100 at a time, whatever is comfortable for you.
Maggie: I feel like that’s so much easier when you’re selling like an, a physical item than like a, a coaching or a theory or, you know, like something more of a virtual product. So that’s really good, especially women, we’re known for underpricing, which we are going to change. You know, we’re not just making people feel comfortable and, “Oh what do you wanna pay?”
Emily: and I try and remind business owners all the time, like they’re paying for all the [00:26:30] business. Like say you’re in professional services, they’re paying for all the businesses you’ve looked at. They’re paying for that college education you have and the CPA exam you’ve upkept this whole time. Like, you know, all of those things because they recognize you have a skill set, so we need to charge accordingly.
Emily: And I truly believe you lose more clients without the zero on the end than putting the zero on the end because there’s an inferred value with the pricing piece too.
Maggie: That’s a good one. [00:27:00] Are there other gaps that you’re seeing?
Emily: Yes, especially if you have a bigger organization, say it’s you plus someone else, the compensation structure is usually the next thing I look at. Like, how are we compensating the people in our world? We work with, like, a lot of therapists that are in group practices, and so typically there’s a standard way to pay them, and then we kind of fight against the standard way to make sure you are a you know, not only [00:27:30] making sure your prices are right, but, like, the compensation piece of it is advantageous for you to actually outsource it.
Emily: Because if you’re outsourcing at a loss, it’s not gonna do much for you. You’re gonna have to then sell more of something else that’s not at a loss to make up for it. So, really heavy looking at that. Another cash leak that I really encourage business owners to look into, and it’s not something you have to do, it’s something you can get rid of doing, [00:28:00] which is doing expense reviews and getting rid of things off the top.
Emily: So when you outsource your bookkeeping and you get your bookkeeping, ask your bookkeeper for a transaction list and use that to just sanity check, like, do I need this? Did this give me a return? Do I have two tools, like software’s inevitably the one that everybody struggles with, but like, do I have two softwares that do the same thing, or am I [00:28:30] even using this thing anymore?
Emily: And so that expense audit, it’s great because you don’t have to go sell more. You don’t have to go do more. You just really need to be able to cut back on things that you had good intentions of using or it served you for a certain period of time, but no longer does, you know?
Maggie: 100%. I mean, that’s just like your personal finances too. We have all these subscriptions we don’t know about, and sometimes it’s, it almost seems harder to cancel them than they are worth paying for. Which I thought we were making some rules [00:29:00] about, but besides the point. You know, like it it does add up and eventually at the end of the day it does pay off, and so it is just going through those things and oh man, so many I had great intentions to use.
Maggie: I thought it was gonna be like the secret sauce and I never logged in. You know? And then I had to find the password to cancel the account.
Emily: Or like even coaching memberships where you’ve intended to go and you just haven’t, and it’s been three years, and yes, you have a founding rate, but like also if we’re not using it and not getting a [00:29:30] return, we just need to let it go.
Maggie: Yeah. It’s hard. But I think these are a ton of great tips, and I’m gonna make sure we have your download too, so people can just kind of grab that and have that at their fingertips. But taxes are complex, and it’s more than just April. There’s a whole method to the madness, and it’s a constant check-in, constant team, those different things.
Maggie: Do you guys do bookkeeping as well, or do you have somebody else do that and then you guys come more for the strategy?
Emily: So we are really big on staying in our lane [00:30:00] of strategy. We will do bookkeeping, but it’s only for our strategy clients, if that. But we have a really solid network of bookkeepers that we like to refer to that will also refer us. It’s huge for us that we know your bookkeeper and we can trust the books that are coming in, and we have a good working relationship, especially if we’re doing some cash flow analysis stuff.
Emily: We need to be able to have books look a certain way to make it make sense, and even [00:30:30] with taxes too. So we try to not live in the bookkeeping world. It’s something we will do, but usually we try to promote people to get that done somewhere else or with one of our preferred partners.
Maggie: And I think it’s just, yeah, really understanding kind of the layout a business is looking for is we have some great bookkeepers, we have some people who will train you how to use your QuickBooks and help you set it up, and then you do it monthly. You know, and it’s just kind of understanding how your team can plug and play and everyone can stay in their lane.
Maggie: And sometimes it’s [00:31:00] like, “Oh, I really need somebody who does an all-in-one,” and somebody’s like, “I don’t mind having these two people,” ’cause sometimes more eyes is better, right? It’s like all depends on what your mojo is.
Emily: Yeah, for sure
Maggie: I feel like we’ve quickly covered a ton of great content. Anything that we haven’t touched on that, like, we’re missing that we need to make sure the community knows?
Emily: I think the biggest thing is not to be intimidated by tax strategy and kind of ward away from it. I’ve always heard people say like, “It’s just not something I wanna mess with,” and I think you could be doing [00:31:30] a huge detriment to yourself by not exploring it. But I also think you can be a huge detriment to yourself if you don’t explore it with the people that you align with, because there is a lot of judgment.
Emily: There’s a lot of strategy that’s involved with it. So I really always encourage people, just take that step to, is see if you’re ready. We have kind of a integrity policy where if I look at your books and I’m like the, the juice is not worth the [00:32:00] squeeze,” I will let you know right away, because to me, what would be the benefit?
Emily: If you don’t get a return, you’re not gonna be like, “You should go work with them.” You know what I mean? So I would say don’t be scared that you’re gonna get yourself sold to or stuck in something. Like usually, at least from our end, we’re really straightforward about those things because we want you to win.
Emily: That is our biggest goal
Maggie: And the strategy is ethical. It’s not like these big businesses where the strategy is like, “Let’s [00:32:30] see the way we could cut corners and Uncle Sam will never notice.” It’s like, no, it’s just the ethical way and why not save a little money if we could?
Emily: It is just that education that some people have, and we’re all good at our thing, right? And we’re leveraging what people actually know is out there and available to you, and make sure it’s documented really well. So if there’s ever a question, you have all the records you need to do it
Maggie: So there is a question, Emily, we like to ask all of our guests. So now that you are a [00:33:00] business owner, a mom running this thing, helping people with their taxes, helping people be rich women, what does financial freedom look like for you?
Emily: Financial freedom really looks like not having to work, but being able to work if I want to. And so for me, my biggest thing is I wanna be present and available for my family. I’ve had– I lost my mom when I was young, and so for me, being able to be available and present with my kids, but [00:33:30] also family members if I’m needed, is super important to me.
Emily: So I always wanna be in that trajectory of I want to work every day, not I have to work every day, if that makes sense.
Maggie: 100%. I get it and I love it, and I love that you even extend that to not just your, you know, nuclear family, but even that bigger family, which is so important as our population is aging. They’re gonna need us, and we’ve gotta be there to take care of them, as that’s another part of our women’s role.
Emily: Absolutely. That sandwich [00:34:00] generation
Maggie: yeah, exactly.
Maggie: So we are definitely gonna have all your links and all your good information in the show notes so people can reach out and keep the conversation going. But Emily, I appreciate you coming on, sharing your advice making taxes fun. And until next time, I hope everyone is financially fearless. Thank you.
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