By Carole C. Foos, CPA, David B. Mandell, JD, MBA

As we are approaching the fourth quarter of the year, most of our clients now have a fairly good idea on what their taxable income will be for 2010. If you are like these clients, you may be wondering "Is there anything I can do NOW to save taxes on April 15th"? The answer is very likely "yes." This short article will lay out a few ideas - each of them could save you tens of thousands of dollars on your 2010 income tax bill, depending on your facts and circumstances.

By Christopher R. Jarvis, MBA, Kimberly Renners, MBA

The purpose of this article is to give you a better understanding of what inflation and deflation are, explain the investment risk associated with each, and share a few suggestions on how to hedge your bets so that your portfolio is not unnecessarily at risk.

By Lee Adelson, LUTCF, CLTC

This article briefly and simply discusses the main concerns of Long Term Care, understanding what is covered, how policies work, and how to decide what company is right for you. It also discusses how to design a plan that is right for your particular needs.

By Christopher R. Jarvis, MBA, Jason O'Dell, CWM

Changes in tax laws can catch successful people off guard. With most physicians so busy worrying about potential reimbursement reductions, they don’t have the time to address the important challenge of establishing a tax-wise estate plan for their families. In our experience, fewer than 5% of doctors have an adequate estate plan in place when we meet. This upcoming tax law change will create even more shortfalls in most doctor families’ planning.

By Sheila Hall, Karen Zupko

It isn't 1994 anymore. Many physician's practices still have simple Web sites - often described as "Web 1.0." Your website may fall into this category, if it does not offer any business functionality. A static site with only office phone numbers and addresses exemplifies Web 1.0.

Upgrading to Web 2.0 can increase staff efficiency significantly, facilitate scheduling, and potentially increase revenue. Patients are discerning Internet users and are used to being able to use the Internet to get tasks done.

By David B. Mandell, JD, MBA

Asset protection planning is not a black-white endeavor. Some asset protection planning is truly better than others. This articles explains why.

By Mary LeGrand, Kim Pollock, Teri Romano, Cheryl Toth

Physicians are usually in a hurry, and assume the EMR is going to do most of their documentation work for them. When the medical assistant is knocking on the door signaling "hurry up," physicians can take risky shortcuts.

By David B. Mandell, JD, MBA, Jason O'Dell, CWM

Over the past few years, we have written many articles on potential strategies that a doctor can use to reduce income taxes, increase benefits, or build retirement savings. In that time, we have also consulted with hundreds of medical groups on how to implement such strategies for their practice. Unfortunately, these consultations too often turn out to be less than fruitful because of office politics.

Typically, while the younger members of the group are very motivated to reduce their income taxes, the older doctors are often uninterested. Either they are already so close to retirement that don't need extra retirement planning or they are simply set in their ways and don't want to change anything - the old "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mindset. The result: planning gridlock.

By Carole C. Foos, CPA, Christopher R. Jarvis, MBA, David B. Mandell, JD, MBA

We discuss the uses of Captive Insurance Companies, the steps required to implement them, and for which individuals they are most appropriate.

By Larry Boord, JD, ChFC, Steve Haxton CPA, Tom Wyatt, JD CFP®

A Cash Balance "Combo" Retirement Plan allows high cash flow businesses to save more for their principals, in a tax-deductibile, tax-deferred and creditor-protected retirement plan account. This article discusses one example of how we were able to help a client achieve his goal of saving significant sums of money for himself, while limiting the required contributions for his staff to the greatest extent possible.