Business News

Write-offs are the government’s way of rewarding taxpayers when they’ve done something the government likes.  And to judge by the write-offs, the government likes it when people borrow money to buy a house.  There are write-offs aplenty, many of which people often forget.  Make sure you take advantage of every break the IRS will give.  Here are a few we tend to forget:

As co-owner of Keller Williams VIP Properties here in Valencia, I understand the importance of building relationships.  We started Keller Williams in 2003 with eight associates and are fortunate to now have over 200 licensed realtors that consider Keller Williams VIP Properties their home.  We strongly believe the primary reason for our growth is our acknowledgement that the most valuable people in our company are the associates themselves.  We emphasize in our company the importance of building long-term relationships with our clients.

Later this month, Microsoft will be releasing its newest Operating System for sale to consumers and small-to-medium business customers.  Large Business customers had access to Vista the end of November 2006.  If you run any custom or special software or if you use any older hardware on your computer, do not rush out to upgrade to the new OS without spending time to test to ensure that your current software and hardware are compatible with Vista.

Nearly half the shoppers recently surveyed by Deloitte and Touche reported they bought goods and services online. Just as significant: Nine out of 10 shoppers said they had done their price-comparison shopping online before making purchases at physical stores.
This underscores the value of a website to any retail business. Still, 60 percent of American businesses are not yet online, according to figures issued by Microsoft in November 2006.

California state law allows debtors to protect certain assets from the reach of creditors.  These laws have their origins in England.  The first English exemption law protected only the debtor’s clothes, bedding and tools of the trade.  Today, debtors can protect much more by applying the proper state exemption laws.

What a great question!  Many things come to mind.  To my surprise it wasn’t any of those things!  I’ve been managing other people’s money for over three decades and my greatest asset wasn’t my wealth of knowledge or vast array of achievements, in fact, it was my inherent ability to handle trust!
To be a trusted advisor!  I thought about the many teachers, mentors and loved ones that were my trusted advisors never thinking that I would be one myself, one day.

In past articles, I have written on topics such as arbitration and the weighing of the costs and benefits of including an attorney’s fees provision in a contract.  This article considers the two together. Whenever a business client comes to see me with a dispute involving a written agreement, one of the first things I check for is whether the client agreed to binding contractual arbitration to resolve the dispute.  What I mean by this is an agreement executed in writing by the parties which require some or all of the disputes to be arbitrated as opposed to litigated.