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Tuesday April 19, 2016

// April 19th, 2016 // Comments Off on Tuesday April 19, 2016 // Daily News

Wall Street banking revenue is in free-fall, and here’s why

CNBC.com

Fixed income, currencies and commodities trading declines hit Wall Street hard in a volatile first quarter.
Goldman Sachs reported first-quarter earnings Tuesday morning that while crossing a low bar also saw a 47 percent drop in fixed income, currencies and commodities, or FICC, to $1.66 billion year-over-year. It was part of a report that showed revenue growth tumbling 40 percent, from $10.62 billion from the year-ago period to $6.34 billion in the first three months of 2016.
With growing uncertainty on the horizon in the second quarter, the FICC struggle could continue. In part thanks to more central banks embracing negative interest rates, S&P Global Markets Intelligence equity analyst Kenneth Leon said more FICC pain could continue on Wall Street in 2016.
“If there were an area to come back, it would be equities trading first,” he said.
Morgan Stanley’s trading revenue from debt, currencies and commodities saw revenue plunge more than 50 percent to $873 million, the bank said in its earnings announcement Monday.
Equities trading also slid year-over-year at each bank, but not nearly as much.
Morgan Stanley said in its earnings the drop reflects “lower levels of client activity in rates and foreign exchange and a challenging credit environment,” as well as the divestiture of commodity businesses.
Other banks that reported earnings last week saw their FICC desks plagued by similar problems. FICC desks’ challenges stem from a number of issues to start 2016: their relative out-performance in the first quarter a year ago, central banks’ maintenance of low interest rates and international instability.
JPMorgan Chase revealed a decline of 13 percent in fixed income markets and Bank of America said last week it saw FICC fall 17 percent. Each saw equities trading businesses post a stronger quarter than their FICC businesses.
Bank of America CFO Paul Donofrio said he thinks the second quarter is starting off far better than the first, but that volatility still could remain ahead. In late June, the UK vote on potentially exiting the European Union could again vex markets.
“March felt, I think, a lot better than certainly January and February,” he said last week on the bank’s earnings call, adding, on the Brexit, “there’s going to be volatility potentially around the vote and around any changes after the vote.”
Citigroup also saw an 11 percent drop in fixed income markets trading compared to the previous year, the bank announced in its earnings. While Citi’s FICC losses were lower than other banks’, it saw greater losses in equities trading, an anomaly for the quarter.

Today’s Inspiration

Avoid Worldly Competition

by Joyce Meyer – posted April 19, 2016

Let us not become vainglorious and self-conceited, competitive and challenging and provoking and irritating to one another, envying and being jealous of one another.
—Galatians 5:26

According to the world’s system, the best place to be is ahead of everyone else. Popular thinking would say that we should try to get to the top no matter who we have to hurt on the way up. But the Bible teaches us that there is no such thing as real peace until we are delivered from the need to compete with others.

Even in what is supposed to be considered “fun games,” we often see competition get so out of balance that people end up arguing and hating one another rather than simply relaxing and having a good time together. Naturally, human beings don’t play games to lose; everyone is going to do his best. But when a person cannot enjoy a game unless he is winning, he definitely has a problem—possibly a deep-rooted one that is causing other problems in many areas of his life.

We should definitely do our best on the job; there is nothing wrong with wanting to do well and advance in our chosen professions. But I encourage you to remember that promotion for the believer comes from God and not from man. You and I don’t need to play worldly games to get ahead. God will give us favor with Him and with others if we will do things His way (see Proverbs 3:3-4).

What God does for you or for me may not be what He does for someone else, but we must remember what Jesus said to Peter, “Don’t be concerned about what I choose to do with someone else—you follow Me” (see John 21:22).

Wednesday April 13, 2016

// April 13th, 2016 // Comments Off on Wednesday April 13, 2016 // Daily News

Last-minute tax moves worth thousands
Susie Poppick

When you run your own company, tax time can be frustrating. Getting documents in order takes hours out of your already busy schedule, and giving your hard-earned cash to Uncle Sam is never fun.
Not surprisingly, 60 percent of small-business owners say administrative burdens, like paperwork and confusing rules, are the worst part of filing — even more so than the financial cost of taxes, according to a recent survey by the National Small Business Association. Almost half of small-business owners file under extension, the survey found.
If you plan to file on time, the good news is, there are still lots of last-minute steps you can take before April 18 to reduce the taxes you and your business owe — possibly by thousands of dollars. And many require simply scrounging up some old receipts or bank statements.
“It’s worth blocking out a little extra time to review your check register or credit card statements before you file,” said Indianapolis-based accountant John Wheeler. “You might qualify for deductions, thanks to expenses you totally forgot about.”Here are some of the best entrepreneur tax moves you can make at the eleventh hour.

Entrepreneurs with a new company can deduct from their taxable income a full $10,000 — $5,000 for start-up expenses, like “investigating the creation of a business,” and $5,000 for organizational costs, like incorporating — as long as the total spending to launch the business was less than $50,000.
Other eligible start-up costs include identifying potential business sites, travel costs to find suppliers, training programs for employees and accounting and legal fees, said New York-based tax attorney David Hryck. But any spending above $50,000 (and up to $55,000 maximum) will reduce your deduction, and remaining costs must be amortized over 15 years, he said.
The government also lets you deduct the costs of research and experimentation to develop or improve a product, formula, invention, process or technique. The costs of getting your own patent — including attorneys’ fees for the application — can be deducted, but not costs from obtaining another person’s patent.
“The R&D deduction and credit are not just for inventors or people with lab coats,” said accountant Hank Hurst. “It’s for innovation of all flavors.”
While the R&D deduction is relatively simple for small businesses to take, doing additional calculations to claim the “innovation” or R&D tax credit can be more complex but rewarding for entrepreneurs, said Jacksonville, Florida, attorney and tax professional Jessie Seaman. The credit reduces taxes dollar for dollar, and entrepreneurs can generate the biggest credit by ramping up research activities over time, she said.
Spending on advertising, promotions, consumer surveys or quality-control testing unfortunately does not count as “research” costs for the deduction. Also, the IRS warns that individuals or corporations taking the above deductions may still owe the alternative minimum tax (AMT).
If you made some big purchases for your company this year, like equipment, computer software, office furniture or certain facilities, you are in luck.
Updated IRS rules let you write off these purchases with more generous caps than in previous years: You can deduct up to $500,000 in eligible spending as long as your total applicable property costs are less than $2 million.
“Let’s say you have a hardware business and you spend $200,000 on materials for a new installation to make your paint department more appealing to shoppers,” said Wheeler. “You used to be able to write off only part of that in one year, but now you can deduct the whole amount.”
With the new simplified home-office calculation, you can take a deduction of $5 per square foot up to 300 square feet of office space, for a total of $1,500.
But Wheeler said it is worthwhile to try using the old method of calculating the deduction as well, since it might actually save you more money. Using that system, you first add up all the costs of your home — including mortgage interest, insurance, utilities, repairs and depreciation — and then divide that by whatever portion of your house your office takes up in square footage.
Just remember that your office really must be used regularly and exclusively for business, said Seaman.
“If I am calling something my office, it can’t also have a TV and PlayStation that my kid comes in and uses,” she said
Contributions to traditional, SIMPLE and SEP individual retirement accounts can be made right up until April 18 and still count toward reducing your taxable 2015 income.
Likewise, you have until tax day to put money in a health savings account (HSA) so it can count as a 2015 deduction, said Wheeler.
Just remember that your total 2015 contributions to all of your traditional and Roth IRAs cannot be more than $5,500, or $6,500 if you’re age 50 or older. The IRS lets you put all net earnings from self-employment into a SIMPLE IRA, up to $12,500, plus either a 2 percent fixed contribution or a 3 percent matching contribution. You can contribute up to 25 percent of net earnings up to $53,000 to a SEP plan.
For HSAs, you can stash away a maximum of $3,350 if you are an individual with self-only coverage, or $6,650 for family coverag
You can save on taxes if you set up retirement accounts for your staff this year. Small-business employers can claim a tax credit for the costs of starting a SEP or SIMPLE IRA or qualified workplace retirement plan.
You qualify if you had 100 or fewer employees who received at least $5,000 in pay this past year, plus if you meet a few other requirements. The credit is worth 50 percent of your spending on setting up, administering and educating your employees about the retirement plan — up to a maximum of $500 per year.
However, the IRS says you can’t both deduct the start-up costs and claim the credit for the same expenses.
Whatever you do, don’t forget to review your account statements from 2015.
Doing so can remind you of easily overlooked business deductions, like those for the miles you drive in your car for business, interest paid on auto loans, apps and software, continuing education and even ATM fees charged on your business bank account.
The maximum deduction for a business gift to a client or customer is only $25, said Wheeler, but if you give a client tickets to the theater, a game or event, the deduction could qualify as “business entertainment” and you can deduct up to 50 percent of the cost.
Finally, keep in mind the Work Opportunity Credit, said Seaman, which helps reduce taxes for employers who hire workers from certain eligible groups, including employees who receive food stamps, were previously unemployed or are disabled veterans.

Today’s Inspiration

Sufficient Grace

by Joyce Meyer – posted April 13, 2016

…My grace (My favor and loving-kindness and mercy) is enough for you [sufficient against any danger and enables you to bear the trouble manfully]; for My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and show themselves most effective in [your] weakness.…
—2 Corinthians 12:9

Do you ever wonder why God does not always deliver you from your bondage and problems immediately? The reason is because only the Lord knows everything that needs to be done in the lives of His children—and the perfect timing for it to be done.

You are not always delivered from your distress at the precise moment you call on the name of the Lord. Sometimes you must endure for a while, be patient and continue in faith. Thank God, during those times in which the Lord decides for whatever reason not to deliver you right away, He always gives the grace and strength you need to press on toward eventual victory.