How to Keep Your Cash When You Make Good Money

You’re doing well, earning a good salary. But somewhere around the latter part of the month, after you’ve paid your obligations and basically lived your life, which isn’t extravagant, you…

4 min read

You’re doing well, earning a good salary. But somewhere around the latter part of the month, after you’ve paid your obligations and basically lived your life, which isn’t extravagant, you look at your checking and savings accounts, and well, there isn’t much there. And that sinking feeling starts to kick in. Sound familiar?

This is called lifestyle inflation. In a nutshell, the way you spend increases over time in relation to your rising income, so your financial floor rises right along with it. In fact, according to a Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances, households that earn between $100,000 and $200,000 are in sizeable credit card debt, have retirement accounts that need help, and very little savings in relation to their income. What to do? Here are a few ways to get a handle on this.

Get a real number. You might have all your expenses in QuickBooks or the like and, on paper, you look good. But to get a real picture of how you’re doing, calculate the expected net worth you should have for someone at your age with your salary: Multiply your age by your salary, then divide it by ten. If your net worth is below half that number, something’s not adding up. Pun intended. The next critical step: Subtract your liabilities from your assets. This might not feel good, but from this you’ll instantly see what you can affect and change.

Pinpoint the source of your lifestyle inflation. It might not be huge expenses, but little pricey purchases over time that are causing you to feel financially squeezed. Go to your spreadsheet and take a look at the last three years and compare. See where you’ve spent more, calculate the difference, and there’s your answer. Areas to consider are housing, dining, subscriptions and services, travel, gifts, clothing, etc. Don’t make drastic changes all at once, as you might rebound and splurge. Just try to reduce your spending in the areas with the biggest deltas. Give yourself 60 days. Easy does it for lasting change. This might be a smart mantra.

Set up intentional constraints in certain areas. As mentioned above, you don’t need to become a fiscal conservative. Just look at the areas where things feel a bit…much. Here are three principles to work with:

Decide on savings and investment allocations for payday. There are non-negotiables you can put on auto-draft. If you don’t see it, you won’t miss it.
Determine a set number for each category. But approach these numbers as conscious decisions, not as a way to restrict yourself. You’re choosing not to spend $500 on dinner each week because in relation to the rest of your goals, this makes sense.
Set up a discretionary account. You know, fun money. This is a fixed monthly transfer amount without overdraft protection. When the money’s gone, it’s gone. This isn’t a way to frustrate or shame yourself; you just have a real window into what you’re spending, rather than some vague notion. This creates real clarity.

Reimagine your social spending. We’re talking dinners out with friends, group trips, or even the things that just feel normal, like wedding and birthday gifts. This might be the hardest part of all. So here’s a tip: Don’t let these things sneak up on you. Plan for these events in advance and give yourself a price range to stay within. This way, you stay on track and don’t miss out on important moments.

The truth is that your income might well continue to increase. You’ll get that raise and bonus. So instead of living it up and spending with wild abandon, try this: for every raise or bonus, put at least 50 percent of the net increase toward savings or investments before changing anything about your lifestyle, i.e., buying that new car, etc. The other 50 percent? Make intentional choices about how you want to spend. Conscious decisions pay off in the long run. And best of all, you won’t continue to feel broke.

Bond Investment Strategies

5 min read

Bonds are designed to deliver both capital preservation and income, and are generally considered lower risk than stock investing. The purchase price of a bond is basically a loan to an issuer, such as the federal government, a municipal government, or a corporation. The term of the loan is determined for a specific period of time – referred to as the maturity date.

During that time, the issuer uses bond money to fund projects, and in return pays the buyer interest over the term of the loan. Once the term ends, the bond issuer pays back the money it borrowed (i.e., the purchase price). The interest is paid on a predetermined schedule – quarterly, semiannually, or annually. The interest rate on a bond is called the coupon rate, and it is fixed at the time of issuance and remains the same until the bond matures.

For example, say you purchase a 10-year bond for $10,000 with a coupon rate of 4 percent, paid twice a year.. Over the 10 years you’ll collect $4,000 in interest, and at maturity you get your $10,000 back. That’s a 40 percent cumulative return on the original investment.

Bonds with a maturity date of less than four years are considered short-term; between four and 10 years are considered intermediate-term bonds; and terms of 10 or more years are considered long-term bonds. Bonds can be useful in many ways, such as to provide income, save for a particular expense, or to seek out high interest rates for a higher total return. The following are a few bond strategies to address each type of objective.

Objective: Generate Income

To generate income over a long period of time – when interest rates tend to fluctuate – one strategy is to ladder bond holdings. This means purchasing a portfolio of individual bonds with varying maturity dates. For example, you may spread out your bond terms from one to 30 years – with each interval acting as a rung on this metaphorical ladder. Note that each type of bond is rated for the credit quality of the issuer, which reflects its likelihood of default. The lower the credit rating, the higher the interest paid to compensate for the issuer’s extra risk.

As each bond matures, you can reinvest money into another bond based on the current prices and coupon rates on offer at that time. This way you may continue to shop for higher coupon rates every few years without locking up all of your money for a 10-, 20-, or 30-year duration. When rates are on the rise, you can secure a higher yield as your bonds mature. If rates are falling, reinvest that money in a short-term bond as a holding pattern until coupon rates increase again. This way, you continue to benefit from owning longer-term bonds purchased when rates were higher. Barring any defaults, the ladder continues to grow and offer steady growth for bond assets.

Objective: Save for a Particular Expense

The Bullet strategy is a simple way to generate the money you need for a specific financial goal within a specific time frame – such as buying a house in five years, or saving for college or a retirement nest egg in 10 or 20 years. You basically purchase bonds with a similar maturity date. Between the purchase price and the generated income, you’ll know exactly how much you will receive when those bonds mature. It’s like shooting a bullet straight toward your financial goal.

Objective: Seek Higher Interest

The Barbell strategy splits your money between the two ends of the maturity range and skips the middle. You hold short-term bonds on one end and long-term bonds on the other, with little or nothing in between, much like the weights sitting at either end of a barbell.

The long end captures the higher coupon rates that generally come with committing money for a longer period. The short end keeps a portion of your money coming due on a regular basis, so each time one of those bonds matures, you can re-evaluate rates and decide where that money goes next. If rates have moved higher, shift it to the long end and lock in the better coupon. If rates remain tepid, buy another short-term bond and wait. The result is a portfolio that captures much of the yield available at the long end without committing everything to a rate you may later regret.

There are many different types of bonds, including federal government, municipal government, and corporate bonds. While government bonds are generally considered safe, each bond is issued a credit rating based on the issuer’s financial health, creditworthiness, and past history of repaying debt obligations. Investors also have the option to invest in bond funds, which offer a large selection of bonds and do not require investments to be held to maturity. However, bond fund interest rates fluctuate daily, and there is no guarantee the investor will receive the original principal amount when they cash out of the fund.

Understanding Inflation Accounting

According to the July 12, 2026, Consumer Price Index Release from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the 12-month inflation rate rose by 3.4 percent and the month-over-month measure rose by 0.1 percent in July 2026…

3 min read

According to the July 12, 2026, Consumer Price Index Release from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the 12-month inflation rate rose by 3.4 percent, and the month-over-month measure rose by 0.1 percent in July 2026 compared to June 2026. With inflation higher than normal over the past few years compared to near-term historical averages, understanding how inflation is accounted for is essential for companies to interpret it properly.

Defining Inflation & Accounting Needs

This reporting technique adjusts a business’ financial statements that accounts for inflation-related price changes. By adjusting for a price index, it updates financial statements to show a business’s true financial position and ensure consistency over time.

Whether it’s inflation or deflation, this type of accounting is used during periods of significant price fluctuations. It’s especially important for publicly traded, multinational corporations and how they report their finances since investors look at their performance on a quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year basis.

There are two primary methods: current purchasing power (CPP) and current cost accounting (CCA). CPP looks at monetary and nonmonetary items as separate spheres. Examples of monetary assets include cash, investments, accounts and notes receivable – essentially an asset that can be turned into a determinable monetary figure. Non-monetary assets can take the form of tangible assets like those in a business’ property, plant or equipment line item. Intellectual property and goodwill are other examples of non-monetary assets.

While nonmonetary items are indexed based upon a metric such as the Consumer Price Index (CPI), with the CPP method using historical costs as the baseline numbers, monetary items are evaluated to see what value the items may have gained or lost during the period analyzed.

CCA analyzes asset values at their fair market value, not their historical cost or the price paid for assets when originally reported. The following example illustrates how the CPP model calculates it:

A company bought equipment in 2010 for $15,000 based upon a price index of 200, and in 2026 the established price index rose to 400. Based on taking the new price index of 400, divided by the previous price index of 200 (400/200 = 2), the original purchase price of $15,000 is to be multiplied by the conversion factor of 2 = $15,000 x 2 = $30,000.

When the company goes to account for it on their financial statements, it would be recorded on its balance sheet on the line item “closing equipment balance” for the $30,000.

Why Restating Financial Statements is Important

It’s important to ensure a business’ historical information is relevant, along with their financial statements providing internal and external audiences an accurate perspective of what inflation and deflation do. During periods of high inflation or deflation, if the data is not indexed accordingly, it’s inaccurate. The primary benefit is that business’ income and expenses are represented and comparable with other companies and historical information.

While each business and its asset inventory is different, understanding how deflation and inflation impact businesses is an important consideration for daily operations and external audiences who may lend or invest in a company.

New Trump Account Updates

4 min read

Picture two couples, each with a baby born this year, each routing $2,500 of salary into that child’s Trump Account through an employer’s payroll system. One couple sits in the 35% bracket. The other, at roughly $65,000 of taxable income, is in the 12% bracket. Both contributions escape federal income tax. The first couple’s bill shrinks by $875. The second couple’s bill shrinks by $300. Same account, same dollars, nearly three times the benefit for the household that needed it less.

That arithmetic is the quiet story inside what has been presented as a workplace convenience.

Congress Built the Benefit – The IRS Just Wrote the Manual

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act already let employers put up to $2,500 a year into an employee’s or a dependent’s Trump Account without adding to the worker’s income, and it already allowed a company to run that contribution through a Section 125 cafeteria plan so the employee funds a child’s account out of pre-tax salary. Employers could begin on July 4, 2026. What Treasury and the IRS published on Aug. 11 is the operating manual: how to structure the program, how nondiscrimination testing works, and a safe harbor for companies that want to match the government’s $1,000.

The Break Stops at the Income Tax Line

It is easy to overstate what “pre-tax” buys here. The exclusion applies to federal income tax only. The money stays wages for Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment tax purposes. So, the savings amount to nothing more than the sum deferred multiplied by the filer’s top income tax rate, which is precisely why $2,500 is worth $875 to a 35% taxpayer and $300 to a 12% taxpayer.

Postponed for Decades, Not Years

Nor is the tax forgiven. Nothing can be withdrawn throughout the rule’s growth period, which runs until January 1 of the year the child turns 18. From that date, the account behaves like any other traditional IRA, meaning a 10% additional tax on distributions taken before age 59½ unless an exception applies, on top of ordinary income tax. The realistic horizon is four decades or more, not the college fund some families picture.

On the basics: Trump Accounts, Section 530A of the code, came out of last year’s OBBBA. A child who is a U.S. citizen born from 2025 through 2028 can receive a one-time $1,000 federal deposit, though it is not automatic. A parent has to open the account and elect the deposit on Form 4547, and the child needs a Social Security number. Contributions from all sources top out at $5,000 a year at current levels, indexed for inflation after 2027. The money must sit in a fund tracking a broad index of mostly U.S. stocks, with no leverage and fees capped at a tenth of a percent.

Taxation on the way out follows the money’s path in. Dollars contributed with after-tax income create basis and come back untaxed. Everything else, meaning the federal $1,000, employer contributions, pre-tax payroll elections and all investment earnings, is ordinary income when withdrawn.

Not Every Parent Will Get the Chance

Access tilts the same direction. Mercer surveyed close to 350 employers in April and found roughly 4% expecting to launch a contribution program in 2026 or 2027, with about two-thirds ruling it out. Adoption skews toward large firms with real benefits infrastructure, the same employers already offering generous 401(k) matches. A parent at a small company may never see the option. Anyone self-employed is excluded by rule: partners, sole proprietors, and more-than-2% S corporation shareholders cannot make the pre-tax election even if their own company sponsors a program for its common-law employees.

There is a planning burden, too. Households with finite savings already ration dollars across retirement accounts, 529 plans and emergency reserves. A pre-tax Trump Account election adds another comparison, and the families most likely to get it right are the ones who can afford advice.

Conclusion

The regulations are proposals. Written comments close Sept. 25, and a hearing is set for Oct. 15, so the final text could shift. Employers may rely on the proposed rules in the meantime. What is unlikely to shift is the underlying arithmetic. The $1,000 from Treasury lands identically in every eligible child’s account. The pre-tax payroll option does not, and its value climbs with the parent’s bracket.

IRS Raises Mileage Rates Midyear: What You Need to Know

For the first time since 2022, the IRS is changing standard mileage rates in the middle of the tax year. If you track business, medical or moving miles, this matters. Starting July 1, 2026, the numbers go up, and your recordkeeping needs…

4 min read

What Changed and Why

The IRS bumped the business mileage rate from 72.5 cents to 76 cents per mile for travel on or after July 1, 2026. Medical and moving rates rose from 20.5 cents to 23.5 cents. The charitable rate stays put at 14 cents, where it has been stuck since 1998.

The trigger was fuel prices. When the IRS set the original 2026 rates back in December, gas was averaging about $2.89 per gallon nationally. By mid-July 2026, AAA reported the average had climbed to roughly $3.87, an increase of 34 percent. Much of that spike traces back to the war in Iran and uncertainty around oil production and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

The last time the IRS made a midyear adjustment was 2022, after Russia invaded Ukraine and gas prices surged past $5 per gallon in some markets.

Two Sets of Rates for One Year

This creates a split year for mileage calculations. Miles driven from January 1 through June 30 use the original rates. Miles driven on or after July 1 use the revised rates. If you drove 4,000 medical miles before July and another 4,000 after, you would calculate them separately: $820 for the first half at 20.5 cents, $940 for the second half at 23.5 cents.

The same logic applies to employer reimbursements. The new rates kick in only when both the expense and the reimbursement occur on or after July 1. Employers running accountable plans should review their policies to make sure they are applying the correct rate based on when the travel happened and when the payment goes out.

Why the Rates Differ by Category

The business rate is higher because it accounts for both fixed and variable costs of operating a vehicle: depreciation, insurance, maintenance, tires, gas and oil. Medical and moving rates cover only variable costs, which is why they sit lower.

The charitable rate is a different animal entirely. Congress set it by statute, and it has not budged in nearly three decades. Adjusted for inflation, 14 cents from 1998 would be closer to 29 cents today.

Who Can Actually Use These Rates

Here is where it gets narrower than many taxpayers expect. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act eliminated the deduction for unreimbursed employee business expenses starting in 2018, and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act made that change permanent. Most employees cannot write off business mileage whether their employer reimburses them or not.

Moving expense deductions are similarly limited. Only active duty military members moving under orders for a permanent change of station qualify, along with certain intelligence community members under rules effective for 2026.

Charitable mileage requires itemizing, which means it only helps if your total deductions exceed the standard deduction of $16,100 for single filers or $32,200 for married couples filing jointly. Many taxpayers skip it.

Self-employed individuals and business owners get the most benefit from the business rate since they can still deduct qualifying mileage on Schedule C.

Recordkeeping Just Got Harder

Normally, tracking mileage means logging dates, destinations, miles driven, and business purpose. This year, you also need to note which side of July 1 the expense falls on. A mileage app can help, but a notebook or spreadsheet works, too.

If you use a vehicle exclusively for business, beginning and end-of-year odometer readings establish total mileage. Photos can serve as backup. If you mix business and personal use, your records need to clearly separate the two.

Conclusion

Gas prices forced the IRS’s hand, and now 2026 has two mileage rate regimes. The math is not complicated, but the documentation requirements are tighter than usual. Know when your miles were driven, keep clean records and make sure your employer’s reimbursement policies reflect the July 1 cutoff. The details matter this year more than most.

How to Account for Bolt-On Acquisitions

With over $4 trillion in merger and acquisition transactions happening in 2025, understanding the necessary accounting considerations is essential to see how tax professionals can navigate…

3 min read

With over $4 trillion in merger and acquisition transactions happening in 2025, understanding the necessary accounting considerations is essential to see how tax professionals can navigate financial statements.

Defining Bolt-On Acquisitions

This process is often used by private equity companies and occurs when a bigger business acquires a smaller company, providing investors with synergistic performance. This happens because the smaller company gives the bigger company a faster edge through complementary services, products or geographical advantages without having to do research and development from scratch. It also provides the acquiring business with new market access, further increasing the value of an acquisition for the acquiring company.

Bolt-On Versus Tuck-In Acquisitions

Bolt-on companies still have some level of autonomy and keep some of their unique brand identity post-acquisition, despite the acquired assets being integrated into the acquiring company’s overall structure. This contrasts with tuck-in acquisitions, where this type of acquisition completely absorbs the entire assets of the acquired company into the acquiring company.

Defining Asset Acquisition & Accounting Treatment

FASB’s Accounting Standards Codification Topic 805, Business Combinations, further defines asset acquisitions, including bolt-on acquisitions.

Asset acquisitions are defined as the complete fair value of the acquired assets as defined by similarly identifiable attributes. By meeting the so-called “screen test,” ASC 805 defines it as an asset acquisition. Based upon this type of transaction, acquirers are required to account for it via ASC 805-50’s cost model.

Transaction expenses, including immediately attributable and additive expenses the company sees during the asset acquisition period, are factored into the purchased asset(s) costs. This lowers expenses during the acquisition’s time frame compared to a business combination, which results in greater depreciation expenses over the acquired asset’s life.

Another consideration for asset acquisitions is failing to recognize goodwill. Assets could have a higher basis that’s subject to depreciation or amortization if the value is reported higher than the asset’s fair value. Similarly, when it comes to ASC 842-10-35-3, unless the lease is materially changed, the acquirer must maintain the acquiree’s same lease circumstances.

Defining Business Acquisition

ASC 805 defines a business as a functional combination of assets and processes, featuring novel methods for developing significant input, in order to create new outcomes. This is a subjective process that ASC 805 describes in depth and often requires expertise to make a judgment call. According to ASC 805-10, accounting considerations for business combinations include measuring liabilities and assets at fair value. Legal and consulting transaction costs beginning with the acquisition preparation through the acquisition date should be expensed.

Goodwill is recognized as an asset and evaluated once a year for impairment. Like an asset acquisition, lease classification is kept the same as the acquired company, unless the lease agreement has material alterations.

Conclusion

While there are many different types of acquisition considerations and relevant procedures required, understanding how to navigate bolt-on acquisitions is essential to make the most of accounting for mergers and acquisitions in 2026 and beyond.

Extending Daylight Hours, Protecting Cultural Livelihoods and Making Local Banking Easier

Sunshine Protection Act of 2025 (HR 139) – The purpose of this legislation is to make daylight savings time (DST) permanent for most of the country. States…

3 min read

Sunshine Protection Act of 2025 (HR 139) – The purpose of this legislation is to make daylight savings time (DST) permanent for most of the country. States and territories presently exempt from DST may choose the standard time for those areas. This latest version of the bill was introduced by Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) on Jan. 3, 2025. The Act passed in the House on July 14 and faces a mix of cross-aisle opposition and support in the Senate.

Lulu’s Law (S 1003) – Introduced on March 12, 2025, by Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL), this Act authorizes the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to issue emergency alerts to mobile phones in the event of a shark attack (similar to other alerts, such as severe weather, missing children, etc.). The bill passed in the Senate on July 8, 2025, in the House on May 20 and was signed into law on June 26.

Artist Act (S 254) – The Artist Act amends the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 by prohibiting states from imposing bans specifically on Alaska Native handicrafts and marine mammal ivory products. The bill is designed to protect the cultural practices and livelihood of Native American artists that create handicrafts and clothing using marine mammal ivory, bone or baleen. Introduced by Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) on Jan. 24, 2025, the bill passed in the Senate on Oct. 8, 2025, and in the House on June 3. It was enacted by the president on June 12.

A bill to amend chapters 83 and 84 of title 5, United States Code, to authorize an increase of the retirement age for members of the Capitol Police (S 4530) – Prior to this amendment, members of the Capitol Police were required to retire either at age 57 or, if older than 57, upon completing 20 years of service. A previous waiver enabled officers to continue working until age 60. This bill increases the retirement age to between ages 57 and 62, when such a waiver is in the public interest. The bipartisan bill was introduced by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on May 14. It passed in the Senate on May 15, the House on May 19, and became law on May 29.

American Access to Banking Act (HR 4544) – This law is designed to increase the number of community banks by making it easier to start them. Introduced by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) on July 17, 2025, it passed 405-4 in the House on May 20 and is currently under consideration in the Senate.

Community Bank Deposit Access Act of 2025 (HR 5317) – This bill would create exemptions to FDIC rules that allow banks greater flexibility in funding loans. Specifically, the Act would alter how certain types of deposits are treated so they are no longer classified as brokered deposits. The legislation was introduced by Rep. French Hill (R-AR) on Sept. 11, 2025. It passed in the House on May 20 and currently resides in the Senate.

The Death of the App: Why Your Business Will Sideline SaaS Dashboards

For two decades, enterprise software has been built around a simple assumption: people log into multiple applications to retrieve information, make decisions and complete work. A CRM, a project tracker, a business intelligence…

4 min read

For two decades, enterprise software has been built around a simple assumption: people log into multiple applications to retrieve information, make decisions, and complete work. A CRM, a project tracker, a business intelligence dashboard, a support ticketing system, and more. All this is because these applications operate in isolation.

There is a shift whose intention is not eliminating SaaS applications. It’s about eliminating the need to constantly switch between them.

Why Dashboards Existed

Dashboards were built because software couldn’t interpret business intent. Humans had to retrieve, interpret charts, and decide what to do next. While dashboards were designed for human navigation, these static SaaS front ends are being replaced by dynamic, real-time interface synthesis.

about 291 with large organizations scaling over 400. This makes constant switching a productivity problem rather than convenience.

A Harvard Business Review study revealed that digital workers toggle between different applications and websites about 1,200 times a day. This tool-switching alone costs employees an average of 44 hours per year due to tool fatigue. Meanwhile, most of the enterprise SaaS stack goes completely unused, and this is a weighty business cost.

What is Actually Changing

The shift in business computing is not about adding another dashboard to the stack, but rather usurping its purpose. The enterprise interface is beginning to shift toward intent-native workspaces, reducing the need to navigate traditional dashboards for routine work.

In comes agentic AI, which collapses the decision chain. Instead of opening a chart to figure out what it means, the user states an intent and an agent queries the underlying systems directly, synthesizes across them, and gives the user an answer or takes the action itself. For example, instead of a user logging into five different systems, a finance agent pulls real-time vendor invoices from an ERP, a legal agent scans contract terms, and a risk agent cross-references historical delivery delays. All coordinated by an orchestration layer.

Generative user interface (GenUI) technology pairs with this orchestration. Instead of presenting the same dashboard to everyone, a GenUI system generates a temporary interface tailored to the user’s immediate request. Once the task is complete, that interface disappears. If a user inputs their intention, such as checking which supplier poses a risk, the system dynamically renders a clean, interactive panel showing only the relevant vendor risk scores.

A survey by CrewAI on 2026 State of Agentic AI Survey found that adoption of agentic AI is moving fast. Of the 500 senior enterprise executives surveyed, 65 percent are already using AI agents, 81 percent have fully adopted and are actively scaling, and 100 percent plan to expand agentic AI use in 2026.

What Still Matters

Dashboards aren’t disappearing; their role is changing. The shift is not toward a better dashboard; it is to create systems that decide and act directly, with humans overseeing outcomes and not every step. Modern AI-driven operations demand speed that previous tools can’t cope with. Having insights without action is now a bottleneck. Static views, manual interpretation, and the lack of proactive alerts and personalized framing are limitations that drive the shift toward agents.

However, while agentic AI determines what happens next, the dashboards will keep documenting the process. They will also exist mainly as audit trails and compliance records, but not as the primary way work gets done.

What This Means for Your Business

For businesses evaluating software, appearance is becoming less important than accessibility. A polished dashboard matters little if AI agents can’t access its data or trigger actions. As enterprises increasingly rely on AI agents to automate work across multiple systems, software without strong AI integration risks becoming difficult to use, costly to upgrade, and easier to replace.

Logistically, this means businesses should start auditing their software stack for API maturity and AI agent readiness. Before renewing or purchasing new software contracts, a business should evaluate whether the platform has robust APIs, allows AI agents to securely access its data and perform actions, and is built to support an AI-driven workflow.

Conclusion

The biggest disruption is not the end of SaaS dashboards – it’s the end of software that waits for human input. The next generation of enterprise software won’t compete on who has the prettiest dashboard. It will compete on which platform gives AI agents the fastest, safest access to data and actions. Businesses that continue buying interfaces instead of intelligent access may soon find themselves paying for software no one opens.

Powell CPA PLLC

The Death of the App: Why Your Business Will Sideline SaaS Dashboards

August 1, 2026 · Blog, What's New in Technology

4 min read

Sideline SaaS Dashboards For two decades, enterprise software has been built around a simple assumption: people log into multiple applications to retrieve information, make decisions, and complete work. A CRM, a project tracker, a business intelligence dashboard, a support ticketing system, and more. All this is because these applications operate in isolation.

There is a shift whose intention is not eliminating SaaS applications. It’s about eliminating the need to constantly switch between them.

Why Dashboards Existed

The dashboard model worked when companies relied on a handful of applications. Today, enterprises manage hundreds of SaaS tools. An average large enterprise runs multiple SaaS applications – about 291 with large organizations scaling over 400. This makes constant switching a productivity problem rather than convenience.

What is Actually Changing

What Still Matters

What This Means for Your Business

Conclusion

Disclaimer

Ready to Set Your Q4 Financial Goals?

Surprising at it may seem, Q4 is at your doorstep, knocking and asking for attention. What’s more, it’s that time of year when everything starts getting busy: kids go back to school, football starts…

4 min read

Surprising as it may seem, Q4 is at your doorstep, knocking and asking for attention. What’s more, it’s that time of year when everything starts getting busy: kids go back to school, football starts, and then the holidays are just up ahead. During this time, you might also be hearing “cha-ching, cha-ching” as what lies ahead can be financially challenging. Consider a few ways to frame this and strategies to set up goals as you bring the year to a close.

Map out the big picture. While all the things in your immediate future might be at the forefront of your mind, take a step back. What’s your five-year vision? Where are you with your big life goals? Do they include saving for a down payment for a house, a dream vacay, or setting up a college fund for your kids? Decide on completion dates and work backward. What needs to happen for these things to become realities?

Focus on the next 90 days. Now you can get a bit more granular. What’s looming in the future, before the year ends? What are your holiday plans? Usually this involves expenses (travel and food). Brainstorm about how to economize. Can you cost-share with family and friends? (Thinking here about your five-year vision.) What about your home and cars? Do they need work, and what might you spend? Do you have an emergency fund to help with all this? If you don’t, start one! Keep all of these things in mind as you make your way toward next year and beyond.

here are a few tracker templates to kick things off.

Create SMART goals. You might have heard of this acronym, but it stands for:

Specific: Needs to be concrete, not vague.
Measurable: Must be specific dollar amounts.
Attainable: Within your budget but still challenging.
Relevant: Aligned with your five-year goals, your future dreams.
Time-bound: Hard deadlines.

Separate your goals into buckets. Those would be long-, medium-, and short-term.

Long-term: This is 5-plus years. Early retirement by XX years old with a specific amount of money in the bank. Paying off your house by a certain date. Having a certain amount of cash saved for your kiddos after you’re gone.

Medium-term: This is 1-5 years. The usual suspects include paying off your car, student loans, consumer debt, or even building up a (dollar amount goes here) reserve for a down payment on a house or second property.

Short-term goals and quarterly goals: This is less than 1 year – hot items you cannot ignore. Starting, or adding to, your emergency fund that will equal, let’s say, $5,000. Or, for instance, saving $8,000 for a family vacation. You can also look at these small goals as subsets of larger goals: paying off X% of your house or car note by a certain date.

In sum, all of the above are simple ways to wrap your head around how to navigate Q4 financial goals – and beyond – by carving them up into smaller, digestible steps. If you can get organized, take on the last half of the year with intention, and make some real progress, there’s nothing in the (fiscal) world you can’t accomplish if you set your mind to it.

Sources

https://www.heliodorpress.com/articles/fourth-quarter-financial-goals

Powell CPA PLLC

Ready to Set Your Q4 Financial Goals?

August 1, 2026 · Blog, Tip of the Month

4 min read

Set Your Q4 Financial Goals Surprising as it may seem, Q4 is at your doorstep, knocking and asking for attention. What’s more, it’s that time of year when everything starts getting busy: kids go back to school, football starts, and then the holidays are just up ahead. During this time, you might also be hearing “cha-ching, cha-ching” as what lies ahead can be financially challenging. Consider a few ways to frame this and strategies to set up goals as you bring the year to a close.

Set up a tracker. It can be an Excel spreadsheet, a notebook, or a whiteboard – whatever works for you. Color code different milestones and then brainstorm (yes, again) to see how you can reach these goals. Do you need to cut expenses in some areas? Pick up a side hustle? Purge your closet (house, too), and sell some things? To get started, here are a few tracker templates to kick things off.

Create SMART goals. You might have heard of this acronym, but it stands for:

Specific: Needs to be concrete, not vague.
Measurable: Must be specific dollar amounts.
Attainable: Within your budget but still challenging.
Relevant: Aligned with your five-year goals, your future dreams.
Time-bound: Hard deadlines.

Separate your goals into buckets. Those would be long-, medium-, and short-term.

Sources

https://www.heliodorpress.com/articles/fourth-quarter-financial-goals

Disclaimer

Travel Companions: How to Share Expenses

No matter how well you know someone, you usually learn a lot more once you’ve traveled with them. We are all different in this activity, from people who prefer aisle seats over window seats, to Airbnb renters or hotel…

5 min read

Friendship compatibility does not always translate to travel compatibility. Therefore, before you load up the car or board public transportation, it will help to communicate preferences, establish a few ground rules, and, perhaps most importantly, decide how to share expenses.

There are plenty of advantages to traveling with another person or a group of people, even if you tend to be a loner. For example, sharing expenses for accommodations, a car rental, or even a bottle of wine over dinner can cut your vacation budget substantially. However, if you don’t have a plan for what expenses to share and how to track them, you may return home short-changed, resentful, and with one less person in your life.

Ground Rules

It’s important to gauge upfront if everyone is on the same page as to how much money they want to spend on the trip, and even establish a maximum budget so no one gets trapped into paying more than they can afford. This means determining the level of accommodations (e.g., luxury versus budget-friendly) to shop for, whether or not you want the option to cook meals as opposed to eating out all the time, and the main activities the group plans to engage in (e.g., free hiking versus expensive snow skiing). Establish what types of expenses will be shared, such as group meals, housing and car rental, and what will be paid for individually, such as airfare, solo outings and souvenirs.

Choose Your Tracking Method

There are two approaches for sharing the expenses of travel: Wing it or track it. Winging implies a more casual tactic. For example, one person picks up the hotel room tab, another pays for the rental car, another pays for meals. Perhaps you rotate or take turns picking up comparable bills. The goal is to generally spread expenses evenly across all payers, but winging it may lead to one (or more) travelers paying more while the other(s) pay less. If everyone agrees their outlays may differ, then this tactic will probably work just fine.

Tracking Tools

The second approach is to track all shared expenses with some degree of accuracy. This is easier if all expenses are shared evenly, but more complex if expenses need to be broken down into who ordered a salad and who ordered the filet mignon.

Fortunately, there is a plethora of electronic technologies and digital tools designed to make it easier to track travel expenses and ensure no one overpays – right down to the penny.

PayPal, Venmo, Zelle – These services make it easy to send or request money using apps. They may require travelers to keep receipts and calculate individual tabs, then settle up at the end of the day or the end of the trip. This tactic can be a little unwieldy, and may require manual tracking to ensure no one is paying too much or too little along the way. All travelers should sign up for at least one compatible money transfer app; they are generally free to use.

Splitwise – This app enables participants in a travel group to enter the expenses they paid by adding the names of the participants and breaking down the individual amounts each person contributed to each bill. The app tracks expenses by person, then tallies up who owes money at the end. Splitwise calculates who owes whom. Travelers can then settle balances using their preferred payment method, such as PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, bank transfer, cash, or another supported payment service. Splitwise is just one brand name of many apps that work similarly, including Tricount and Revolut.

Cino – This app works a bit differently in that each traveler links it to their personal credit or debit card, and the group Cino card is loaded into Apple Pay or Google Pay. Then all participants share a virtual card to pay for expenses, which divides each payment at the point of purchase among the participants for that expense. When one person pays for an expense, everyone’s share is automatically charged to each member’s connected credit or debit account. Note that Cino does not break down invoices by line item to track exactly who ate what; it follows a split ratio (e.g., 50%-50%) as determined up front by the group.

Artificial Intelligence – Travelers may want to give AI a try, where as they start with a prompt asking the service to track and split group expenses, then enter the names of participants and related expenses to the prompt on an ongoing basis. AI tools can organize, categorize, and calculate shared expenses that users enter manually. Some AI assistants may also summarize spending trends or generate settlement calculations, but they generally do not automatically track purchases unless integrated with financial apps.

Given today’s higher prices, group travel is becoming more prevalent as a way to share the cost of vacation. According to a 2025 Zeta Global survey, 40 percent of travelers are going on trips with family while 21 percent opt to vacation with friends. Today’s new digital tools make it easy to track and share expenses so that you don’t strain relationships with travel companions.

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