If you are the parent of teens, understanding cryptocurrency is crucial so you can provide them with the guidance they need to navigate this new world safely and wisely. Luckily, I’m here to help you learn what you need to know.

Let’s dive in.

What is Cryptocurrency, Exactly?

Cryptocurrency, which folks also call “crypto” is, in essence, virtual money that can be used to buy goods and services. It can also be traded for profit, much like stocks. However, unlike the dollars in your wallet, crypto exists only in the digital world. The crypto universe is vast, with thousands of digital currencies out there.

Crypto is based on blockchain technology, which ensures transactions are secure, transparent, and decentralized, so they're not controlled by any government or financial institution (there are pros and cons to this that we’ll describe below).

Oftentimes, business growth is held back by a sort of “chicken-or-the-egg” scenario in which the business owner needs to hire or invest in a resource in order to grow, but they can’t afford the investment unless they have grown the business first. Financing can help you jump the chasm of being stuck in that loop.

Two popular financing options are obtaining a business line of credit from a bank and securing a loan. Each has its unique advantages and disadvantages, and choosing the right one depends on various factors, including the nature of your business, your financial health, and your long-term goals. It can get complicated, especially if you’re new to business ownership, but you don’t have to figure it out on your own. Instead, let’s navigate this together, shall we? In a future blog article, we’ll look at another type of business credit, using credit cards and how to do it right so you don’t ruin your credit score in the process - so stay tuned. But, first … 

In this blog article, we’ll focus on one of the types of families that’s common in our modern culture: the blended family.

The Unique Dynamics At Play In Blended Families

A “blended family” comes into being when parents divorce, and at least one remarries. While everyone may get along effortlessly while the parent is alive, that too-often doesn’t happen once the parent dies. Why? Because the law still hasn’t caught up to our modern definition of “family.”

The law often favors the spouse, which works well when the spouse and the deceased have children together. But when the deceased parent has children from another marriage, the children can - indeed, often are - cut out of their inheritance. Other than the law being slow to catch up, there are a few more reasons why this happens:

Before you stop reading, hear me out.

Whether it’s a breakup, divorce, or the death of a loved one after a lifetime together, every relationship eventually will come to an end. The most important thing is how you have planned for that ending, or whether you haven’t at all, as your planning (or lack of it) will have a real impact on you, your partner, your children, and your assets. 

The silver lining? While we can't prevent the end, we can prepare for it with a blend of compassion and strategic planning that makes the end the best possible foundation for a new beginning.

Understanding the Intersection of Love and Law

Love is wonderful—joyful moments, shared dreams for the future, and yes, some legal considerations too. For married couples, the law has default provisions in place for what happens to your assets if one of you dies, but those default plans may not align with your personal preferences or the life you’ve built with your partner.

You may even have a Will, or know you should get one. And maybe you’ve heard of a Trust and wondered what it is and how it works. You may have even done research on Google about how to do your own Will or Trust.

In fact, it’s hard to poke around the internet and not find do-it-yourself (“DIY”) Wills and Trusts services. Legal Zoom, TrustandWill.com, and even media personalities Dave Ramsey and Suze Orman offer cheap DIY documents. Heck, you can even create your own Will or Trust for free by downloading a few forms. What these websites won’t do, however, is explain the potential consequences that can happen if you use one of their services. 

Legal Documents Have Legal Consequences

The truth is that Trusts and Wills, and other documents that all adults should have in place, like a health care directive and power of attorney, are legal documents with legal consequences. 

Rather, the crux lies in identifying a successor who possesses the right qualifications plus the vision and capabilities to steer your company toward continued success. 

During this pivotal decision-making process, it's essential to sidestep these three common pitfalls that often hinder business owners when naming successors, as they can blur objectivity and impede the chosen candidate's ability to effectively assume control of the company.

Let’s dive in.

01 | Overlooking Diverse Leadership Styles

The temptation to seek a successor who mirrors your own thinking and actions can be strong. However, the essence of succession planning lies not in replicating oneself, but rather in identifying an individual poised to build upon your achievements and propel the business forward. 

Working with a tax professional is always the best route to go when making tax decisions for your business, but making sure your tax-filing professional has the most accurate information possible about your business is essential in order for them to provide you with the best possible guidance and file the most accurate return come tax time.

To make sure your tax business tax return goes as smoothly as possible, make sure to avoid these three common employer tax mistakes.

01 | Wage and Hourly Payroll Tax Mistakes

Your business gets to deduct the compensation you pay to employees and contractors. But, minimum wage issues, overtime, holiday pay, and comp hours can complicate your payroll if you have W-2 employees and make your tax filing even more complicated. Plus, miscalculating what you’ve paid your employees, and therefore, how much tax has been paid on their earnings can have legal consequences for your company.

Being a single parent is a huge responsibility, even if you do share time with a parenting partner, and especially so if you don’t. Regardless, as a single parent, your children’s lives are now largely in your hands.  So what would happen to them if something happened to you?  Who would take care of them?  Who would pay for their housing and food?  Who would pay for their education?  These are questions you need to get answered, and the best way to do that is through estate planning.

Having an estate plan that covers the care of your children in case you should be in a severe accident, fall ill, or die, welcomes peace of mind for the single parent knowing everything and everyone they love is taken care of.  Here are the must-haves that can protect your children if something were to ever happen to you:

Family dynamics are extremely complicated and prone to conflict even during the best of times. But when tragedy strikes a member of the household, even minor tensions and disagreements can explode into bitter conflict. And when access to money (or even quite often, sentimental items of furniture or jewelry) is on the line, the potential for discord is exponentially increased. Ultimately, there is no greater cost to families than the cost of lost relationships after the death or incapacity of a loved one.

The good news is you can dramatically reduce the chances of conflict in your family by working with an experienced estate planning lawyer who understands and can anticipate these dynamics. In fact, preventing family conflict is one of the primary reasons to work with us, as your Personal Family Lawyer®, to create your estate plan, rather than relying on do-it-yourself estate planning documents. After all, even the best set of documents will be unable to anticipate and navigate such complex emotional matters—but we can.

But the reality is considering what would happen to your business in the event of your incapacity or when you die is one of your most pressing responsibilities as a business owner. Although estate planning and business planning may seem like two separate tasks, they’re actually inexorably linked. And given that your business is likely your family’s most valuable asset, estate planning is crucial not only for your company’s continued success, but also for your loved one’s future well-being.

Without a proper estate plan, your team, clients, and family could face dire consequences if something should happen to you. Yet these dangers can be fairly easily mitigated using a few basic estate planning strategies. To demonstrate why proper estate planning is so important for business owners, here are four issues your company and family are likely to encounter as a result of poor estate planning, along with the corresponding estate planning solutions you can use to prevent and/or mitigate those issues.