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Starting your own business can be one of the most rewarding, exciting and profitable opportunities you'll ever experience. After all, who doesn’t want to be their own boss, call the shots and possibly establish a financial legacy? For many, entrepreneurship is the ultimate career goal. But coming up with a great business idea is only the first step. Actually starting your own company can be a complicated and overwhelming endeavor. In fact, 90% of all start-ups fail, often in the first year, due to poor planning and execution.

Though many of us rarely use snail mail anymore, it’s still the IRS’ preferred method for contacting taxpayers when there’s a question about their federal income tax return or other issue. More often than not, taxpayers don't have anything to worry about. However, there are a handful of circumstances, nearly all involving money owed, that can send shivers down any taxpayer’s spine. Each year, the IRS sends millions of notices and letters to taxpayers for a variety of reasons. Few are cause for alarm, but you should definitely open these letters immediately to see if you need to take any action.

It’s no secret that saving for retirement is a good idea. While social security may offer some financial benefits upon retirement (providing it’s even still around!), the distribution amounts are typically a fraction of the money needed to survive and more importantly, enjoy, your golden years. For this reason, most people contribute some portion of their income to a retirement savings account. While these come in a variety of different flavors, including the popular employer-sponsored 401k and 403b plans, one of the most common is the Individual Retirement Account (IRA).

In light of the recent global ransomware and data breaches we’ve all been reading about in the news, securing your financial data has become an ongoing necessity. From long computer passwords, two-factor authentication and the latest anti-virus software, taxpayers must use a variety of tools in order to fend off cyber criminals. Even with these security measures in place, it’s still considered best practice to regularly review your financial accounts to ensure everything looks the way it should.

After getting hit with an unexpected tax bill last year, a client recently decided she would start taking extra deductions by claiming expenses from her jewelry making hobby on next year’s tax return. While this may sound like a great idea, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has some pretty strict guidelines on the deductibility of hobby expenses – and whether or not her “hobby” may actually be a legitimate business! Taxpayers who make money from a hobby must not only report that income on their tax return, they should also understand that none of the expenses connected with that hobby are deductible.