In The Swingby CliveInitiating the Downswing“Thanks Clive, I got the DVDs on Thursday and watched them. Your teaching makes a lot of sense. But I am having trouble with the initiation of the downswing. I know you say to straighten the right arm and wrist directly down into the ball. Does that move initiate the downswing, and the body just goes along? Harvey.”Dear Harvey,Yes, you have basically

In The Swingby CliveA Mystical GameAs I say at the beginning of my new book, almost no one lacks an opinion about golf. There are a lot of sports that one can either take or leave, but for some reason the game of golf conjures up more emotion and opinion, regardless of whether you are a player, or not. Some people obsess about the game, and others obsess about maligning it. It is not uncommon to

Equine Accounting and Tax - Who Gets the House?

When an asset owned by a spouse is transferred as a result of divorce, there are no immediate tax consequences to either spouse. The one transferring title to the other spouse does not recognize any gain, even if the home may have appreciated in value since it was purchased. LIkewise, the spouse receiving the home does not recognize any income either. However, the spouse who obtains title to the home steps into the shoes of the other person when it comes to basis (generally the amount of your investment in a property for tax purposes). In effect, the spouse who winds up with the home also winds up with a potential tax bill. When the spouse that has received title to the house later sells the house, the gain on the sale (prior to exclusions) will be calculated using the original basis of the house, not including any payments that you made to your spouse as part of obtaining title. That can mean a hefty tax bill for you.

For example, Mary and John Smith buy a farm during their marriage for $600,000. At the time of divorce, the fair market value of the house is $800,000. Mary pays John $200,000 to obtain sole ownership of the property. Years later, she sells the property for $950,000. She has assumed that she will owe taxes (subject to other tax exclusions) on $150K ($950K less $600K original basis less $200K that she paid to John). Wrong! The $200K that she paid to John is not included in the tax basis of the property so she will owe taxes on $350K.

The "payment" does not just include money that you pay to your spouse. If you agree to receive the farm in the settlement and in exchange your spouse will be allowed to maintain ownership of $200K in a joint bank account, that would treated by the IRS as a payment by you to your spouse. And there are other similar situations that would be treated as a payment by you subsequent to a divorce that would not be included in the basis of the property for purposes of calculating a gain.

What does that mean to you? Your tax professional or attorney needs to make an educated guess at what your future tax liability would be on any payments you make to your spouse in the settlement and include that in the negotiations.

How you plan now can make a big difference to your wallet down the road.

5 Minute Fixes

Tax season was very busy for me this year and there were times that I felt that I didn't have time to breathe. Riding was out of the question and even routine tasks such as grocery shopping and cleaning the house seemed out of reach. One day, I was sitting at my desk daydreaming about what I wish I could be doing (how much time did you waste daydreaming you may well ask!) and I thought about an email newsletter that I get on a regular basis, called the "Profitable Horseman", written by Doug Emerson. At the top, he includes the amount of seconds it's going to take to read the newsletter (always less than a minute). I ALWAYS read his newsletter because I always have at least 42 seconds to spare in my day. 42 seconds later, I have learned something and feel that I've accomplished something worthwhile.

So I applied the same principle to my problem of feeling overwhelmed. What could I do in a relatively short period of time, that wouldn't take unnecessary time out of my schedule or put me further behind and that would give me some feeling of satisfaction? Into my life came the "5 Minute Fix". I started keeping a list of things that I could accomplish in five minutes. It might not be a completed task but a portion of a task that I could accomplish in 5 minutes. Pretty soon, I was using my travel time or time in the grocery store line (I did get there eventually!) to mentally construct this list and to figure out how to break up large tasks into manageable pieces.

People with equine businesses typically spend so much time working at their business that they aren't able to spend a lot of time working on their business. There are things on your business to-do list that you KNOW you should be working on but you just don't have the time. Try the 5 Minute Fix. Here are some tasks that may be on your list that will take no more than 5 minutes to accomplish. Add whatever else is on your list. Once you get started, you'll find creative ways to make even the biggest tasks less imposing.

1. Go to the IRS website (www.IRS.gov) and sign up for an EIN (employer identification number). If you are using your Social Security number as the tax identification number for your business, you should get an EIN to limit accessibility to your SS #.
2. Email a client to let them know how much you enjoyed working with them today or a new contact how much you enjoyed meeting them.
3. Post a success story/photo on Facebook. It's great advertising for your business and a morale builder for current clients or employees.
4. Grab all your cc receipts for business expenses for this week/month and write a short description on the back of what the expense is for. This is especially true for meals and entertainment or gift expenses. If you are audited years after you incur the expense, you will probably not remember what the receipt represents and that expense could be disallowed by the IRS.
5. Find a Youtube video that is less than 5 minutes that covers a business topic that will help your business grow - anything from using QuickBooks to Social Media marketing.
6. Go to the website for your state Farm Bureau, Horseman's Council or Ag Dept - always a good source of information for horse businesses.

My first "fix" was to vacuum a small rug in my hallway - just the rug! No more than 5 minutes including getting the vacuum out and putting it away again. Not a huge deal in the scheme of life but it was something that I accomplished in the time that I had.

This article was mostly written in 5 minute fix fashion (which I hope doesn't dissuade from giving the idea a try).

In The Swingby CliveCollapseIn recent weeks and in significant tournaments we have witnessed two fairly monumental collapses by seasoned, veteran, golf professionals. I think there are perhaps two things we can learn from this; that absolutely anyone can falter, and, pressure is what you decide it is. First, we saw Australian Adam Scott bogey the last four holes at the British Open to hand Ernie

In The Swingby CliveNadir“Clive,I have reviewed the DVDs again.  A lot of it is very helpful… I have tried to employ the techniques in the DVD and I’m now breaking 110 occasionally (better than before where I struggled to break 120 consistently).I do appreciate your very analytical approach, the physics, the super-slow motion photography.  One aspect of the successful golf swing that you do not