Being well organized can save you a lot of time, but more importantly money. With that being said, we understand it’s quite a tall task to maintain. That’s why we’ve come up with several tips to ease the burden. With these tips you’ll spend less time trying to find that one receipt to give your accountant and more time relaxing with loved ones. We’ll start off with personal then move on to business.

Personal

• Move to the Cloud

It’s so much easier and cheaper to have your files in the cloud. Some really good products we use are Dropbox, OneDrive and Google Drive

• Use apps to do the work

There are a ton of apps out there that just make life easier. If you’re having trouble figuring out where your money is going use Mint or Spend Smarter. You can link your financial accounts (bank, investments, loans, etc.) and categorize what you spend. You can even set reminders of when bills are due.

•  Talk with a friend or adviser

We all have that one friend that just seems to know the right thing to do with their money. Ask your friend if they can share some tips that will make things easier for you. If it’s worthwhile you should pay them for helping you out. If you don’t know anyone, we advise speaking with a financial advisor.

Read a book

We understand talking to someone about your finances may be a bit…personal and books are a great alternative. There are a ton of books out there. Here are some of our favorites: The Richest Man in Babylon, Total Money makeover, The Millionaire Mind, the Millionaire Next Door. As much as we encourage reading, the best action is applying the topics.

Business

• Open a Business Bank Account

We know this might be a topic that can go without saying, but we’re saying it. Mingling personal and business in the same bank account will cause you a ton of work come tax season and you may miss out on deductions which would save you money. Separating personal from business is a foundational step towards being organized.

• Get Accounting Software

Whether you prefer desktop or cloud based software, you have quite a few options to choose from. Operating a business is quite the task and buying accounting software makes organizing your financials much easier. As you continue to grow your business eventually you’ll want to gain funding and having your financials in order is fundamental in the funding process.

Hire an Accountant

As well all know, you can’t go as far being a jack of all trades. As an entrepreneur we wear many hats and as our business grows our goal is to delegate tasks to focus on what we love most. Think about hiring an accountant to take care of the financial piece of the business.

• Use Apps

There are tons of apps out there to help you with, for example, tracking mileage (Mileage IQ), time (Tsheets), expenses (Concur, Expensify), document storage (OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive), etc. We could go further but our point is apps can be used as tools to make life easier. Of course there’s a cost with that however, you can’t beat the price of how much time it will save you.

• Move Paper Documents to the Cloud

Take that file cabinet and throw it away! We’re just messing around, but seriously, your file cabinet should be in the cloud. Society is vastly moving to digital and storing files in the cloud is pretty affordable. For less than $10 a month ($99 per year) you can store up to 1 TB of data using OneDrive. That’s thousands of documents! On top of that cloud storage makes it easier to share files with anyone. They even fit in your pocket (your phone to be exact). Instead of thumbing your fingers through file tabs to find that one dental bill you swore you put in the cabinet you can be typing in the search box Dropbox to pull up the file in seconds. That’s why we’re big advocates of cloud storage. The flexibility cloud storage gives you will make your life a whole lot easier!

There you have it. We don’t claim to be all knowing, but at BFS we know a thing or two on organizing and want to share our insights. Feel free to subscribe to our newsletter and/or contact to learn more about our services!

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Tax Services

Within our pricing page, you’ll notice a fairly wide price range. That’s because everyone’s tax situation is different. When considering our services, keep that in mind. We’ve priced our services based on the level of work it will take to prepare your return. Simple tax situation, less work, lower preparation fee. Complex tax situation, more work, higher preparation fee. Here are some examples.

Example 1 (Simple tax situation): A person that’s not married (filing single), with 1 job (1 W-2 form) and pays student loans. This person could expect to pay between $85-$175.

Example 2 (Semi-simple tax situation): A married couple (filing Married filing jointly), both working a 9 to 5, owning a home, giving to several charities, and the husband is a Uber driver on nights and weekends. This couple could expect to pay between $275-$400.

Example 3 (Complex tax situation): A married couple that can’t decide whether to file Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately, with the wife working a 9-5, and the husband owns a business that made over $125,000, owns a home, several stocks were traded throughout the year, and they give to several charities every year. This couple could expect to pay between $450-$600.

Here are some brief examples covering a low-medium-high spectrum of our pricing. Just keep in mind, if you know your tax situation is fairly simple, you would be on the lower end of the spectrum, if you have a-lot going on with your financials, expect to be on the higher end.

Accounting Services

Starter Package – In our experience, this package would be for those that have hit the point where they are starting feel a bit overwhelmed wearing many hats in their business. You want a professional to handle your finances to free up time, so you can handle the operations of your business. The hours saved give you more time to increase profit.

Essential Package – This package is for business’s that are in the growth stage, with quite a few accounts (bank and credit card accounts) and looking for a firm to also handle their tax situation as well, to remain compliant with the IRS. A great opportunity to embed the cost of tax preparation and planning within accounting fees, so come tax season it’s smooth sailing.

Enterprise Package – When considering this package, you’ve hit the stage where you need some more muscle to come in and make sure you’re on track in increasing profits. Think of having a CFO at your firm at a affordable cost. We’re not just ticking and tying numbers, we’re also making sure your margins look good.

Business Financing Services

We’ve partnered with an exchange that streamlines the commercial lending process.  Lines of credit of up to $1 million dollars are offered at a discount rate through the exchange.  The lenders love working with us directly, taking a step out of the process.  The exchange can help with all types of business loans from $50K lines of credit to $200M giant real estate purchases and everything in between.  Feel free to contact us if and when you are in need of any kind of financing.

Consulting Services

Individuals

Starting a business is not easy. Growing a business is not easy. Being in business is not easy. We’ve helped our clients navigate the start-up process from deciding the best business formation to deciding whether to hire another employee to distribute workload. At Bradley Financial, we believe every number in your financials has a story behind it and we like helping others create that story.

We offer business and financial coaching sessions. If you love what we’re doing for society, but don’t feel your business is ready for any of our services above, check out our affordable business coaching plans. We’ll discuss business formation, strategy, and recommend resources in our network to ensure your business has a solid foundation.

If you have no idea how much money is coming in and out of your home, how to manage debt, have no idea how credit works, or don’t know how to start an emergency fund, check out our financial coaching plans. We’ll discuss how to get a better grasp of your finances to know how much is coming in and coming out, understand how credit works to continue increasing your score, and a debt management plan to ensure you’re on the right track to lowering it. Our services are based on the number of sessions it takes to get you up to speed.

Business

If your business is driven by key personnel, your business is in the hands of people versus a process. Throughout the years, we’ve assessed quite a few business’s processes and have seen issues arise, especially during audits. Whether you need help with process implementation, audit readiness, or an assessment to ensure you have a solid process in place, we’re here to help.

In assessing business opportunities, we believe the truth is in the numbers. A business opportunity doesn’t make sense unless the margins are good and we’re here to make sure your margins are good. We can also provide financial projections. You give us the numbers and we’ll put the analysis together.

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Ahh, entrepreneurship. Everyone looks at the glitz and glamour of launching a business and believes it’s a celebrity life style. As you scroll through your timeline, you see your friends showing how successful they are, working on their own, and how great it is. Well we’re here to tell you all that glitter ain’t gold.

At Bradley Financial, we’ve noticed so many people are excited to START a business, but rarely have we seen people think through the process of making this come to fruition, the right way. Here are somethings to consider.

What should I be thinking about before starting a business?

For some, this may seem like a simple question, but realistically, this is pretty loaded. The simple answer is getting paid! The loaded answer makes you think the steps it takes to reach that point. Several factors come into play before even getting to this point. For instance, depending on how you want to structure your business (S. Corp, C. Corp, Sole proprietorship) has tax and legal implications.

Also, you’ll have to do some research on what business licenses you need to ensure you remain compliant with state laws to avoid penalties (paying more money). If you plan on selling a product, depending on what state your customer is in may have a different implication of how sales tax is treated. These are just a few factors that play into the beginning process. Here’s our recommendation:

1. Connect with an accountant and lawyer to understand the tax and legal implications of classifying your business under certain business entities (S. Corp, C. Corp, Partnership, etc.).
2. Understand the basic documents you will need to start a business.
3. Begin keeping track of the actual cost it will take you to launch. You’ll need to do some research and look into, for example, how much it will cost to get a 1) business permit , 2) business license, and 3) cost of incorporating your business.

Depending on what kind of business you are planning to get into may cost you more/less than someone else. Thinking through A) what it will cost and B) what it takes to get started are key fundamentals in establishing a business. Get the wheels turning in your mind, because once you start, the business is alive!

“Ok, I know what I need to do, what’s next?”

Once you have a general idea of what you need to get started, now it’s time to put the wheels in motion. Here’s what we recommend:

1. Establish a business bank account – we cannot stress enough the importance of separating business from personal. This step alone will save you money.
2. Open a business credit card account – this puts you on the path of establishing business credit, which will be of aid later down the road if you need to seek financing in scaling your business.
3. Open business trade-lines – there are several businesses that offer the option to make purchases on credit, which is another great way to establish business credit.

“Ok, Great! Done. Now what?”

Now it’s time to get out there and build your business. One important thing to keep in mind is, as humans we weren’t built to be great at everything. As your business grows, at some point you’ll need help. You may not be solid in marketing, or negotiating pricing with potential clients, but you may know someone that is good at that.

The best thing you can do is network with others and rely on their skill-set to help you grow your business. Look for a marketer, so when the time comes you can lean on their skills to increase your brand reputation. Connect with a lawyer that’s savvy to the legal intricacies of your industry. At Bradley Financial, our skill-set lies in the finances. As the saying goes – it takes a village to raise a child; this goes for business as well.

If you didn’t know, business never sleeps, and as an (aspiring) entrepreneur, business will always be on your mind. It’s a living breathing organization and depending on how far you are willing to go, your business can have a great impact on society. At Bradley Financial, our client’s situation is constantly on our mind. We can’t get enough of helping them. Why? Because we know they need our help and we are striving to do as much as we can. What’s crazy about this world is there are others out there that always need our help. This goes the same for you and your business.

We believe you’re of this same mindset, and that’s why it’s imperative you come out the gates doing everything the right way so you can have a peace of mind in doing business with others. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions!

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It never dawned on me how fortunate I am to be financially literate. My family instilled values that gave me the potential to make millions. I knew my community suffered from a lack of financial literacy, but I didn’t know the magnitude until I graduated from college. I started to realize there are literally millions of people that don’t own a bank account, know what a retirement plan is, and splurge money like there’s no tomorrow. What’s saddest is knowing a majority of people don’t care enough to invest resources in helping others in this area. But I do. That’s why I’m writing this piece, specifically for those looking for a way to become financially free, and it all starts with becoming financially literate.

Becoming Financially Literate

There are only two ways to become financially literate. 1) Learning from someone or 2) learning on your own. I’m lucky to grow up in a family that instilled financial values, but that was only the starting point. I have two degrees in accounting, my CPA license, and read several books on personal finance, investing, debt management, and still don’t know everything! Before I get started explaining how to become financially literate, here are several things to keep in mind.

1. It’s a marathon not a sprint! You can’t possibly learn everything in a short period of time.
2. You get out what you put in. The more you learn (and apply!), the more literate you become.
3. Learning financial literacy is like wine, you get better with time.

Now that you have those pointers in mind let’s break down the definition of financial literacy. Understanding what being financially literate means is the first step.

What is Financial Literacy?

Financial literacy is basically understanding how money works. Whether it’s how people invest, earn, spend, finance, or donate money, all of that falls within financial literacy. To take it a step further, it’s understanding that money is a tool that can be used in several ways by gaining knowledge and utilizing it to make better informed decisions. If used correctly, money can protect you (insurance), make you more money (investing), help others (donating), or prepare you for the near future (savings). Now let’s look at how you become financially literate.

Becoming Financially Literate

Remember how I said before there are only two ways to learn financial literacy? If you learned some financial tips from a relative or close friend, great! I hope you’re applying what you’ve learned to get ahead. If not, don’t worry, I’ll put you in the right mindset to get you on your way. My first recommendation is reading a book and it’s called Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. Within the book, the author discusses the lessons he learned from his rich dad versus his poor dad and takes you on a personal journey that has inspired millions. I recommend this book because it inspires you to make money work for you. Having read the book, it’s a great primer as a you dive in the financial world.

My next recommendation will be where I spend most of my time and that is helping you develop an inquisitive mindset. The financial world is quite vast and you can get overwhelmed pretty quickly if you don’t have your thinking hat on straight. Here’s your starting point: from now on, when you hear the words ‘financially literate’ replace it with ‘understand how _____ works’. For instance, if you want to become financially literate in auto insurance, change the phrase to ‘ I need to understand how auto insurance works’. Your end point is to understand that subject as much as possible. The more you understand, the better you will able to utilize it as a tool to better your life financially. Now here comes the hard part.

The Hard Part…

 The hard part is the middle point, and the reason it’s hard is because this is where work comes in. In the grand scheme of things, what I’m about to tell you is quite simple and you will get better with time if you stick to it, but I guarantee you not everyone will do it for one of two reasons. 1) You’re a ‘know it all’ or 2) you’re not willing to put in the work. If you fall within one of these categories, the middle point will be the hardest thing you ever done. You ready? Here it is: Ask questions and seek out the answers! Here’s an example, (putting my thinking hat on).

“I want to understand how investing works”

“What is investing? Why do people invest? Why should I invest? Do I use money to invest or can I borrow money from others? How much should I invest? Where can I put my money? What is the difference between a stock and a bond? What is a commodity? Are their any other investments I can make outside of the stock market? How do I research a stock? How do I know if ‘NKE’ is a good stock or not? etc. etc. etc.

If you truly want to understand HOW investing works, you will google search the answers for every question above. The funny thing is, the more digging you do, the more questions you will come up with and the more answers you will need to find. Eventually you will reach a point where you begin to understand a particular subject within personal finance enough to make informed decisions. I just spent some time this past month understanding how I can obtain a personal loan secured by a certificate of deposit. Now I understand all the intricacies of how it works enough to leverage the tool to my advantage.

To conclude,

If you want to became financially literate you must develop an inquisitive mindset. You must have the drive to ask questions and seek out answers. It takes time and dedication to learn this stuff. You reap the rewards by being able to understand the costs and benefits of using each financial tool in your arsenal. What makes financial literacy unique is it’s all relative to an individual’s situation. For instance, if you don’t plan on owning a car it’s not wise to spend your time learning about auto insurance, or the in’s and out’s of negotiating at car dealerships. You may find it more of a benefit to invest time in learning and understanding the financing options in purchasing your first home.

If you want to build wealth you need to know what financial tools are available and how to use them. If you found what I’ve wrote to be interesting,  or have read Rich Dad Poor Dad, please comment below. I’m really passionate about this stuff and happy to discuss!

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How many people really know HOW to get a good credit score? I mean really. Do you even know what makes up a good score? 500? 620? 875? Many people struggle with increasing their score for 2 reasons. 1) They don’t know what makes up their credit score and 2) they don’t know how to manage their credit card properly.

What if I told you there is a way to automatically increase your credit score?What if I told you there is a way to automatically increase your credit score? No lie! I use this method all the time! As a matter of fact, with this system I increased my score from 660 to 750+ in 6 months.  Before I show you the system, let’s go through a quick score breakdown to show what is considered “good”.

Here are the ranges:

Anything below 600 – Letter Grade: F

600-649 – Letter Grade: D

650-699 – Letter Grade: C

700-749 – Letter Grade: B

750+ – Letter Grade: A

So why is it important to know this? Answer: Once you know what makes up your credit score the easier it is to build it up. Once you know what makes up your credit score the easier it is to build it up. Easier said than done, right? True, but with enough patience and determination you can hit 750 in no time! Without further adieu let’s get to automating!

We’re going to use the lovely pie chart from FICO above. If you don’t know what FICO is it’s basically the company that crunches the numbers to produce your credit score. There are a number of other consumer credit risk reporters, such as VantageScore, PLUS Score, TransRisk and Equifax. We’ll just stick to FICO to make things easier. Let’s start with the biggest component and work our way from there.

35% – Payment History

One of the most important factors that makes up your credit score is making payments on time. One of the most important factors that makes up your credit score is making payments on time. To ensure you ALWAYS pay on time automate your payments. So how do you automate your payments? When you receive a credit card, there are two options to make a payment which includes making payments manually or through direct debit (the automation!). With direct debit, the minimum payment listed on your credit card is taken out of your account when the payment is due. When you automate, you no longer have to worry about paying on time. With manual payments, you constantly have to remind yourself to pay on time each month. So automate your payments and your worries are gone! Just make sure you have enough money in your bank account to cover the minimum payment. You wouldn’t want to get hit with an overdraft fee!

30% – Amount Owed

The second most important factor is the amount owed. With this category, it’s all about your utilization rate (Credit Card Balance/Credit Limit). A good utilization rate is below 30%. I personally like my balance to be 0% so no interest is added onto the balance. Here’s a good rule of thumb; if your balance is over 30%, pay a little extra to get that balance within the 0-30% range, if your balance is under 30%, pay the minimum payment. Here’s an example, you just made a $350 purchase and your minimum payment is $35 and you have a $1,000 credit limit, pay an extra $15. If you made a purchase that’s under the 30% threshold I would advise monitoring your credit balance and pay a little extra on your next payment to sustain a manageable balance.

Now some credit lenders give you the option to change the amount you can automatically pay each month while others only give you the minimum payment option. At the end of the day it’s up to you how much you want to pay each month. Just know, paying a little extra goes a long way to building your score.

15% – Length of Credit History

With this category your biggest enemy is time. The longer you hold an open credit card account the more this category plays a factor into your credit score.  The best way to automate this piece of the credit score is to continue having an open credit account. One of the worst things you can do is CLOSE OUT a credit card. Closing an account lowers your credit score. I’ve only had my credit card for 3 years now, which I think is good in my opinion, but imagine having a credit card for more than 5 years, now that’s some good credit history!

10% – New Credit

The new credit category is all about increasing your credit limit. I’ve probably asked about 3-4 times for a credit limit increase. Getting new credit increases your credit score. To automate this, schedule a time in your calendar to request a credit increase at least twice a year with your credit lender. Getting new credit added to your credit limit boosts your credit score and lowers your utilization rate which gives you a 2 for 1! One time, I asked for a request twice within 2 months and I got a $2,500 increase! I don’t anticipate using that much credit right now but it’s great to see that score rise.

10% – Credit Mix

Last but not least is the credit mix. This category is basically the different sources of debt you manage (auto loans, credit cards, student loans, mortgage loans, etc.). The more debt you have in different categories the more diverse your credit mix. In my opinion, I would focus less on this category as it encourages you to take on more debt. Even though the credit mix doesn’t contribute as much compared to the other categories it will still be on auto pilot if you have a mix.

Tips

1. Limit yourself to at most 2 credit cards. I tend to stick to one because it’s easier to manage. Having two credit cards shows lenders you can manage credit card debt well and can increase your score.
2. Check your credit balance at least twice a month. That way you constantly know what your balance is and if any charges seem unusual you can dispute it readily. A good rule of thumb would be 3 or 4 days before your payment is due and two weeks from that time.
3. Pick a credit lender that shows you your credit score each month. It’s great to see that credit score feature pop up after each month. You know exactly what your credit score is and you can see the progress you’ve made. In a way, it makes paying off your credit card a game!
4. Before making a big purchase such as a house or car, talk with a credit analyst at your bank on what their definition of a good credit score is. That way you gain more insight into knowing the interest rate and loan amount you will qualify for.

Edited by: Nigia Cusic

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It’s hard to save! You have to manage budgeting,  recording what you spend and oh don’t forget those concert tickets you just bought that blew your budget!  Then you start all over again! What if I told you there is a simple way to save? I learned this trick in high school and it has worked wonders in helping me pile money away.([tweetthis]I learned this trick in high school and it has worked wonders in helping me pile money away.[/tweetthis])

The trick is to set up direct deposit for two bank accounts at two DIFFERENT banks. The primary goal of the first bank will be accessibility. Opening a checking account provides you the best access, I would pick a bank (if you haven’t done so) that has the most ATM’s in the area you live in. Think of using the first account as funds for your day-to-day operations.

The next step is to open a savings account at the second bank. You may be asking yourself, why don’t you just open a savings and checking account at the same bank? That’s a great question and the the answer is quite simple, you’re creating barriers for yourself. For the second bank you want to limit the accessibility you have to avoid the temptation of impulse spending.  The second account is solely for saving. To take it a step further, find a bank with the highest interest rate in your area (or online) to build your savings through compound interest! Sure, interest rates are low now, but it will be helpful when you’re adding more “0’s”!

After the bank accounts are set up. The next step is setting up direct deposit through your employer. You should be able to set this up on your own. If not, you should ask Human Resources if they can set it up for you. The amount you decide to save is up to you. Since my expenses are low, I am able to save half of my income.

When determining the portion you want to save, ask yourself, “how much do I want to save? Do I want to save for that Vegas trip in the summer? Do I want to set up an emergency fund? Or maybe I just want to get out of my parents house some day, but when? The best way to determine the amount to save is by making savings goals ([tweetthis]The best way to determine the amount to save is by making savings goals[/tweetthis]). You might set a goal  of  saving  $500 each month to get an apartment by 2018. Setting concrete, yet tangible, saving goals give you a purpose for saving and makes the whole process easier. With that being said, you now know the trick!

This is one of the best techniques for saving!([tweetthis]This is one of the best techniques for saving![/tweetthis]) Determining your budget and deciding how much money to save is the most difficult part. Once you know how much to save, it’s easy! Your savings will be stowed away in a separate account and you won’t even have to think about it.

So how will this trick help me gain wealth?

At the end of the day, you worked very hard to earn your paycheck. No one deserves to get paid before you do! Paying others before you pay yourself is not a wealth builder’s mindset. Wealth builders pay themselves first then manage their expenses. The trick I described above not only develops the habit of paying yourself first but it allows you to easily save money. Before you know it you’ll have thousands of dollars at your disposal that you can use for a rainy day. No one has gotten through life without having rainy days. This automatically provides you with an emergency fund that you can use to cushion the blow when hard times arrive.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on saving. Do you have a trick you use that works best? Comment Below!

Edited by: Nigia Cusic

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