StrategyDriven Editorial Perspective – Gather Ye Sugar Plums While Ye May; Your Personal Discretionary Budget will be Impacted by Washington

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Spend well this Christmas/Holiday Season and be merry. But ‘tis the season for budgeting for the New Year as well. Unless otherwise averted, your Christmas/Holiday or otherwise discretionary budget will fade next year to infinity and beyond. The trend is that American holiday spending has diminished over the past 10 years from $1,037.00 in 2002 to $854.00 in 2012.).1 This latest statistic compares to pre-recession spending. Throw a travel budget into the mix (average of $1,200)2 and double your expenses for gas, and there you’ve got it, your discretionary budget is going, then gone to pay your new tax obligations.

The Grinch could no more create this story; it is reality.

Reality be damned, according to the bi-partisan Tax Policy Center, the average American family is expected to pay $3,500 more in taxes annually.3 This is the average for families, not millionaires or the nouveau riche defined $250,000 earners. This will affect us all, in a ho ho sized way, and I don’t mean Hostess. Take this seriously; your wallets will be lighter.

What is a family to do? Perhaps hunker down and bake gingerbread men, call your congressional representative. Now we are talking about real impact. Let us not forget, this will not only affect the ‘rich’ Americans. This is planned to hit us all in the pocketbook.

We also need to plan for Obamacare. Many of us think that this tax, as defined by the Supreme Court, won’t affect our spending and expenses; Think again. Families will need to maintain their insurance at their employer, buy insurance or pay the tax penalty, estimated at $2,085 for a family in 2016 (average consistent with income level scales).4

If employers, no, WHEN employers stop their insurance benefits, this will become more real. We have been told if you like your doctor, you would be able to keep your doctor; if you like your plan, no one will take it away. President Obama indicates that 98 percent of Americans will be unaffected by the tax penalty and suggested that those who will be, should face up to their civic responsibilities. But a more recent estimate is that more than 6 million uninsured people will pay the tax penalty, largely middle class workers including approximately 10 percent at or below the poverty level.5 Someone has to pay the piper. (With the exception of Indian tribes, Amish, wage earners of under $9,500 annually, or qualified hardships) But remember, there is no governmental control on businesses to maintain your level of benefits, period.

More than 80 percent of employers provide health care insurance to employees but this will drop considerably, if not by 50 percent. According to Price Waterhouse, at least 84 percent of employers are considering changes to health care plans to offset costs of taxes and regulations.6 Further, 50 percent are considering the elimination of health care plans presumably paying the expected penalty of $2,000 per employee to the IRS. Realizing the cost implications, this penalty is less costly than health care contributions.

Many employees, who have counted on total compensation packages including health care, will see an end to their options for benefits. But, if you have unlimited, pre-tax flexible spending accounts for medical expenses, anything over $2,500 will be taxed starting in 2013. There will be a 2.3% excise tax on medical devices and equipment that will be passed on to the patients. And starting in 2018, for employers that retain ‘Cadillac’ premium health plans, you will be taxed 40 percent for the privilege. It cuts both ways.

Call it fate, call it karma. More people to be covered, more expenses to recoup, more businesses to tax. So gather ye sugarplums while ye may. You are about to experience a change to your budget that will affect your lifestyle. This will not only affect the top one, two, or five percent. The average American family will see dramatic increases that will limit your spending ability. Perhaps there will be an eleventh hour rescue to avoid your portion of the fiscal cliff. Asking for a Congressional miracle, you may have to tug on Santa’s beard to see if it’s real.

Final Request…

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About the Author

Wendy Powell is the author of Management Experience Acquired. With more than twenty-five years of human resource and management consulting experience, Wendy has spent most of her career at the University of Michigan. She is currently on the business faculty at both Palm Beach State College and the University of Phoenix. A member of the Society of Human Resource Management, she received a leadership award in 2002 from the Midwest College and University Professional Association for Human Resources. She is routinely featured on The Huffington Post and has appeared on Fox Business’s The Strategy Room. Wendy holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business management and a Master of Arts degree in organizational management.

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References

  1. http://americanresearchgroup.com/holiday/
  2. http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/vacation-1180-buy-bargain-vacations-american-average-cost/story?id=16509865
  3. http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/412666-toppling-off-the-fiscal-cliff.pdf
  4. http://www.forbes.com/sites/gracemarieturner/2012/07/24/how-much-is-the-obamacare-mandate-going-to-cost-you/
  5. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/20/us/more-expected-to-face-penalty-under-health-law.html?_r=0
  6. http://www.pwc.com/us/en/press-releases/2011/employer-medical-costs-expected-to-increase.jhtml

Corporate Cultures – Why Policies Don’t Match Actions

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Policy - Action MismatchToo often, corporate policies are the ‘little white lies’ no one likes to talk about. Philosophically, corporate policies should reflect the expectations of company leaders and drive management’s decisions and employee actions. Upon closer examination, however, management’s decisions and employee actions are anything but aligned with documented expectations; with few seemingly concerned about the discrepancy.

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Recommended Resources – The Oracle Speaks

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The Oracle Speaks: Warren Buffett In His Own Words

edited by David Andrews

About the Book

The Oracle Speaks: Warren Buffett In His Own Words edited by David Andrews reveals the life and business philosophies of one of the world’s most successful businessmen in a way no other book can… directly from the words of Warren Buffett himself. David’s book systematically covers a wide range of topics from ‘Investing’ to ‘Businesses’ and ‘Wealth and Taxes’ to ‘Life Lessons.’

Throughout The Oracle Speaks, several predominate themes are revealed:

  • Value people more than things
  • Stay with what you know and can understand
  • Focus on the big picture, the long-term rather than the immediate gratification of the here and now

Benefits of Reading the Book

StrategyDriven Contributors like The Oracle Speaks because it reveals the intimate thoughts and beliefs of a man who through his own intellect and hard work created one of the world’s most successful businesses. Readers will note that Warren Buffett’s assertions are commonly made from an investor’s frame of reference and do require some ‘translation’ to other situational applications. While we recognize that some may disagree with Warren Buffett’s approach to certain circumstances – and on occasion we do too – all can agree that he, more than many others, has had a profound impact on many of the largest, most revered companies.

StrategyDriven Contributors appreciated the layout of The Oracle Speaks, the organization of quotes around meaningful topic areas, the dating of each quote, and Warren Buffett’s life story timeline provided at the end of the book. We found that knowing the setting and circumstances of the Warren Buffet quotes provided insightful context from which to interpret them. As such, we recommend first-time readers review the ‘Milestones’ timeline presented at the end of the book first and refer to it often when reading individual quotes.

For it’s intimate portrayal of an American entrepreneurial icon, The Oracle Speaks is a StrategyDriven recommended read.

Leadership Inspirations – Achieving Failure While on the Brink of Success

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“On the plains of hesitation bleach the bones of countless millions who on the dawn of victory paused to rest and while resting died.”

Author Unknown

The Big Picture of Business: Goal Setting… An Important Part of Strategic Planning.

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Human beings live to attract goals.

Organizations get people caught in activity traps…unless managers periodically pull back and reassess in terms of goals. Managers lose sight of their employees’ goals.

Employees work hard, rather than productively. Mutually agreed-upon goals are vital.

Failure can stem from either non-achievement of goals or never knowing what they were. The tragedy is both economic and humanistic. Unclear objectives produce more failures than incompetence, bad work, bad luck or misdirected work.

When people know and have helped set their goals, their performance improves. The best motivator is knowing what is expected and analyzing one’s one performance relative to mutually agreed-upon criteria.

Goal attainment leads to ethical behavior. The more that an organization is worth, the more worthy it becomes. Most management subsystems succeed or fail according to the clarity of goals of the overall organization.

How to Find Goals:

  1. Examine problems.
  2. Study the organization’s core business.
  3. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
  4. Portfolio analysis.
  5. Cost containment.
  6. Human resources development.
  7. Motivation and commitment.

Make Goal Setting a Reality:

  1. Start at the top.
  2. Adopt a policy of strategic planning.
  3. Strategic goals and objectives must filter downward throughout all the organization.
  4. Training is vital.
  5. Continual follow-up, refinement and new goal setting must ensue.
  6. Programs must be competent, effective and benchmarked.
  7. A corporate culture must foster all goal setting, policies, practices and procedures.

Priorities for Goals:

  1. Focus on important goals.
  2. Make goals realistic, simple and attainable.
  3. Reward risk takers.
  4. Recognize that trade-offs must be made.
  5. Goals release energy.
  6. Information leads to dissemination, leading to teaching-training, leading to insight, leading to understanding, leading to knowledge, leading to wisdom.
  7. View goals as long-term, rather than short-term.

Ways in Which Goals Improve Effectiveness:

  1. Defines effectiveness as the increase in value of people and their activities as resources.
  2. Recognizes that humans are achievement and success creatures.
  3. Goals infuse meaning into work and work into other aspects of life. Life is fully lived when it has meaning.
  4. One cannot succeed without definitions of success. One must expect something to achieve success.
  5. Failure is inevitable and is the best learning curve for success.
  6. One’s goals start from within, not from work situations. The goal-oriented person adapts to the work environments.
  7. Collaborations with other people create success. One cannot be successful alone or working in a vacuum.
  8. One is always dependent upon other people, and other people are dependent upon you.
  9. Commitments must be made to other people.
  10. One must view the future and change as affirmative, in order to succeed.
  11. Knowledge of results is a powerful force in growing and learning.
  12. Without goals, one cannot operate under self-control.
  13. Objectives under one’s own responsibility helps one to identify with the objectives of the larger organization of which he-she is a part. Sense of belonging is enhanced.
  14. Achieving goals which one set and to which one commits enhances a person’s sense of adequacy.
  15. People who set and are striving to achieve goals together have a sense of belonging, a major motivator for humanity.
  16. Because standards are spelled out, one knows what is expected. The main reason why people do not perform is that they do not know what is expected of them.
  17. Through goal setting and achievement, one becomes actualized.
  18. Goal setting creates a power of one’s life…especially the part that relates to work.
  19. With goals, one can be a winner. Without goals, one never really succeeds…he-she merely averts-survives the latest crisis.

7 Measurements of Successful Budgeting and Planning:

  1. The business you’re in. You’re highly dedicated, talented, resourceful and give customers what they cannot really get elsewhere.
  2. Running the business. Business is approached as both an art and a science. Operations continue to streamline and are professional and productive. Demonstrated integrity and dependability assure customers that the team will perform magnificently.
  3. Financial. Keeping the cash register ringing is not the only reason for being in business. You always give customers their money’s worth. Your charges are fair and reasonable. Business is run economically and efficiently, with excellent accounting procedures, payables-receivables practices and cash management.
  4. People. The company is people-friendly. Collaborations assure that top talent is assembled. The team is empowered, likeable, competent and demonstrate initiative and judgment.
  5. Business Development. Customer service is always the focus…for and with clients. Communications are open, frequent, professional and with a deep sense of caring.
  6. Body of Knowledge. There is a sound understanding of the relationship of each business function to the other. You provide leadership for progress, rather than following along. You develop-champion the tools to change.
  7. The Big Picture. Approach business as a Body of Work…a lifetime track record of accomplishments. You have and regularly update-benchmark a strategy for the future, shared company Vision, ethics, Big Picture thinking and ‘walk the talk’.

About the Author

Hank Moore has advised 5,000+ client organizations worldwide (including 100 of the Fortune 500, public sector agencies, small businesses and non-profit organizations). He has advised two U.S. Presidents and spoke at five Economic Summits. He guides companies through growth strategies, visioning, strategic planning, executive leadership development, Futurism and Big Picture issues which profoundly affect the business climate. He conducts company evaluations, creates the big ideas and anchors the enterprise to its next tier. The Business Tree™ is his trademarked approach to growing, strengthening and evolving business, while mastering change. To read Hank’s complete biography, click here.