Services Offered By Step By Step Tax and Financial Planning

Written by Kevin Jacobs on February 8, 2011 in Uncategorized - No Comments

I often get asked to give a brief summary of the services I offer here at SBS.  With that in mind, I have written the following blog post.  Enjoy and please comment!

At this time, we have three predominant services we offer to individuals and businesses:

1.  Fee-Only Financial Planning Retainer Service for Pre-Retired Married Couples and Entrepreneurs

Step By Step Tax and Financial Planning is a fee-only financial planning firm in the metro-Tulsa, OK area. What makes us different from many financial firms is that we offer professional, objective tax and financial planning services on a one-to-one personal level. We are an independent firm whose complete focus is on the client.

We work with a small number of individuals in order to best serve each one, remaining focused on the needs of our clients. The only compensation we receive is directly from our clients. We do not receive commissions, referral fees or third-part incentives. 

2.  Individual and Business Tax Planning and Preparation

Along with the holistic financial planning services we offer to our clients, Step By Step Tax and Financial Planning, LLC also services the tax preparation needs of many individuals and businesses. Kevin Jacobs, CFP®, EA is enrolled to practice before the IRS.

The fees for tax preparation are very straightforward. We serve the needs of our tax preparation clients on an hourly basis. For individual clients, the hourly rate is $75/ hour for the first four hours and $37.50 for each additional hour after the initial four. For business returns, the hourly rate is $75/ hour. There is a minimum fee of $75 for all returns.  If you are looking for a second opinion on your individual or business return, we also offer that service at our standard business tax preparation rate.  There are no additional charges for e-filing or document preparation.

3.  401k Retirement Plan for Small (as few as one participant) to Medium-Sized Companies

If you are looking to start a 401k plan for your company or if you are not happy with your current provider, please contact me so we can discuss the benefits of a multiple employer plan.  Most small businesses do not know the liability they take on in offering a plan to their employees.  On top of that, the fees charged by most providers are astronomical for the small to medium-sized businesses.  You have nothing to lose by setting up an initial consultation for us to discuss your company’s retirement plan.

Your Greatest Asset: Yourself!

Written by Kevin Jacobs on August 26, 2009 in Motivational, Security - 1 Comment

What do you think of when you think of your greatest asset?  You may think of your home, investment accounts, vehicles or a family heirloom.  In reality, you have an asset that is far greater than any of the aforementioned items.  The greatest asset you have is yourself and the ability you have to earn an income.

When I worked for a commission-based financial advising firm, we would lead with the first question above to begin the long-term disability sales process.  We have insurance for all of these tangible assets (house, vehicles, etc) but many times we do not have any or we are completely ignoring the need to have insurance on our future income earnings.  I want to look at this question a little differently now, though.  I want to look at the “cap” you may be putting on your future income and future well-being at this very moment.

I work with many entrepreneurs and the successful ones have something in common.  They realize that their income and ultimate success is contingent upon their ability to create something of value and then market that item or service so others will pay for it.  I see a lot of people who have comfortable “jobs” working for someone else are putting a “cap” on their potential earnings.  If you are working for someone else, you are allowing them to tell you what your value is to the company or organization.  If you think you need a raise, what you are really saying is that your services are “undervalued.”  I used to think I would only be able to make XX amount of dollars in my previous career.  The thing I soon realized is that my self-esteem and the value I was giving myself was based on someone else telling me what I was worth.  It was not until I looked at my situation objectively that I realized I could provide tremendous value to others and be compensated fairly for it.

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To Keep or Not to Keep?

Written by Kevin Jacobs on August 19, 2009 in Security - 1 Comment

I was asked by a friend recently to post a blog about what financial documents to keep and which ones not to keep.  She said every month she finds herself at a dilemma of what to keep, to shred or to recycle.  With this blog, I hope to give you some suggestions of how to sort through the pile of papers sitting somewhere in your house right now.

My first suggestion is to buy a durable shredder (do not buy a cheap one or you will regret it).  The majority of the financial papers you receive will need to be shredded.  If it has any type of personal data or information on it the rule is SHRED IT!

Second, get yourself a box near your work space that you can throw all of the magazines and newspapers that don’t need to be shredded into a recycle box.  (Here in Broken Arrow, OK we have paper recycle dumpsters all over town which makes it easy to recycle newspaper and magazines).

Next, you will want to go to www.homefile.com (site is down as I write this blog) and purchase their Financial Planning Organizer Kit.  (I give this to my new clients and we have a meeting where I specifically teach them how to use it.)  This kit is awesome and you will not regret purchasing it, especially if you are a “piler” when it comes to your financial papers.  In our house, I have implemented this system and my wife and I now call it the “love box.”  It has that name because it is an act of love to your spouse or loved ones in the event something devastating were to happen to you.  Let’s say you do not make it home from work today, who in your family knows where all your important papers and documents are located?  If you love them, you will put these documents together for them.  (If you don’t even know, how will anyone else know?)  The Financial Planning Organizer Kit will show what important papers to keep, where to keep them and for how long.  (Unless you have a special attachment to them, you do not need to keep your tax returns for over 20 years like one of my clients has done.)

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