financial goals - Budget Financial Plan Calculators https://smartloanadvisors.com Financial Plans For A Rich Future Thu, 16 Mar 2023 20:19:53 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://i0.wp.com/smartloanadvisors.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/cropped-SMA-icon.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 financial goals - Budget Financial Plan Calculators https://smartloanadvisors.com 32 32 167188865 How to Lower Stress https://smartloanadvisors.com/how-to-lower-stress/ Tue, 14 Mar 2023 18:00:49 +0000 https://smartloanadvisors.com/?p=13427 Bagus Production / Shutterstock.com Feeling stressed out? Want to know how to lower stress? In just a few minutes, you can restore calm with a simple technique known as “cyclic sighing.” Researchers as Stanford Medicine say this controlled breathing exercise –which involves exhaling very slowly — can have positive effects in just five minutes, improving […]

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Bagus Production / Shutterstock.com

Feeling stressed out? Want to know how to lower stress? In just a few minutes, you can restore calm with a simple technique known as “cyclic sighing.”

Researchers as Stanford Medicine say this controlled breathing exercise –which involves exhaling very slowly — can have positive effects in just five minutes, improving mood and decreasing rates of resting breathing. The latter is considered a sign of overall body calmness.

In a randomized, controlled trial, the researchers found that cyclic sighing was more effective in defusing anxiety than mindfulness meditation and other breathing techniques.

Typically, a stressful event causes the body to experience several physiological changes ranging from increased heart rate and quickened breathing to tightening muscles and sweaty armpits.

These physical symptoms can trigger anxious thoughts and fears, particularly for those with anxiety disorders.

Interventions such as cyclic sighing can break the pattern. Here’s how you do it:

  1. Breathe in through the nose only until the lungs are comfortably full (about half full).
  2. Take another, even deeper breath in through the nose, filling the lungs fully.
  3. Very slowly exhale through your mouth until all the air is gone.

You can also hear study co-leader Dr. David Spiegel explain cyclic sighing, and see it demonstrated, in this Stanford Medicine video.

The researchers say you might notice a positive change after doing this just a couple of times, but you are more likely to get the full effect if you continue for five minutes.

Why cyclic sighing works

Why does it work? The researchers say the breathing exercise triggers your parasympathetic nervous system, which causes the heart rate to slow and creates a calming effect throughout your body.

In a summary of the findings, Spiegel — a professor of medicine and associate chair of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford Medicine — says:

“Most of the time breathing is automatic, like digestion, heartbeat and other bodily functions, but you can very easily take over and control your breath, which then affects your overall physiology and stress response.”

In the trial, cyclic sighing was found to be more effective than mindfulness meditation at boosting positive affect, which includes beneficial feelings such as energy, joy and a sense of peace.

The researchers note that in mindfulness meditation, practitioners are instructed to be aware of their breath. However, unlike with cyclic sighing, individuals are told to avoid trying to control their breath.

The researchers also found that cyclic sighing worked better than two other controlled breathing techniques in enhancing feelings of well-being:

  • Cyclic hyperventilation — which emphasizes inhalation instead of exhalation
  • Box breathing, also known as tactical breathing — which emphasizes breathing in and out for equal amounts of time, and is used by some military members to regulate stress and improve performance

Those who practice cyclic sighing typically find that their breathing is slower than those using all the other techniques, the researchers say. This impact continues throughout the day, “indicating a lasting effect on physiology,” Spiegel says.

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]]> 13427 Best Financial Planning Software For Helping Users Reach Their Financial Goals. https://smartloanadvisors.com/best-financial-planning-software-for-helping-users-reach-their-financial-goals/ Thu, 02 Mar 2023 21:07:28 +0000 https://smartloanadvisors.com/?p=12738
Best Financial Planning Software For Helping Users Reach Their Financial Goals.
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The best financial planning software helps users reach their financial goals.

 

A financial plan is a roadmap that helps manage financial resources in a way that aligns with short-term and long-term goals. It can include a wide range of financial elements, but the best financial planning software should include:

  1. Budget: A budget helps track income and expenses, and shows how much money will be available to save and invest.
  2. Savings goals: Prioritize specific savings goals, such as a down payment on a house, a child’s education, or retirement.
  3. Debt management: the best financial planning software should include methodology for debt reduction, such as credit card balances or student loans.
  4. Interest cost reduction: closely related to debt management, the best financial planning software offers solutions to minimize interest costs.  
  5. Cash flow planning: the best financial planning software takes into account cash flow planning that helps allocate discretionary income and questions discretionary expenses.
  6. Retirement planning: every financial plan should include retirement planning.  The best financial planning software projects future retirement account balances based on modifying income and expense utilization over time.
  7. Financial planning horizon: the best financial planning software should have a long planning horizon up to at least retirement age. For homeowners, the planning horizon should cover the time until the mortgage is paid off.
  8. Financial checkpoints: the best financial planning software should have checkpoints that compare the projected goals at a point in time to actual financial metrics at that time.

Overall, a personal financial plan should be tailored to a user’s individual circumstances and goals. It’s imperative to review and update the plan regularly to make sure it continues to keep track of the actual financial situation and objectives.

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The post Best Financial Planning Software For Helping Users Reach Their Financial Goals. first appeared on Budget Financial Plan Calculators.

]]> 12738 4 Tax Mistakes I Learned Early on from as a Freelancer https://smartloanadvisors.com/4-tax-mistakes-i-learned-early-on-from-as-a-freelancer/ Thu, 09 Feb 2023 03:14:15 +0000 https://smartloanadvisors.com/?p=12098 I’m coming up on my 8th year being a freelancer this year. It’s been fun at times and crazy at other times, but I’m truly grateful for everything I’ve been able to do and accomplish through freelancing. While earning extra money through freelance work is nice, it’s also important to understand your tax implications. I’ve […]

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]]> I’m coming up on my 8th year being a freelancer this year. It’s been fun at times and crazy at other times, but I’m truly grateful for everything I’ve been able to do and accomplish through freelancing. While earning extra money through freelance work is nice, it’s also important to understand your tax implications. I’ve learned from my tax mistakes and want you to as well.

I love earning a flexible income and know many other people enjoy this as well. With inflation and so many other economical issues, more and more people are looking to side hustles and flexible streams of income.

If you earn more than $400 per year in freelance income, you’ll need to claim that income on your taxes.

Setting Aside Money For Taxes is Crucial

When I started freelancing, I was lucky enough to know other bloggers and freelancers who were already finding success. One of the main things they emphasized was to save a portion of your freelance income for taxes.

In 2015, I didn’t know how much I’d earn or if I’d even be successful. But I ended up earning around $9,000 that year in freelance income alone. I’m so grateful that I took this advice and set aside around 25% of my income for taxes.

However, there will still be several tax mistakes I made early on as a freelancer. Here are 4 mistakes to avoid at all costs.

1. Not Opening a Business Bank Account

Initially, I was so excited to start making money through freelancing that I didn’t even think about opening a separate bank account. I just sent invoices on PayPal or accepted deposits into my personal bank account. The idea of opening a business bank account never occurred to me. As far as I was concerned, I didn’t have a business. I was just hustling to pay off my debt.

When it came time to file taxes, my finances were a mess. It took a long time sort through my income to separate freelance payments from my W-2 income. I had a hard time remembering what certain payments were along with professional expenses like coaching, running my blog, etc.

Opening a business bank account is crucial because it makes it so much easier to track your freelance income AND expenses. When you file taxes, you need to submit a profit-loss statement and the process is much smoother when you separate your finances.

I understand that getting a business bank account can seem like a big deal. Some business checking accounts have strict requirements that you may not be able to meet. Keep in mind that just opening a separate bank account (designated for business finances) can suffice as well. The key is just to keep everything separate to avoid costly tax mistakes.

2. Missing the Quarterly Tax Deadline

Before freelancing, I had always just filed my taxes once annually before April 15th. However, freelancers should pay quarterly estimates throughout the year. As a freelancer or gig worker, taxes aren’t being withheld and you’re responsible for paying them.

At first, I understood this part and just thought I’d set aside of percentage of my freelance income each month. Then, I’d pay my taxes in a lump sum in the spring.

Here’s the thing. Freelancers who don’t pay quarterly estimates could be subject to a penalty fee from the IRS. When I got together with my accountant to file in 2016 AND 2017, I had to pay the penalty fee.

Yes, I made this mistake twice. The next year, I got more serious about meeting my quarterly estimated dates and asked my accountant to remind me.

For reference, the quarterly estimated tax payments deadlines for freelancers in 2023 are:

  • April 15th (For Q1 income)
  • June 15th (For Q2 income)
  • September 15th  (For Q3 income)
  • January 15th the following year (For Q4 income)

Learn more about paying quarterly estimated taxes here.

3. Not Tracking Expenses as Carefully Each Month

Not tracking business expenses carefully is one of the most common tax mistakes freelancers make. Freelancers are independent contractors and can, therefore, write certain expenses off when they file taxes. However, if you don’t track your expenses well enough, you won’t know what to deduct.

I realized I could claim costs for things like:

  • My cell phone bills (when used to conduct business calls)
  • Food and travel expenses for professional conferences
  • Fees to host my blog
  • What I spent on courses and training
  • Contractors and virtual assistants I paid to help with my freelancing business

Filing taxes after year 1 and year 2 of freelancing was brutal because I didn’t really have a system to track these things. Instead, I’d be overwhelmed with reviewing past bank transactions for the past 12 months each spring. Not fun.

To fix this, I started using a bookkeeping software through GoDaddy. It was only $10 per month and automatically tracked my business transactions so I could categorize them. Unfortunately, GoDaddy booking is no longer in service and I’m thinking of switching to something else like Quickbooks.

Regardless, investing in a tool to help you track and categorize business transactions can be a lifesaver. You can easily download the reports from the software to ensure you can claim all qualifying expenses on your taxes.

4. Failing to Match My Income Records with My 1099s

If I earned a certain amount of income with a freelance client for the year, they would often send me a 1099 form. One time, I remember a freelancer friend of mine telling me how she was horrified that a client put the wrong amount on her 1099. Apparently, she had kept her own meticulous records of how much she earned with that client. What was shown on the 1099 was very off.

I remember thinking about how I had failed to even check my 1099s to compare it with my records. This could create problems in the future if a client reported something to the IRS and I reported something else.

From then on, I made it a habit to cross-check these tax documents and make sure clients know if the numbers were severely off. Clients are humans too and can easily make mistakes.

Summary: Avoid These Freelance Tax Mistakes Early On

I made quite a few tax mistakes early on my in freelancing career. However, there are still some things I got right including hiring a CPA who has experience working with freelancers early on. There is so much to learn when you freelance and it takes time.

But, if you can learn from others what no to do in certain areas, you’ll save yourself a lot of time, effort, and money.

This post was originally published on this site

The post 4 Tax Mistakes I Learned Early on from as a Freelancer first appeared on Budget Financial Plan Calculators.

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