Jump to content
ATX Community

N/T - Post-filing season


jklcpa

Recommended Posts

A little south of Winchester.  I would love to connect with more tax pros here.  I cannot imagine how you solo practitioners do it.  I've always worked for a firm with other tax pros to bounce thing off of and help or get help when needed.  I belong to both NAEA and NATP, and over the years in CT I got to know lots of people from attending seminars together.  I am working remotely for the tax firm in CT where I've been for 18 years or so and interact with my colleagues there, but here in VA I don't know a single person in this crazy business.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

51 minutes ago, Sara EA said:

I cannot imagine how you solo practitioners do it. 

I worked in very small firms for 13+ years before going solo starting in 1996. It's hard at times, but this group keeps me fresh with the current discussions and questions. I feel fortunate to have had some great experience and then had to be confident enough to make my own decisions and research. If I make mistakes, I own them.  I haven't seen any of my peers in person more than 10 years, ever since my local CPA breakfast club disbanded and around the same time that webinars came about and were accepted as group CPE. 

Do you have anything like a small practitioners group in your area?  We have that as a subgroup of my state's CPA society, but I've never attended. Maybe I should because I know that many of the breakfast club are a part of that. 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, Sara EA said:

A little south of Winchester.  I would love to connect with more tax pros here.  I cannot imagine how you solo practitioners do it.  I've always worked for a firm with other tax pros to bounce thing off of and help or get help when needed.  I belong to both NAEA and NATP, and over the years in CT I got to know lots of people from attending seminars together.  I am working remotely for the tax firm in CT where I've been for 18 years or so and interact with my colleagues there, but here in VA I don't know a single person in this crazy business.

Maybe we have not met personally, but you know me on this board.  I am in Rocky Mount, VA which is just south of Roanoke.  A bit away from you but in the same state.  The Virginia chapter of EA is fairly active, but unfortunately you are not terribly close to any of the local chapters.  I am not sure if you would be closer to the Fredericksburg or Northern Virginia chapters of VASEA.  But since most of us are meeting via ZOOM or just holding webinars right now, you can be participate with any of the chapters.  Blue Ridge (the local chapter I belong to) is having a webinar at noon on Wednesday the 26th, with a short Zoom meeting afterwards if you would like to join us. The information should be on the VASEA website. 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gail I was just in Rocky mount on my way to Marine Corp base at Camp Lejune. Nice town. I will be going back down Next Thurs or Friday. Whats a good place to eat? I usually travel by interstate 95.

Sara PM me as to where you are. Maybe can stop and touch base one day. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gee, I'm up here in CT and have taken multiple VASEA webinars these last two years. They do a great job. I'm a fan of Knox Wimberly.

That's been a benefit of this long-lasting pandemic, that there are great instructors, great courses, being offered online. So, we can take a class that might be too far away &/or too expensive (hotel room, meals, travel, etc.) if it were held in person, learn from an instructor who might not travel to our area or be too expensive for my budget. Over the last 15 months, I took courses where I wanted the topic but knew little about the instructor; but I was willing to give it a try for the small price (sometimes free). I've found instructors that way who I really, really like, great teachers with great handouts and great at reading all the pages of new laws and outlining them so I can understand. Knox Wimberly, Kathy Morgan, Tony Nitti, John Sheeley and any panel he gathers.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Lion EA, not sure if you skimmed passed the part where Sara said she misses the in-person interaction of working in an office with others and meeting peers at live seminars compared to how she now works remotely from home since moving to VA.  Finding quality CPE wasn't her issue.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is about post-season activities, and mine are still preparing returns on extension and taking webinars. I've been enjoying meeting and learning from tax preparers all over the country. That's how I manage working in a home office by myself, interacting with all of you and others online.

But, I did want Sara to know how much I enjoyed meeting online and learning from VASEA members, such as Knox, Eric Duncan, and others, and hope she takes time to meet them at live functions now that she's in VA or even online.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/21/2021 at 10:52 AM, TAXMAN said:

Gail I was just in Rocky mount on my way to Marine Corp base at Camp Lejune. Nice town. I will be going back down Next Thurs or Friday. Whats a good place to eat? I usually travel by interstate 95.

Sara PM me as to where you are. Maybe can stop and touch base one day. 

If you were traveling on 95, I think that you were probably in Rocky Mount, NC instead of Rocky Mount, VA.  Our closest interstate is 81, unless and until they build 77, and it does not actually run through Rocky Mount. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, joanmcq said:

Tom, I ended up moving to Stagecoach because that’s where I found my dream house. 

  Must be some house...that area is a little isolated and very desert, except with snow.  Are you building a client list out there?   Hanging on to your CA client base?   Both?   Not meaning to pry, but I am getting close to moving as well, and I wonder how you keep your clients happy.

Tom
Modesto, CA

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/18/2021 at 7:32 PM, BulldogTom said:

I would kill or die for a home like Rita has, it is one of the most memorable homes and properties I have ever visited.   While we were there, I just drove around the country and every place I looked felt like I could make it my home.   Been to Nashville a couple of times and loved it.   Been to Memphis, it was so-so.   But everywhere in the country that I went was green and beautiful.

Tom
Modesto, CA

Tom, come visit Tennessee and stop in to see me in Manchester.  I can show you around, even take you to Rita's town.  Middle Tennessee is exploding with people from all over the country.  Extreme Western part of Virginia I visit quite often and is gorgeous, much like extreme Eastern Kentucky.  My cousin lives in Vacaville, CA and is dying to move.  In the last month, 3 neighbors on his block have moved out.  One to AZ, another to CO, another to ID.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

West Virginia has been mentioned, and the timbre of this post is somewhat out-of-ordinary.  Gorgeous mountains, but as far as a moving destination, probably weak on communications and infrastructure. 

West Virginia reflects the stereotype of Appalachian poverty.  It is real, indeed many towns have only a few brick buildings aside from maybe a post office or govt social security office.  Black lung disease from the coal mines is a reality.  But there is always an untold story.  I would like to focus on one area, McDowell County, although much of WV is very much like McDowell.

A civic map of WV looks very much like a bulb from a spray bottle.  At the very bottom of the "bulb" is McDowell county.  A recent demographic statistic indicated the per capita income there was the lowest of any county in the US.  But along with this bleak perspective, over 90% of the homes are owned outright, partially because banks won't loan money there, and partially because the population has been in these homes for generations.  Most of the people at a low income level have no loan service digging into their incomes.  As such the people there are fiercely independent and self-reliant.

The county seat is Welch, a town built upon straight up-and-down mountain country.  The buildings are old and in bad repair.  You can get a glimpse of Welch if you have Google Earth, and can see that the houses and streets are built on top of each other.  Although the movie was filmed in Petros, TN (another coal town), McDowell County was the home of the "Rocket Boys" from the movie "October Sky" (might have been Jake Gyllenhall's first).  The star, Homer Hickam, who became a NASA engineer, had a real-life family pedigree most people don't know about.  His father, Homer Hickam, Sr. invented the slender rescue capsule used to rescue coal miners to this very day.

People there are very independent, and don't ask anything from outsiders.  There is wondrous good among every social strata that we attempt to pigeon-hole.

West Virginia?  Maybe not your ultimate destination.  But if you find yourself driving through, enjoy the beauty of the state and the hospitality of its very real people.

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The eastern panhandle of WV is beautiful and has a vibrant economy, certainly other areas of the state do too.  There is much to praise about residents being independent.  You won't find a million fast-food restaurants but lots of mom-and-pop places with great, affordable food.  Not many big box stores, but you will get to shop at local hardware , appliance, and furniture stores and niche sporting good, auto, plant, you name it places.  I once bought a bag of mulch at a local ACE hardware store (family owned), and it was bagged in nearby Virginia.  No matter where you go in WV, you'll feel like you're in a neighborhood. 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Today's email from Accounting Today had a link to its article about the best cities for accountants, separated into the categories of large, medium, and small.  Parkersburg, WV was listed as the #1 small city and was the best overall city of all three categories too. 

  • Like 3
  • Confused 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey Tom, I hung onto 1/3-1/2 of my CA base (quite a bit of them are moving out of CA) and picked up a few locals.  Mostly CA transplants! I already had about 1/4 of my clients non CA when I moved. The clients I’ve lost I don’t care about; I do approximately 100 returns and that’s enough for me.

I found an ‘extreme home makeover’ house that had literally every thing I wanted in a house right in my price range....well, except a hot tub. Still need to get a hot tub.  I do have a big ole jacuzzi though.
 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...