Nesmith Rogers Financial Consulting Announces New Partnerships

As our client based has grown, our conversations with our clients  have become increasingly more complex.  We have discovered clients are in need of more innovative solutions to meet their needs.  Our clients have families, growing business with talented employees, estate planning concerns, succession planning needs, and etc.  As a result,  Nesmith Rogers Financial Consulting is proud to announce new partnerships with Legend Financial, RPM Business Solutions, and Innovative Concepts.  These partnerships will allow Nesmith Rogers to expand its platform to assist our clients with more financial solutions and compound the tax savings they are already achieving. 

What Does This Means For You

This alignment will allow us to help our clients with legacy planning, attract and keep talented employees, protect their business interest, and achieve even more tax savings.  In keeping with Nesmith Rogers tradition, the priority remains to find solutions that legally and ethically reduce our clients tax burden, and now, these alliances will assist in allowing the opportunity to provide solutions with a treasure chest of financial solutions. 

Legend Financial

Legend Financial comes to us with a combined experience that spans several decades.  From Insurance Planning to Financial Advising, they will allow us to offer 1st class service to our clients.  Lines of business includes services such top-rated Annuity Plans, Life Insurance Policy Analysis and Planning, Life Settlements, Long Term Care, Disability, Structured Settlements, and soon to come, Real Estate Services and Property & Casualty.  You can visit our website at www.rognesconsulting.com to see get details on the various lines of business.

RPM Business Solutions 

The staff at RPM have spent over three decades working with hundreds of companies across many industries from Legal, Medical, Non-Profits, and Sales Organizations to help them reach their full potential by focusing in the areas of helping your company offer the right products, target marketing, staff management, profit management, and business processes.  What they have learns through extensive research and experience is that every business wants to be great, but has not developed a blueprint to get there.  With the help of the “Bar Raiser” Jeff Earlywine and his team, you company achieve its maximum level of efficiency.  If you are at a point in your business when you are wondering, “What could I be doing better?”, “Do I have the right people working for me?”, or “Why are we not doing better?”, you need to speak with Jeff and his staff to so you can Raise the Bar on your company’s standard of success. 

Innovative Concepts

Innovative Concepts offers its clients and partners a unique opportunity to solve many problems and issues which face wealthy individuals and business owners. We all know the problems: how to provide for retirement, how to sell the business when we want to, and how to keep our very best employees from becoming our very best competition. 

We know the problems, we just don’t know what the solutions are. 

Our firm offers a unique concept called Asset Backed Insurance Lending (ABIL). ABIL is not some new unproven concept that just sounds good as a pun-friendly acronym. It is a concept that has been in use since 1966; beginning in the United Kingdom, and in 2000 was brought to the US. Innovative Concepts was the very first firm to implement this concept and has worked with clients using it for the past 18 years. 

Simply put, ABIL allows the client to solve the problems outlined above (and others) without having to impact cash flow. 

Here are few quick examples of how this works: 

We worked with a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) from CA in 2007. They were having a great year and wanted to make sure that they kept their CEO, CFO, and President in place and did not want to lose them to their competition. We instituted an ABIL plan that provided retirement for each executive, and we were able to use dormant real estate assets to provide collateral to create a fully-funded Non-qualified Benefit Plan. The company went through a very rough patch during The Great Recession, but because of the plan we put in place, was able to retain these three executives, who over the past ten years has taken this company to new highs in the marketplace. 

In 2015, we created a plan for a physician in Houston, TX who works in the emergency department in two area hospitals. He wanted to make sure that he had a retirement plan that would allow him to retire at age 67, while also protecting his three children. Up until this point, he had mainly invested in real estate in the Houston area. We were able to use dormant assets from another insurance contract to institute an ABIL Plan. When Hurricane Harvey struck the Houston area, his other retirement investments suffered greatly and will take years to recover. However, his ABIL Plan was experiencing double-digit growth as the markets recovered. The ABIL plan uses a unique tool, that grows with an upmarket, does not lose money in a down market, and locks in its growth annually. 

Interested clients who are open to innovative ideas and would like to solve these kinds of problems with minimal costs are invited to spend an hour with us and learn more. This is a unique concept and is not offered by other firms. In fact, most of the clients we work with had seen many other concepts, but they didn’t work the same, and in long run left much to be desired. The investment of an hour may save thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars, while creating millions for future use. Please contact our partners at Nesmith Rogers Financial Consulting, and take advantage of this learning opportunity, to see if it is right for you.  

D & B Capital

D & B Capital was started by Brian Hartman in 2018. With 30+ years commercial banking experience, you deserve to have Brian in your corner.

Why would a business choose us for financing for their SBA loan? Because we have over a hundred lenders that give us a wide array of options for the borrower including start-ups and multiple store financing.

We have:

- Non-bank SBA lenders that do NOT require collateral for approval (up to $5 Million dollars BUSINESS ONLY and no Goodwill Cap)

-Down to a 580 Score if Real Estate backed

- We can do second store financing less than a year after opening your first location

- We have the most AGGRESSIVE 504 options around and our rates are EXCELLENT!

- We can operate in both franchise and NON Franchise businesses, even special purpose properties and businesses and, we can do most with only 10% down (except start-ups which always need 20% for a first location start-up)

-Oh yeah, we do START-UPS as well!

And so much more. Check out our website www.dandbcapital.net for many other examples of what we can do and if you are looking to start or expand your business, or buy your next building, give me a call at 561-633-8971.

We have money and we do not charge ANYTHING to get you to that term sheet. We NEVER CHARGE APPLICATION FEES that are NON-refundable. That's right, we are the ONLY NO RISK OPTION IN COMMERCIAL. With the right docs we can underwrite for terms in 48 hours

For more information on this exciting news or other questions, free to visit www.rognesconsulting.com.

One of These Things Is Not Like the Other: Land Conservation Easements vs. Historical Preservation Easements

In our dealings with individuals wanting to use a Land Conservation Easement to lower their taxes, clients and/or their CPA’s/Accountant’s/Advisors will often take it upon themselves to do their own research on Land Conservation Easements.  We actually encourage our clients to do so.  However, many times they will come back confused about the difference between a Land Conservation Easement and a Historical Preservation Easement.  First, there is a significant difference between the terms “conservation” and “preservation”.  Typically conservation refers to conserving a natural resource such as land or water.  While preservation typically refers to preserving a building, structure, or object. 

Obviously, there is similarities in both strategies in terms of benefits, functions, and risk.  But, as you will see, there are vast differences.

So let’s start with a definition of both:

·        What is a Land Conservation Easement?

o   A Land Conservation Easement is a private action taken by a landowner and a qualified land protection organization which recorded at the courthouse which will provide for permanent conservation of the land by restricting development, commercially or otherwise. 

o   They are considered by the IRS under section 170(h) to be a charitable donation.

o   The owner maintains ownership of the land and can be bought or sold, however, it still cannot be commercially developed.

o   In order to maintain its preservation status it must satisfy at least two of the IRS’s criteria.

§  Preservation of existing natural environments, views, and/or agricultural uses are most common.

o   When one donates a conservation easement that is qualified, they may become eligible for a federal tax deduction equal to the value of their donation in exchange for giving up their right to develop the land.

§  The value of the donation is determined by a qualified appraiser.  The calculation is determined by taking current value of the land and subtracting from the value of the land at its “highest and best use”. 

·        For example the highest and best use of a property could be a commercial complex or residential community.

§  According to legislature pass in December of 2015, one could use this type of federal tax deduction to deduct up to 50% of their Adjusted Gross Income and lower their tax burden.

·        Residents in states that allow for itemized deductions could also see additional benefits at the state tax level.

o   Often times and owner fully use the tax benefits because they are so great.  Therefore, the owner of qualified conservation easement could also choose to share their benefits by raising capital from accredited investors allowing them to become a partner in the benefit of using the tax deduction the same way the owner does.

o   Risks

§  The primary risk comes down to the appraisal.

·        The appraiser should be a highly skilled and qualified appraiser that if needed, could defend his appraisal in federal proceedings.

·        The IRS has seen abuses of this tax provision that compromise the policy Congress intended to promote. We have seen taxpayers, often encouraged by promoters and armed with questionable appraisals, take inappropriately large deductions for easements.

·        It is of great importance that the appraisals are done conservatively in a way that can be defended in the case of an audit.

§  It must be a legitimate Conservation Easement.  Meaning that the land must have something worth conserving.

·        Under no circumstance must the charity or owners be allowed to modify the easement or develop the land in a manner inconsistent with the easement’s restrictions.

§  If you decide to partner into a Land Conservation Easement, be sure that it is done correctly with a team experienced in the formation, documentation, and valuation of these types of projects.

o   Financial Calculation

§  Current Land Value $1,000,000 vs. “Highest and Best Use” Value $5,000,000 = Deduction Value $4,000,000

§  Based on this calculation, if an accredited investor bought into a Land Conservation Easement partnership he/she could see a $4 deduction for every $1 invested.  Example: $100,000 invested = $400,000 deduction

·        What is a Historical Preservation Easement?

o   A Historical Preservation Easement is a historic property/building that must be designated by the National Registry of Historic Places in order to permanently protect it against demolition and/or neglect by future owners is through a preservation easement.

§  The owner of the building must agree both to maintain its historical significance, within the areas of architecture, archaeology, engineering, culture or history, and that they retain the historic designs, materials, workmanship and sense of time and place.

§  Like the Land Conservation Easement, even if the property is sold and passed on to heirs, it still must maintain its historical significance.

o   A historical property may still be income-producing.  This means that the building can still be leased out per its zoning allowance.

§  For example, the building can be multi-purposed and leased out to tenants both for business or residential or both depending on how the property is zoned.

o   Like the Land Conservation Easement, there could be significant tax benefits to a Historical Preservation Easement exchange for donating the building to charity and giving up the right to fully renovate the building façade and all.  Typically not as large a deduction, however, when combined with the possibility of income production from leasing out the property, the financial benefit can even out.

§  The IRS definition of historically important land areas includes:

·        Independently significant land areas, including any related historic resources that meet National Register Criteria for Evaluation.

·        Land areas within registered historic districts, including buildings that contribute to the significance of the historic district.

·        Land areas adjacent to a property individually listed in the National Register of Historic Places (but not within a historic district) where physical or environmental features of the land area contribute to the historic or cultural integrity of the historic property.

o   Also, like the Land Conservation Easement, one could share the financial and tax benefits of the Historical Preservation Easement by partnering with accredited investors who wish to partake in the benefits of participating in such a project.

o   Risk

§  As with the Land Conservation Easement.  The appraisal is very important.

·        Must also be done by a highly skilled and qualified appraiser.

§  If the facade of a building was already subject to building restrictions under local zoning ordinances, the taxpayers may, in fact, be giving up nothing, or very little. A taxpayer cannot give up a right that he or she does not have and therefore could be subject to back pay and penalties.

§  If not done correctly a building can lose its historical significance, thus voiding many of the financial benefits.  This is why a strong easement is very important.

§  There are a lot more hoops to jump through, so it is of the up-most importance to have a great team of experienced advocates to work with in designing these projects.

o   Financial Calculation

§  Current Building Value $1,000,000 vs. Renovated Value $4,000,000 = Charitable Deduction $3,000,000 plus income from leasing out the property

§  Based on this calculation, if an accredited investor bought into a Historic Preservation Easement partnership he/she could see a $3 deduction for every $1 invested.  Example $100,000 invested = $300,000 deduction, plus a share in any income production.

While both of the strategies for Conservation and Preservation are great ways to protect our lands and history.  The Historical Preservation Partnership has been a little more scrutinized, however, with proper documentation and careful planning either of these could be a great benefit with the Land Conservation Easement partnerships providing more upfront value versus the Historic Preservation Easement partnerships providing more back-end value.

It goes without saying, but be sure to discuss this with your tax advisor before participating in either investment.

"When Doves Cry"...Estate Taxes can hurt your loved ones and mark your legacy.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/little-red-corvette-repossessed-tax-bill-could-slash-millions-prince-n587716

Numbers Don't Lie...Americans do not take advantage of the tax code and vastly overpay their taxes.

Years ago I wrote an article on how we, as Americans, have not fully used the tax code to our advantage.  Warren Buffet once made a joke that was actually true.  He said that he paid less in taxes than his secretary.  Even he is for tax reform, he even admits that it is simply good business to take advantage of every opportunity to lower one's tax burden.

Numbers Don't Lie...income not deductions a major factor in rate of IRS audits

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2016/04/12/worried-irs-audit-read/82075438/

Most people are afraid to take the deductions that the government allows for fear of an audit.  The truth is that as long as your deduction is legitimate and you have the proper documentation you should not fear.  There are statistics that show that your level of income is the primary motivator behind an audit.  The second motivator is incorrect information on your returns such as addresses, social security numbers, income numbers not matching a W-2 or K-1.  A distant third is specific deductions.  Check out this USA Today article from April 2016.

Nesmith Rogers attends PDS

We were very excited to be invited back to PDS.  We had great time visiting with some of our current clients and gaining new ones.  We always enjoy our time at the PDS Super-Convention because we come away with new ideas and meet interesting people.  We also would like to thank Dan Benamoz , Carol Bebout, and the folks at PDS for another great experience.