Why has it been a year since the last post?

Could it be that I've not published an entry because the tax code has not changed?
No, I'm sure there have been a lot of tax law changes in the past year.

Could it be that I've lost interest in this blog or the tax law?
No, that is not the case either.

So what's the reason?

I am only a part-time CPA because my health doesn't allow me to work full-time as I would like to do and as I enjoyed doing before I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.  As you might imagine I've had a very up and down career.

My income consists of annuity payments from investments I was lucky enough to acquire as a disability stop gap before I was diagnosed.  But time and the stock market have lowered these payments a great deal from where they started.  I still make a small amount of income from my CPA practice but it's difficult to grow a practice when health gets in the way.  New clients want a healthy, strong CPA that they can depend on in case of trouble.  When the IRS comes knocking, or more likely sends a registered letter, the client wants the CPA to jump right on the case -- not have to schedule it in around health issues.

It's also difficult to know how to charge a new client.  Would a healthy CPA have taken this long to finish this task?  Was I slower because it's difficult for me to concentrate and I'm tired?  I don't want to over bill or do a poor job for a client who expects and deserves only my best.

So, last year I got the brilliant idea of giving a series of lectures to small business people about what to expect in the way of taxes.  Of course, they could read books, but I found books too general.  Books covered too many topics that had nothing to do with starting a small business in Tennessee.

Alas, the only one who thought this was a good idea was me.  No one signed up to come to my seminars.  Therefore last August I was faced with some very difficult decisions.  Did I go out of business completely for a year, have no income, and then try for Social Security Disability?  A pretty big risk.  No guarantee I'd quality and after a year, my practice would certainly be dead.  Even my most loyal clients would have found another CPA in that time and clients don't switch CPAs easily or quickly.

I had taken on little jobs here and there, my most exciting was stripping furniture at a local upholstery shop.  I really loved that job.  I could set my own hours, work 10 hours a week and make the extra income I needed.  But when the summer came, I could not find a time when it was cool enough for me to get my work done.  By the time fall and cooler temperatures came around I was eager to try my new seminar business and all my extra time and energy went into preparing for that.  I wrote lectures and prepared handouts.  I practiced my delivery and attended Toast Masters and rented a venue.

I learned a lot but nothing that would help me make money in the long run or the short run.  More bills were coming due.  My line of credit was almost maxed out.  When all seemed lost, the local county library received the funding to hire two new part-time librarians and I applied for one of the jobs.  I needed a job that had no stress, didn't require a long commute, and that I felt competent to do.  I was very lucky to be hired.

So that's what I've been doing.  I'm going to try and keep the blog updated more than once a year now that my finances are stabilized.  Sorry to be away for so long

And I'm going to change or widen the blog topics.  I'm still going to cover tax issues, and feel free to ask questions if you have any, but I'm also going to discuss how to live well on a limited income.  I'm looking forward to it, I hope you are, too.