EMERGING MEDICAL SUMMIT : MARCH 3 - 4, NORRIS CONFERENCE CENTER
Beginning on Wednesday March 3 and ending on March 4, Innotech of San Antonio is hosting the region’s largest business to business emerging medical technology event.
If you are part of San Antonio’s emerging medical technology products industry and you want to interface with other facing the same business challenges, the conference offers you an opportunity to do just that. The conference affords you the opportunity to learn about things such as:
Product development and realization
Workable business models
Funding sources
Wealth preservation
The sessions begin Wednesday at noon with an address by Paul Nichols of Trinity Orthopedics, LLC entitled “Challenging Times for Early Stage Medtech”.
Later, on Wednesday afternoon, yours truly we be part of a panel discussion entitled “General Business Practices: Accounting, Contracting with Government Facilities, Exit Strategies, and Talent Acquisitions”. We look forward to seeing there.
Steve Cook is the Managing Shareholder of Cook and Associates, PLLC, Certified Public Accountants with offices in San Antonio and San Marcos, Texas.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
15 Frightening Facts for Young Professionals
As a young professional, I realize the importance of focusing on your career very early on. Trust me, it pays off. Unfortunately, many individuals in the 18-25 range fail to realize that career planning starts as early as the first year of college.
Students can no longer coast through college and expect a job upon graduation. It doesn’t work that way anymore! It takes planning, strategy, and an investment of your time and energy. You are the future work force and it’s time to invest in your career now. If you still need convincing, here are 15 frightening facts that may prod you to act now:
Students can no longer coast through college and expect a job upon graduation. It doesn’t work that way anymore! It takes planning, strategy, and an investment of your time and energy. You are the future work force and it’s time to invest in your career now. If you still need convincing, here are 15 frightening facts that may prod you to act now:
- A college education has gone up 23% in the last 10 years.
- Starting salaries have dropped 11% in the last 10 years.
- Less than 50% of students ever see the financial return on their investment in an advanced degree.
- 70 million baby boomers who should be retiring are staying in the job market, thus preventing new grads from entry into the workplace.
- 90% of young people feel they have to go to college in order to get a job. Most don’t know why they should go or what they should study.
- $100,000 is a reasonable fee for a top state or private university education.
- Less than 30% of students gain experience in a professional setting while they are still in school.
- 25 is the average age of a college grad before moving out of a parent’s house.
- 80% of jobs are achieved through networking.
- Less than 20% of grads had jobs when they graduated last year.
- The job seeker to job ratio is 6:1. Yikes!
- A young person will only spend an average of 18 months in a job.
- Today’s college grad can expect 9 careers with an average of 3 jobs in each one.
- It’s estimated that it will take 5 years to recoup the jobs we’ve lost from the recession.
- It’s estimated that it will take 10 years to fully recover from this recession.
(facts courtesy of careerealism.com)
I hope this motivates you to take action, stand out, and get hired. Not so long ago I was in your shoes -trust me, invest in your career now and you’ll see dividends later.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
EMERGING MEDICAL SUMMIT MARCH 3 - 4, NORRIS CONFERENCE CENTER
Beginning on Wednesday March 3 and ending on March 4, Innotech of San Antonio is hosting the region’s largest business to business emerging medical technology event.
If you are part of San Antonio’s emerging medical technology products industry and you want to interface with other facing the same business challenges, the conference offers you an opportunity to do just that. The conference affords you the opportunity to learn about things such as:
Product development and realization
Workable business models
Funding sources
Wealth preservation
The sessions begin Wednesday at noon with an address by Paul Nichols of Trinity Orthopedics, LLC entitled “Challenging Times for Early Stage Medtech”.
Later, on Wednesday afternoon, yours truly will be part of a panel discussion entitled “General Business Practices: Accounting, Contracting with Government Facilities, Exit Strategies, and Talent Acquisitions”. We look forward to seeing you there.
Steve Cook is the Managing Shareholder of Cook and Associates, PLLC, Certified Public Accountants with offices in San Antonio and San Marcos, Texas.
If you are part of San Antonio’s emerging medical technology products industry and you want to interface with other facing the same business challenges, the conference offers you an opportunity to do just that. The conference affords you the opportunity to learn about things such as:
Product development and realization
Workable business models
Funding sources
Wealth preservation
The sessions begin Wednesday at noon with an address by Paul Nichols of Trinity Orthopedics, LLC entitled “Challenging Times for Early Stage Medtech”.
Later, on Wednesday afternoon, yours truly will be part of a panel discussion entitled “General Business Practices: Accounting, Contracting with Government Facilities, Exit Strategies, and Talent Acquisitions”. We look forward to seeing you there.
Steve Cook is the Managing Shareholder of Cook and Associates, PLLC, Certified Public Accountants with offices in San Antonio and San Marcos, Texas.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Don’t forget the Schedule M....and other things to remember when filing your 2009 return
Now that everyone is getting their W-2 or 1099 forms, thoughts are turning to tax filing season. As with any tax season, there are several provisions for the 2009 tax year that filers will want to be on the lookout for this season. Here are, in our opinion, the top ten tax provisions that will impact taxpayers filing their returns over the next couple of months:
1. Making Work Pay Credit – if you work and earn less than $190,000 ($95,000 if single) in 2009, you are eligible for a tax credit of 6.2% of your earned income, up to a limit of $800 ($400 if single). This is HUGE, since virtually all returns filed will contain this credit in some form. The credit is claimed on Schedule M of the tax return, which is an entirely new schedule designed specifically for this credit.
2. The standard mileage rates for 2009 are 55 cents per mile for business travel, 24 cents per mile for medical mileage, and 14 cents per mile for charitable mileage.
3. For 2009, the first $2,400 of unemployment benefits received can be excluded from income. Previously, all unemployment benefits were taxable.
4. If you purchased a new car in 2009, the sales tax on that car purchase will be deductible as long as you itemize your deductions. In Texas, this provision has been around for a couple of years now, but for 2009 this deduction is available for taxpayers anywhere.
5. If you lost your home during the housing crisis and the mortgage company wrote off your debt, you will not have to pay taxes on the amount of debt that was discharged.
6. The penalties for filing late returns have increased. Now, if a return is more than 60 days late, the minimum penalty is $135 or 100% of the unpaid tax. In other words, late filers could end up owing double their original balance in a very short time period. So even if you can’t pay, file that return!
7. The minimum threshold for an event to qualify as a casualty must now be 10% of your income plus $500. Previously, it was 10% plus $100.
8. If you pay off your tax liability with a credit card and incur a ‘convenience charge’ to do so, that charge will now be deductible on your next return if you itemize.
9. Small businesses only need to pay in 90% of the previous years’ tax liability to avoid being penalized for estimated tax payments. Previously, the threshold had been 100%
10. Last but not least, don’t forget that the well-publicized First Time Homebuyer Credit was in effect for 2009.
There are also literally hundreds of changes to existing tax rules regarding phase-out limits for deductions, breaking points between tax brackets, and any other provision that is allowed to index annually for inflation.
As always, the information presented here is intended to be basic in nature and is to be used for general information purposes only. If you have questions about a specific item of tax law, please consult a tax advisor.
1. Making Work Pay Credit – if you work and earn less than $190,000 ($95,000 if single) in 2009, you are eligible for a tax credit of 6.2% of your earned income, up to a limit of $800 ($400 if single). This is HUGE, since virtually all returns filed will contain this credit in some form. The credit is claimed on Schedule M of the tax return, which is an entirely new schedule designed specifically for this credit.
2. The standard mileage rates for 2009 are 55 cents per mile for business travel, 24 cents per mile for medical mileage, and 14 cents per mile for charitable mileage.
3. For 2009, the first $2,400 of unemployment benefits received can be excluded from income. Previously, all unemployment benefits were taxable.
4. If you purchased a new car in 2009, the sales tax on that car purchase will be deductible as long as you itemize your deductions. In Texas, this provision has been around for a couple of years now, but for 2009 this deduction is available for taxpayers anywhere.
5. If you lost your home during the housing crisis and the mortgage company wrote off your debt, you will not have to pay taxes on the amount of debt that was discharged.
6. The penalties for filing late returns have increased. Now, if a return is more than 60 days late, the minimum penalty is $135 or 100% of the unpaid tax. In other words, late filers could end up owing double their original balance in a very short time period. So even if you can’t pay, file that return!
7. The minimum threshold for an event to qualify as a casualty must now be 10% of your income plus $500. Previously, it was 10% plus $100.
8. If you pay off your tax liability with a credit card and incur a ‘convenience charge’ to do so, that charge will now be deductible on your next return if you itemize.
9. Small businesses only need to pay in 90% of the previous years’ tax liability to avoid being penalized for estimated tax payments. Previously, the threshold had been 100%
10. Last but not least, don’t forget that the well-publicized First Time Homebuyer Credit was in effect for 2009.
There are also literally hundreds of changes to existing tax rules regarding phase-out limits for deductions, breaking points between tax brackets, and any other provision that is allowed to index annually for inflation.
As always, the information presented here is intended to be basic in nature and is to be used for general information purposes only. If you have questions about a specific item of tax law, please consult a tax advisor.
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