Growth & Grace

Wesley Knight 0:00
This is a KU NB studios original program. The following program is underwritten by Crawford management group and Chris glow, and does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 Jaz and Moore the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

Music 0:18
Even better than that was the last time, baby we back and

Leaha Crawford 0:35
we back and we back and we back and we back and we back. And I was the last do, hey, hey, hey, it is Saturday morning. Julian, can you believe we are on the we're almost at the end of September.

Julian Rosado 0:53
Yeah, that's in the third quarter. And then the quarter, into the

Leaha Crawford 0:57
quarter. How'd you like that fight?

Julian Rosado 0:59
I thought it was a very good, I didn't know I signed up for a master class. You know, I thought I canceled that. That's a subscription. Man. That was a very

Leaha Crawford 1:07
that was a master class. That was a master

Julian Rosado 1:11
Oh, my goodness, no. That was already knew he was gonna win. I thought, you know, my Canelo was a he's a little bit older, but in boxing,

Leaha Crawford 1:22
in boxing, but it was a good fight. It was a good fight. And to see, you know, what Terence Crawford, to be? Crawford, yeah, Crawford

Julian Rosado 1:30
could have fought, you know, because it was because he was

Leaha Crawford 1:34
sitting there, he was he was dancing. I mean, he was, he was boxing, though it was, it was truly a fight and underpaid? Well, you know, we don't have no control over that. That's above our pay grade,

Julian Rosado 1:45
yeah. But his next fight, he's going to get max dollars.

Leaha Crawford 1:52
What I love is he very humble, oh, yeah, you know, when the decision came, he was on his knees and to see his family, yeah? And just to be a humble man, I think that's huge, especially in a sport like boxing, where, you know, we've seen arrogance, and we've seen, you know, just the flash and all the other stuff, very humble man. I like that, yeah, I really like that, yeah. Well, today, Joanne, guess what we gonna do? I don't know, you gonna interview me. You gonna interview me, because I am going to do tax classes. I've been asked for the past couple of years to do this, and I'm gonna launch it and do it, and we gonna see how it goes. That's cool. You know

Julian Rosado 2:32
what made you do

Leaha Crawford 2:34
it now? I guess after 25 years of being in accounting and tax, I noticed, you know, I see the same thing over and over again, right? So people, a lot of people, feel lost when when it comes to taxes, and some wanted to understand their own taxes. Others wanted to start a business, and some just want a side hustle, um, but they all had the same problem. Nope. I wanted to teach a simple way to understand this tax this, this complicated tax code, right? Because most people is a very simple return and but just, but you have to understand so many things, so I figure, you know, I've been learning this for 30 years. I said 25 almost 30 years, and I'm ready to start teaching people

Julian Rosado 3:16
how to do this. So basically doing a master class, not really

Leaha Crawford 3:20
like a master class, because it's gonna be like six weeks. And what we'll do is we're going to break down that tax return, and we're going to have good conversations about that tax return. So the class will be potentially, I want people that want to learn a tax business, that want to do taxes, if you want to learn about it, so that you can understand somebody's just not throwing you in, and you're doing a return right, but you're learning the importance of making sure you spell somebody's name properly, the importance of making sure the social security number is right, how you interact with clients, how to use the software, teaching you about the different sources of income, the different Things You know difference between a deduction and a credit, the differences with the different forms and what forms you use for what, what documents go with what? And then we're going to go over just the requirements to do taxes in Nevada, because in Nevada, not only is it good to have an understanding of the knowledge of the tax return, but there are certain licenses that you need to have in order to prepare here in Nevada. And then the IRS has other guidelines that you need to also be aware of. So I thought it would be good because I work with, you know, I work with my team all the time, and we go through these trainings every year in the fall. So we were like, you want to know what? Let's open it up and let's see if you know some other people want to learn you know, bring your questions, bring your concerns, even bring your old tax returns, and let's talk about it.

Julian Rosado 4:48
Why do you think is important? Everybody does taxes,

Leaha Crawford 4:52
and information is power, right? So if you I can't tell you the number of people that. I meet. Or they come into our office when they hand us their prior year return, and we start to ask questions. They have no clue about what's on the return. Or they know, well, I had a job. Or, you know, I'll say, Well, you know, you had this no side hustle, and did you know that you had all these expenses? And they're like, No, I didn't know. I just, I just knew I got my taxes prepared and I either owed money. When they owe money, they get a little bit more inquisitive, but when they're getting refunds, they don't, yeah, yeah.

Julian Rosado 5:33
Who is this for?

Leaha Crawford 5:35
Who is this for? So this class is for three types of people, right? So three types of people cover everybody, right? We hope, well, a lot of people, those that want to learn tax for themselves, those that want to start a tax business, and those that want to prepare taxes on the side to earn extra income. Because we're going to go over a myriad of things in our classes, and they start on October 7.

Julian Rosado 5:58
So why can't somebody just use, like, an AI or just, you know, look it up on their

Leaha Crawford 6:03
stuff, because you don't necessarily know what you're looking for, so you got to have some information. And AI is amazing. AI is amazing. Don't get me wrong, but I believe that when you're using AI, you also have to have some information about what it is you're looking for, because I've seen people give an AI answer and AI answers all wrong. Yeah. Okay, so you still have to have some basic knowledge of what you're looking for, yeah. So I think it's very important. And for more information, you can contact us. It's the tax boutique, 702-382-5737, again, 702-382-5737, and then it's one of those things where, because my team and I, we use, we use AI sometimes as well, too, when you're asking AI a question, and sometimes you have to understand tax to understand what the answer is, okay? Because they might say something like, I don't know what that is, right? Then you have to ask more questions, ask more questions, and then you're like, Okay, you want to know what, but what we want to do is having basic knowledge. Ai, is it's like, you know, when you go to the doctor and you have an illness, when you're taking medication, sometimes you can take herbs, supplements to supplement to help you get there. But you just want to have, for me, a basic knowledge of it, and those that are curious and want to have the basic knowledge of it. So I thought it was very important for us

Julian Rosado 7:28
to do this. So what's a what is basically broad that people will learn, broad,

Leaha Crawford 7:34
that people broad, that people will learn like so I talked about it before. We're going to go over number one, the requirements for Nevada, and make sure that you understand, step by step what the requirements are for Nevada. We're going to talk about the requirements for the IRS, because there are certain things that you have to do in order to be able to prepare taxes with the IRS, the insurances and different things like that. Then we're going to start to go over the tax return, and we're going to break the tax return down section by section, and then get into some of the forms. And what I love about it is, if you decide that you want to do this as a side hustle, you can work with us, and we'll work with you on compliance, because that's a whole different issue. Because what happens with a lot of returns, a lot of people don't know, like prepares, have to do due diligence. What is due diligence? And we'll go through just the things that you have to ask be aware of, because give you an example. Say, I have, I've been in business now, doing taxes for about 30 years, and I have some clients that have been with me for 30 years, wow. And every year, if they're if they get certain credits, I have to ask them these questions. Even though we're good friends on record. I have to ask these questions because I don't know, like one guy, his, you know, his? I think he him and his wife, the children. I thought all the children went to college. When one child didn't go to college, right? And they were like, Well, no, he, we're not claiming him, because he's working. He graduated from high school. I thought they were still claiming him, and had I not asked the question, I wouldn't have known. So I No, we make it a practice to do an interview every year just to make sure that we have the most accurate information for that year. Okay? Or we'll have a situation where, like I said, I've had, I have long standing standing clients. We don't do one night stands. We do long term relationships here. And, you know, husband passes away, and we understand, you know, do you have children? Because, you know, we're very no conscious of that, but just walking them through. Okay, so this is how we have to do to return this year, then next year, if you have a child, then you can do this. If you don't have a child, then we'll want to file this way and then help helping people plan out, you know, because when that income goes away, things can change. So how do we, you know, help you through that in a healthy way?

Julian Rosado 9:58
Yeah, so how. How would this help entrepreneurs?

Leaha Crawford 10:03
Entrepreneurs, okay, entrepreneurs, my favorites, yeah, some of my favorites. For entrepreneurs, understanding your return, especially if you're trying to get yourself in position to get bank loans, if you're putting yourself in position to do other things, you want to grow. And you really want to understand your money flow. You want to see what credits you're eligible for, and different things you can do you know, to grow your business, because it is a part of your it should be a part of your business plan. So with entrepreneurs, I actually spend a lot more time with them, like understanding if you are a single member, LLC, what are all the forms that you can potentially file if you're a multi member, LLC, what forms do you potentially file? If you get a S election, you have to file a different form. If you decide to be a sequel, there's a form, a form that you that you form, but just helping them understand what your structure is, and then, how does that impact you as a business owner? So I and honestly, depending on your structure, your return, parts of your return flow through to your personal return. So how does that impact you? Are you married? Do you have children? So it's a lot of different things, but just for you to understand the return and have conversations with someone that has your best interest at

Julian Rosado 11:27
heart. Yeah. What's a common mistake that that you see, that you know why you open up this class that will benefit tons of people?

Leaha Crawford 11:37
Common mistake that I see on returns, or common mistake I see with people, with people. How can I say this nicely? Because we're on Public Radio, taking the time and the necessary, just having the information and taking the time, the time to ensure that they are putting the correct information on a return. People rushing, you know, because they believe, you know, people just prepare for tax season right before tax season when, especially if you're an entrepreneur, you're preparing for tax season every month when you're doing your financial statements. Yeah, so if you're using one of the softwares, you know, if you're using one of, I mean, just any software, how is that linking up? How much money are you collecting? How much money are you are you spending? Even if you're using an Excel spreadsheet and putting your bank account saying, This is how much money I made, this is how much money I spent, and documenting that information month over month. Then at the end of the year, you only have to add one more month to December, and you're ready for your to at least that part of it. But just being aware and being okay with not knowing and just knowing when you like, I love our clients, especially like when, when they see new tax credits, and they're like, Leah, I bought a electric car, like electric cars and, well, you know, going energy efficient was huge at one time. Well, I just bought new windows. Okay. Well, make sure you keep your documentation and paperwork, because that's a credit that you can get. So what I find is, after people work with us for a couple of years, they become more engaged and very knowledgeable about

Julian Rosado 13:12
their return. What do you want people to walk away with? I want

Leaha Crawford 13:17
them to walk away with more information than what they came in the door with, and not to, you know, to be able to say now that when they look at their returns, even if they decide to work with us or work with other people, they can look at their returns and understand that, you know, if feel more just, just more confident about the return, and not be fearful of it. And not, oh, it's tax season. Oh, I got no no, they're looking forward to it. Not even, well, not even, yeah, yeah. You know, hey, we're going, we can go, go get our taxes done. Not Oh, my God, I gotta go see her. Yeah, you know, I want them to have just a different approach to it, like we

Julian Rosado 13:52
do. How does this connect to somebody achieving generational wealth?

Leaha Crawford 13:58
How does it connect to someone achieving that's a good question, saving money on your tax bill, because you can take that money and put it in different in different plans, you know, being able to plan accordingly, you know. So it's a bunch of different ways, you know, part that that should be part of your plan, should be part of your plan, you know. And how you do it, you know, what you thinking? You want to help us. You want to take the class. Thinking about that. You're thinking about taking the class. What do you think you would get out the class?

Julian Rosado 14:28
I think exactly what you said. Because every time I come across, like every time I do a sale, I'm thinking, Okay, well, how much we'll have to pay in taxes, how much we'll have to pay intern, I will use like an AI, or I'll do it myself, but it's exactly like what you said. If I don't know exactly what I'm looking for or how to properly execute it, you know, it just leads me. You frustrated, but if I am, if I'm, if I'm already educated in what I'm what I'm looking for, it will make the process a lot more easy.

Leaha Crawford 15:09
And then let's go back to generational wealth, right? Because people talk about it all the time. Wealthy people are knowledgeable. Yeah, no. Multi people, they don't waste money. They don't waste money. And actually, my wealthier clients, when it comes to doing their taxes, they tell me what to do. My god, no, they do. They like, okay, so look here, and I tell you because my favorite credit is the one when you sell your house, your primary residence. And most of them know that if you live in a house two of the preceding five years. If you're single, you get to not claim. You get a credit for a quarter of a million dollars. If you're married, is half a million dollars. But they also know that you have to find out what the basis in the property is. And I have them coming in and they're like, look, I did this, I did that, I did this, I did that. I know that doesn't count, because that wasn't structural. That was just something else that I did, and they're able to talk through but they also know that I want somebody else to look at this return, and I don't mind paying for someone else to look at this return so or to prepare this return. And then let's go over it, and let's have healthy conversations about, you know, everything that went on that year. So when you talk about building generational wealth, you're talking about, you know, building it, but then you also have to protect it. And then how does the money that you're building outlive you and go on for generations? It's all a plan. So not only do they do it, but I have some that even when their children start get their first jobs, they come into the office and get their taxes done, just to get them in the habit of, look here. This is what you do. You go, you have someone prepare your returns. You have a conversation with them. Understand what is on your return. This is what you worked for. This is what you paid in taxes. This is what you did this. And then we had some that we have some that they started with us. Children have come to us. We've watched the children buy homes. We've, I mean, go to college, buy homes, because, like, I've been in business. I said 25 years, but it's almost 30. Wow. Been doing this for almost 30 years, so I've seen a lot.

Julian Rosado 17:14
Wow. So let's say, if somebody had a normal nine to five, how would that benefit them?

Leaha Crawford 17:21
Well, benefit them. Because you get to come in and you get to talk to someone else, and you get to what are your goals? Because also, when they come into Crawford management group, we talk about what your goals are, you know, what do you want to do? Do you just want to work a job? You know? And sometimes it starts as simple as, I want to buy a house. And for some people, that is, that's huge, because they don't know how to do they don't know the process, yeah, to even start to buy a home, and we have a lot of resources with a lot of connections, people we bring on the show that's amazing, and we start putting them in position. Okay, well, you know, to get to buy a house, it's a mindset, and you got to get in position. So let's go ahead and figure out, how do we get you in a place where you can do that? I've had several employees. Everyone in my office is a homeowner, and everyone, when they came in, there was not, no, they weren't. They weren't. And we it was, you know, it

Julian Rosado 18:09
takes some time they got it before the interest rates cut. Well, they Well, you

Leaha Crawford 18:13
it was strategic, because we have been, but we have been working on them buying. And it's so funny, because she laughs now to my I know I should have, now, looking back, I should have bought a house when you first told me to I was like I did. I was just exposing because the interest rates were low then,

Leaha Crawford 18:30
but it was a mindset of getting ready to purchase their first home, you know, getting them the credits and helping them to understand what home ownership means. And it's like, it's life changing, because now they're looking at they're in their home. They purchased it for x amount of dollars, and now it's worth this, and they're paying less in the mortgage than what they were paying in rent. And they were like, well, people say that all the time. I was like, yeah. I was like, No, the rent keeps on going up, and you're paying PMI now, and that's the mortgage insurance. In about another year, you won't be so your mortgage is going down potentially, you know. So it's a lot that we do at Crawford management group, and I want to bring that over to the tax boutique, because I want people that you know that we can put out good returns and help more people.

Julian Rosado 19:23
So what if somebody? Let's say, Okay, I'm ready to sell my house, but the interest rates are pretty high, but let's say I'm ready to sell my house. How would you go about helping them? Let's say, because you have right now, there's probably a lot of people that are looking to,

Leaha Crawford 19:43
well, I think everybody's situation is different, so I got to dig more into that. And what I normally do is, because I have a financial planner that I work with as well on the Crawford management group side. So we look at everything. We just don't look at, you know, what's going on? Crazy. Case in point, we did have a young woman. Dave, that was, she purchased her home a couple of years ago during covid, and she had another opportunity in another state, but she hadn't been in her house long, and we were looking at it, and we me and her finance Well, her financial planner and I looked at it, and we were trying to figure out, was it more beneficial for her to sell the property because there was a little bit of equity in the house, not a lot, or would it be more beneficial for her to rent the property out? Or, know, what other things could she do with that problem? Yeah. So we we try to look at because when our clients come and ask us those questions, of course, then I have more questions to ask you, yeah, because, again, it is, what is the end goal? Because we have some that have come in from California. They're like, look, I'm taking my money and I'm gone, right? And I understand that, and that's, you know, that's what they did. But again, it depends on a person and what the goal is. Like, we're not just because that is good for one person, that might not be good for you, and we take the time to understand you. So when you come into our well, we want to build our preparers where it's not a rush, if it takes you an hour, or if it takes you three, we want to make sure that the clients feel like they were served and their questions were answered. What's time frame of it? So it depends what the classes or Yeah, the total class? No. So the class is going to be six weeks. It's going to be about an hour and a half to two hours per week. And you'll leave with some information. We'll have some other things that we're going to have you do, and we want build energy collaboration and understand that we're a community and that we we learn from each other, and my team will just be spearheading. Can you, is it on site? Yes, it's on site. So we'll be at the office, 431, South Sixth Street, Las Vegas, Nevada, and it's going to be from six to 730 and we start on October 7. You know, for more information, you can contact us. 702-382-5737, again, 702-382-5737, and we're working on the website, so the website should be up and running in about a week. So the thing about it is, you're you guys are hearing this, and we are still in in stages, because we're building everything, but the class is already built out. So we found a curriculum

Julian Rosado 22:23
that's really cool, that it's in person. Yeah, people lose touch when it's, you know, on Zoom.

Leaha Crawford 22:29
Or, well, see, we talked about doing it on Zoom. We talked about it, and potentially, in the future, we will have some offerings on Zoom. But to start, I wanted to feel the energy of the people and to see, you know, it's a commitment, especially when you're doing taxes, especially when you're doing especially well. There's some some some protocols that we're talking about where you probably, because you we, because we have a secure server and everything that you have to upload your documents to, because of all of the IRS protocols, the the

Leaha Crawford 23:01
the identity protection and everything else. So we have to take all that into consideration while doing this. But we want to have a conversation and make it so it's not. We want to take away the fear, okay? And because, you know, information kills fear, yeah, you know, if I, if I have the knowledge and the information, I maybe it's something, you know, I can teach people, hey, it's not a bad thing. Yeah, it's not a bad thing. And if we plan for it, if we plan for it, I'll give you an example. I have some investment investor clients, and investors tend to get large sums of months, large sums of money at one time, yeah. So, okay, y'all, let's plan, that's part of this tax bill, part of it, you know. So let's plan for it. Put this money up so that when a tax bill comes, you know, we've already planned. We've already paid something. We got some estimated taxes there. Okay, not a problem. All I'm doing is following documents, so, but it's having those healthy conversations regularly, and not one, you know, because I've had some interesting things. I've had couples arguing them in my office, husband blaming wife with the tax bill.

Julian Rosado 24:08
And remember, you told me you had tissues again.

Leaha Crawford 24:11
I told you I kept tissue on my desk for a reason, right? Okay, but what I love is, even when we have to use the tissues by the end of the conversation, everybody's in in a good space, and they understand how they got there, because we're able to break down a return, analyze it, and see what we can do better to get a better return next year.

Julian Rosado 24:28
Yeah, so I work with a lot of pro athletes. I think it will be a really good class,

Leaha Crawford 24:33
of course, absolutely. And they, I mean, and that's something totally different, I probably would do something special for them, and we can talk about that off air, okay, because they have different, of course, they have the basic stuff, but because they work in so many states, they also have to add in the state component. See, here in Nevada, we don't have the state component for most of our returns here. But I've done, I've done, probably about, maybe a. Want to say I've, um, I've probably done easily, about 15 states so far, yeah, so I'm familiar with, I mean, well, back coming from back east, okay, so, I mean, DC, Maryland, Virginia, all the time. Um, North Carolina, Georgia, uh, Pennsylvania, which is interesting. Jersey, New York is always interesting. California is interesting, yeah. But yeah, I've done several different states, but I love Nevada, Texas and Florida, because it's just federal return.

Julian Rosado 25:27
So through your experience, why do you think it draws so much fear out of people?

Leaha Crawford 25:31
Because you get a paycheck. I mean, I guess because they hear horror stories too. Horror stories of you know, the IRS came in, and they took all this stuff for you, and they did this to you.

Julian Rosado 25:44
It's never good stories. Iris came in, gave us tons of money, set us free.

Leaha Crawford 25:50
You never, you know, but no, there are some people that had those stories. You know, every, every tax season is like Christmas. You know, there are people that have those stories. You know, they make a certain income level. They get earned income credits. Oh, you know, it's Christmas time around the neighborhood, because, you know, I look forward to tax season, um, and when the children get older, yo, I don't want to go now, because it's not the same, right? And they know, you know, well, my baby getting they're gonna be 17 next year, so I know this gonna be my last year being able to claim. Okay, so it's, it's again, it's perspective. But we, my clients, early on with were the EIC clients, and that was, that was maybe in the 90s, with EIC earned income credit. Oh, those are the Merry Christmas. It's Merry Christmas. It's Christmas time. But lately I have more business owners, so just training them to know that. You know, we need to pay quarterly. We need to do something different. But again, you can contact us our information. 702-382-5737, again, 702-382-5737 and Julian, I think you should join us. I think you, I think you will learn a lot. Yeah, I am learn a lot, and, yeah, it's gonna be a good time.

Julian Rosado 27:05
Yeah, yeah. Because every time it comes around, I'm always like, just, I really put it to someone else, like, you know, I just feel like, you know, it's too much. And, you know, I it, but I think it would be really good if I fully understand what I'm doing. So when it comes that time, it's Christmas time,

Leaha Crawford 27:27
hey, let's look at it, and it's right after Christmas. All right. Well, you've been listening to growth and grace. I am Leah Crawford. This is Julian Rosado, and I want to say thank you. Thank you to all of our listeners, especially over the past six years. First I was let's talk with Leah and Rhonda, and now growth and grace. Thank you for listening. Thank you for tuning in, and I look forward to talking to you next week. Peace and blessings.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai