Gamer Nostalgia Posters

Our friend Riley Florence created this series of old-school nintendo hero posters and is funding them on Kickstarter.

Take a look and if you are interested in owning a poster visit the Kickstart page and plunk down your cash.  Nice work Riley!

P.S. We submitted your work somewhere else too, we’ll let you know if it shows up

Update: DING! Here it is on the Egotist: Local Designer Pays Homage to NES Greats

[Free Workshop] Simple Steps to Balance and Health – Wednesday May 25 – 1 PM

Our client, Age Performance, is hosting a nutrition workshop. They are allow friends and family to attend as well — let me know if you’d like to join us!

Simple Steps to Balance and Health

Wednesday, May 25 at 1:00 p.m
Age Performance –  2670 S. 2000 E. Suite 205

This lecture will feature Claudia Wilson, MS, RD, CSSD, CD.  Claudia is a Registered Dietitian, certified in the state of Utah, and a Board Certified Specialists in Sports Nutrition.  She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Public Health from West Chester University in Pennsylvania and her Master’s Degree in Nutrition from the University of Utah with an emphasis in Sports Nutrition and Eating Disorders.

Photo Credit

27 Things You Should Know About The 2011 TAX LAWS

This little gem hit our inbox the other day and we asked Laura Warnock Carrera if we could share it—if you run a business or pay taxes (insert joke death here) you need to check this out. She’s put together a nice roundup about things you should know.

27 Things You Should Know About The 2011 TAX LAWS
Provided by Carrera & Company

2011 is here and there is much to report. Congress has restored the estate tax, cut the payroll tax and retained and/or restored a variety of tax breaks.

Here’s a look at some recent developments in federal tax law – not just the changes for 2011-2012, but also the decisions (some quite recent) that may impact your 2010 return. This is by no means a tax planning guide, just an update on what has changed and what hasn’t.

Before we get started, some news about filing your 2010 federal return:

Due to a lag in IRS processing systems, you will need to wait until at least mid-February to file your return if you are going to claim ..

itemized deductions on Schedule A the Higher Education Tuition & Fees deduction the Educator Expense deduction

This year, the federal income tax deadline is April 18. That’s because April 15 is a holiday in the District of Columbia (Emancipation Day). Correspondingly, all taxpayers who file for an extension this year will have until October 17 to file their 2010 returns.1

Here’s a look at the numerous revisions, alterations and restorations to federal tax law affecting tax years 2010, 2011 and 2012.

1 The federal income tax brackets remain at 10%, 15%, 25%, 28%, 33% and 35% for 2011-2012.

The ordinary taxable income brackets for TY 2011 are set as follows, reflecting minor COLAs:

2 The payroll tax paid by employees and the self-employed has been reduced by 2.0% in 2011.

This means many Americans will effectively get a 2% raise this year. The reduced withholding could mean as much as $2,136 in savings, as earnings up

to $106,800 are subject to payroll tax. No phase-outs apply, and if taxpayers are married, both spouses can get the individual deduction.3,4

Two related notes:

The partial credit for payroll taxes paid by employers is gone this year.5 As a result of this payroll tax holiday, the Making Work Pay credit is gone for 2011. However, many taxpayers can still claim the Making Work Pay credit for 2010 ($400 for individual taxpayers, up to $800 for taxpayers married filing jointly, income phase-outs applicable).6

3 The estate tax is back for 2011- 2012.

For this year and next, the federal estate tax is set at 35% with a $5 million individual exemption.4 Please note that:

The $5 million individual exemption is portable. This means that an executor may elect to transfer an unused $5 million individual estate tax exemption (upon the death of one spouse) to the surviving spouse. So with this new portability, a married couple could potentially transfer up to $10 million of assets without incurring federal estate tax.7 In 2011, an executor of an estate for a dependent who died in 2010 may choose between two options in administering said estate. That executor can elect to

o Subject the estate to the 2011 federal rules (35% estate tax, $5 million estate exemption, stepped-up basis for appreciated assets per IRC rule 1014).

o Subject the estate to the 2010 federal rules (0% estate tax and the $1.3 million modified carryover basis for appreciated assets in the estate, which becomes $3 million for assets passing to a surviving spouse).8

4 The estate tax, the gift tax and the generation-skipping tax (GST) have all been reunified for 2011-2012.

They all have top rates of 35% with $5 million individual exemptions. The individual estate and gift tax exemptions are portable between married couples; the GST exemption is not. The GST has been restored for 2011; it was 0% in 2010.4,8

The annual gift tax exclusion remains at $13,000 per donor in 2011. A single taxpayer may gift up to $13,000 to an unlimited number of individuals. The lifetime exclusion (see above) is $5 million.4

In addition to the annual exclusion, an unlimited gift tax exclusion is allowed for amounts paid on behalf of a donee directly to an educational organization for tuition. Likewise, amounts paid directly to health care providers also qualify for the unlimited gift tax exclusion.9

5 Tax rates on capital gains and dividends haven’t been hiked.

In 2011 and 2012, the long-term capital gains rate is

0% for taxpayers in the 10% and 15% brackets. 15% for everyone else.4

To read the entire article download it from her Newsletter Archive page.

As you are preparing your taxes, think about ways to be proactive in 2011 to reduce your tax bill.  Please call or email Laura to discuss ideas to take to your CPA or to implement ideas given by your CPA.  She’d love to help.

Laura Warnock Carrera
Carrera & Company
(801) 598-0988 direct
Email Laura ›

[Friday Favorites] Recap + Introducing [Tech Tuesdays]

Thank you to everyone that participated in our series Friday Favorites:

• Amanada Nelson — Amanda Nelson Photography & Design
• Dena DeBry — Buttonwillow•Six
• Erik Rowland — TimeMD
• Gudrun Enger — Good Füd Media
• J.W. Davies — Cook Martin Poulson
• Karen Kaminski — Axis 41
• Keith Denos — PRWUA
• Kira Griffin — Designer
• Laura Carrera — Carrera & Company
• Michael Carey — eBay
• Tauni Everett — Public relations and social media consultant

We got to introduce a lot of people who have helped our business succeed and we hope that we’ve made a few new connections for people. We also have a nice round up of good solid advice: mostly about being nice, or being patient, honest and positive while others to point you to Amazon Prime, social media, good food and good friends.

In case you were just reading it for the recipes, we’ve put together a recipe book. you could cook all of this into one meal (and don’t worry, if that meal is horrific you can always take Laura, Kira or J.W.’s suggestions) and chow down.

Download Friday Favorites Recipe Book

Or view the pages in the gallery:

(Let me know if you’d like a wire-O bound copy, I can make that happen!)

Introducing Tech Tuesdays

Our next series (and really, I suggest everyone create a blog series) will be Tech Tuesdays. This will allow us to explore and share with you tech we design and develop for—iPads, WordPress, Drupal, HTML5, CSS3, etc. And tech we use everyday—Evernote, Things for Mac / Things for iPad / Things for iPhone, BusyCal, Mobile.me and so on.

[Friday Favorites] One of our Favorite Financial Planners: Laura Warnock Carrera

For this post in our series Friday Favorites we want to introduce you to one of our favorite financial planners—Laura Warnock Carrera.

We met Laura when she was referred to us by our accounting firm, Cook Martin Poulson (we profiled our accountant, J.W. Davies last week). We all hit it off immediately—she is smart and funny and we love the way she tells it like it is, once that included the line “You want how much cash in reserve? Are you kidding? Are you Depression-era people? No, you are in your 30s.”  This is great reciprocal relationship—when it came time for her to rebrand her company she hired us for the branding and positioning.

The thing we liked about Laura is that she was willing to talk to us, a young couple starting a new business. We had tried other financial planners, but if you aren’t in your 50s with a huge nest egg, they weren’t interested. She knows that we’ll get there and if she can help out now, all the better.

Here is our interview with Laura:

Quick Details

Tell Us About Yourself

How long have you worked with Sawaya Consulting and what projects have you worked on with us?

Why do you do what you do?

Because I love to help people. I like to help people with their money—it’s something that everyone cares about but not everyone has the time to deal with it. Most people want to earn money and have money, but don’t want to store it under a mattress. I help them find solutions so they can get that issue off their plate and concentrate on what they do best.

What makes you better/different/the right person for the job?

I tell it like it is. If I don’t think something is working—I will say something. You won’t get my endorsement of a product or a situation if it isn’t going to work out for the person I’m talking to. I’m not about making the sale or the commission—I’m about finding the solution. I’m pretty blunt which works great for some people, others, not so much.

What general advice do you have for the world?

Geez, be nice to people. People need to take ownership and responsibility for the things they say and do—stop trying to pass the buck or lay blame.

…One More Question

Do you have a favorite recipe you want to share or if you don’t cook what is your favorite restaurant

I love sushi! Really anywhere that has good, fresh sushi. A couple of my favorite local places are Ichiban and Sakura.

Thanks Laura!

(Also to Abbie Warnock Photography for the headshot!)