How Do You Have Your Accounts Set Up?

[bboman23]

I am really wanting some tips or tricks any of you may have on budgeting/organizing your money/deposits? For example, do you have all your deposits go into one account and then have a separate one for personal? Do you let it all go into one account and then pay yourself a set amount weekly? Do you just keep a certain amount in your business account and move the rest to savings/separate account? Or do you use a whole different method. I currently use the two accounts and just pay myself x number of dollars per week for bills, groceries, ect. Gas and leads come out of the business account that my deposits go into. Just know there has to be someone on this forum that has some awesome idea on how to handle this.

Example:
Business account...lets say it has 1,500 in it and throughout the week I get another 2,000 deposited
Personal account...Friday when the week is over I put $500 per week into it which pays for bills, food, entertainment, ect.
If business account gets 5,000 or so in it, I move all of the money except 2500 out of it and put into a savings.

*This is how I have been running it for now, let me know what system you use or how I may could fix mine*
Also is there a system you use to track your costs, profit, ect.... I've heard people talk about this from time to time. Would like to know what it is.

Thanks in advance!

 

[insuranceconceptscindy]

Invest in Quickbooks. Pay yourself a salary, and bonuses.

I see a lot of agents not treat their business as an actual business. Keep your business expenses separate from your personal. Come up with a number to pay yourself, but set some aside for taxes and marketing/office/admin expenses.
It makes tax time so much easier.

 

[bboman23]

Thank you for your advice. I really need to look into quick books.

 

[dan21]

I like Quicken because to me it seems simpler, less expensive and one can still track expenses very easy.
My 2 cents worth.

 

[Stephen]

I pay a CPA to do it for me

 

[bboman23]

What all does your CPA do for you? I've thought about that route as well

 

[tomoverton0123]

I am really wanting some tips or tricks any of you may have on budgeting/organizing your money/deposits? For example, do you have all your deposits go into one account and then have a separate one for personal? Do you let it all go into one account and then pay yourself a set amount weekly? Do you just keep a certain amount in your business account and move the rest to savings/separate account? Or do you use a whole different method. I currently use the two accounts and just pay myself x number of dollars per week for bills, groceries, ect. Gas and leads come out of the business account that my deposits go into. Just know there has to be someone on this forum that has some awesome idea on how to handle this.

Example:
Business account...lets say it has 1,500 in it and throughout the week I get another 2,000 deposited
Personal account...Friday when the week is over I put $500 per week into it which pays for bills, food, entertainment, ect.
If business account gets 5,000 or so in it, I move all of the money except 2500 out of it and put into a savings.

*This is how I have been running it for now, let me know what system you use or how I may could fix mine*
Also is there a system you use to track your costs, profit, ect.... I've heard people talk about this from time to time. Would like to know what it is.

Thanks in advance!

Look for a good and reasonable CPA. Look into a LLC and maybe an S-Corp inside the LLC. Run your business like a business. There is an iTunes app called ExpenseTracker. It's $5 and it's wonderful. Every time you have a business expense enter it into the app and it will allow you to take a picture of the receipt. It keeps track of your mileage. You can save all this and export it into an excel file. It breaks everything down into different categories. CPA's love it and it makes their job easier and less expensive. It takes about 90 seconds to enter the info and take the picture. Total it up monthly and send to your CPA.

 

[bboman23]

That's excellent advice. I'll definitely look in to this.

 

[SportsNut]

All income hits one acct.
50% of comm's rec'd is moved into an escrow acct weekly; escrow acct @ same bank, money moves electronically.
The escrow acct is used for taxes and marketing costs.
The 50% remaining is essentially net pay.
This type of discipline is paramount if you wish to survive long term in the biz.
CPA... I'd pass on that; just find yourself an EA (enrolled agent, meaning they are qualified to appear before the IRS) and they will be cheaper than a CPA by quite a margin.
Finally - Make lots of money and live on less than you make!!!

 

[bboman23]

Good advice also. Question sports...if I buy tele market leads every week...would you still move 50 percent into a different account? You said the money you move is for taxes and marketing. My lead money will come straight out of my account so if I use your method I wouldn't think I would need to move 50 percent...i'm not new to final expense. I've been selling a while but my strategy with the money was always all over the place so i'm trying to get it on a good system. That way if I make 10k one week or 20 dollars, I still pay for leads for the next week and pay myself the same amount weekly...could be a better way to do this though. thanks for the help so far...learning a lot