Bossy has been working for herself for over a decade. First she was an Interior Decorator and then she was an Interior Painter and then she did some writing — in other words, if you need someone to write on your walls in a tone complementary to your fabric, Bossy is the man.
But in all the years Bossy has been working for herself, she never set her various businesses up in a way that benefitted the family on their tax returns. That will hopefully change today when Bossy and her husband meet with an accountant, who does double-duty as a financial advisor.
In order to prepare for today’s meeting, Bossy scouted the internet for a list of things to consider before meeting with a financial advisor, and she found an article aptly named How To Prepare For A Meeting With A Financial Advisor. Now who’s lucky?
- Research individual financial advisers or firms that you may be interested in speaking with. Bossy did this! On the telephone! When she called her mother! To ask who she is using!
- Interview two or three advisers before selecting the one with which you wish to work. Bossy did this too! Minus the part about interviewing two or three advisors.
- Select an adviser who best suits your personality and supports your long-term goals. And Bossy’s long term goals are driving to her accountant’s office in a few hours because he has an opening at 1 p.m. See how well-matched they are?
- Write a list of long-term goals that includes your ideas for your future. For instance, here’s one idea Bossy has for her future: will she be done with the meeting in time to watch Leonardo Dicaprio on Oprah?
- Bring a list of assets to the meeting. Done! Right here on the gum wrapper. Next to the grocery list.
- List your debts. Done! Right here on the scroll that reaches from the house that isn’t paid off to the car that isn’t paid off.
See the full list of recommendations here. Wish Bossy luck! Back with the full report tomorrow.
Mrs. Who says
January 13, 2009 at 10:17 amI love your blog and read it every, single day but a librarian simply cannot stand by and let you abuse the English language. Any more than usual, anyway.
Unless your paint is going to tell the fabric how fabulous it looks today I think you mean complementary instead of complimentary. A common error. And one only picked up on by slightly anal-retentive librarians.
Jen says
January 13, 2009 at 11:48 amI was going to post a comple-, compliment…but after Mrs. Who’s post, I started obsessing over grammar and word choice and now I’m thinking my office wall color doesn’t really go good with — I mean go WELL with — the carpet and now I have a headache in my eye and have to lie down. Lay down?? Oh, GOD!!
janny226 says
January 13, 2009 at 11:56 amJust be careful with an accountant-slash-financial advisor. Some tend to have ideas that involve annual fee life insurance or retirement accounts that coincidentally involve annual fees payable to them. Run the advice past the Internet before you take it.
Lizzy says
January 13, 2009 at 12:34 pmFinancial Advisors? Never heard of them.
Reeb says
January 13, 2009 at 1:27 pmSuch a deal! An English lesson along with a Financial Lesson! Bargains galore at the Poverty Party!
(Mrs. Who, I tend to get itchy over apostrophe’s poorly used. In fact, I’m scratching right now at the one I made myself put in right there.)
Reeb says
January 13, 2009 at 1:27 pmAnd Jen, you cracked me up too.
Sam Thornton says
January 13, 2009 at 2:24 pmOne piece of financial advice I received from my father: “Never give your money to a naked bus driver.” He never explained the context so this may not apply in your case.
Naomi says
January 13, 2009 at 2:35 pmGah ….
I MUST get my act together with my home-run business too….
It scares me though, so I’m always shying away from it.
(I’m a freak for typos too … but I tend to get sloppy when blogging and/or commenting)
so NOT cool says
January 13, 2009 at 4:32 pmSeveral times today I wondered what/who is going to be on Oprah. SCRATCH THAT OFF MY LIST!
(Ironically, this comment is not ironic but non-fiction!)
jeanie says
January 13, 2009 at 5:41 pmHmmm – I don’t trust those snake oil salesmen – but I am waiting (well, after I have had my fix of daily working stuffs here and have the flexibility again to chose to read blogs) for the Bossy verdict…
Oh – and I like a bit of free tone with MY fabric, and I defy anyone who doesn’t.
Emily says
January 13, 2009 at 7:36 pmHmmm – I’m not so sure about the whole financial advisor thing but I’ve always had very good luck with tax accountants. A long time ago, my dh (who’s a composer/audio engineer dude) had made some money via contract and we thought we were going to owe a whole lot of money partially because no taxes were deducted. After we went to our accountant (who was a former neighbor of ours) we ended up getting money back! I do love TurboTax too but sometimes you need the accountant for complicated forms.
Good luck to you all on that!
Gigi says
January 14, 2009 at 10:35 amWe paid $700 to a “financial advisor” who offered to sell us lots of insurance, etc. I want my money back!!
Lisa says
January 14, 2009 at 12:56 pmBossy Orman,
I cannot wait to hear what you are going to come home with!
Please dont ban me from posting..Im full of bad grammar, bad spelling and the best of all bad bad..advice-advise..
yikes!
tj says
January 14, 2009 at 4:27 pm…lol@Comments 1 & 2! lol… :oD
…Good Luck Bossy! Blessings too… :o)
the cheap chick says
January 14, 2009 at 7:34 pmNow my brain hurts. Reading today’s comments was (were? OH GOD) like talking to my Dad, the English Professor – seriously, that’s his job. Combine that with the thought of taxes (which I’m ignoring for the time being), and I need a stiff drink.
michele says
January 14, 2009 at 10:47 pmMrs. Who made me think of Mrs. Whatsit from The Wrinkle in Time. Is that a coincidence?
Carla says
January 15, 2009 at 1:36 amGood luck. My one experience with an accountant was me shelling out a gob of money to learn that she didn’t do my taxes any differently than I had been doing them myself.
http://talesofthets.blogspot.com/2009/01/cheater-cheater.html