by Mike Strauss | Aug 25, 2026 | Community Associations
No. A low monthly assessment tells you what your community collects, not what it needs. Associations with below-average fees are often the ones carrying underfunded reserves. That gap doesn’t just disappear; it resurfaces later as a special assessment or a maintenance...
by Mike Strauss | Jun 23, 2026 | Privately Held Businesses
If you own a closely held business, the way you pay yourself is one of the first things the IRS will question if your return ever gets a second look. Reasonable compensation, S-corp distributions, payroll versus dividends. These are not bookkeeping details. They are...
by Mike Strauss | Jun 16, 2026 | Individuals & Trusts
The estate and gift tax planning conversation just changed. OBBBA, the federal tax bill signed in 2025, made the federal estate and gift tax exemption permanent at $15 million per person, indexed to inflation. That removed the urgent deadline many families were...
by Mike Strauss | Jun 9, 2026 | Community Associations
What Does a Reserve Study Actually Tell a Board, and What Should You Do With It? A reserve study tells your board roughly how much money the community should be setting aside each year so that big-ticket repairs and replacements, things like roofs, siding, paving,...
by Mike Strauss | Jan 26, 2026 | Privately Held Businesses
The Strategic Power of Financial Consulting For many privately held business owners, the relationship with an accountant begins and ends with compliance. Taxes, year-end reporting, historical statements are all necessary tasks, to be sure, but ultimately...
