I was recently featured on American Express Open Forum for advice on tax planning =D

“You can use Section 179 on purchases up to $139,000 and bonus depreciation on amounts over that,” says Cameron Keng, CPA and founder of Autotax.me, a provider of automated tax services for small and mid-size businesses. “Bonus depreciation allows you to deduct 50 percent of the cost immediately of new purchases used for business,” says Keng.

You can check out the whole article here.

http://www.openforum.com/articles/save-thousands-with-this-tax-break

The most important lesson I’ve learned from any job is that – I don’t want to do this.  I’ve had more jobs in more industries than most families have had in a lifetime.  This is the result of a mixture of being insanely poor, having zero shame and curiosity.

What I’ve done:

1. Jeweler (I was a sweatshop worker making hairpins at 8.)
2. Marketing (I handed out flyers on the street at 14.)
3. Design Engineer (I was a janitor.)
4. Hotel Manager (A mix between bellhop and front desk guy.)
5. Structural Engineer (I was a construction worker.)
6. Mixologist (I worked at a bubble tea shop.)
7. Mixologist (I actually served alcohol this time.)
8. IT Technician (I restarted computers.)
9. Librarian (Shoved books in shelves in quasi-dewey decimal style.)
10. Barista (I poured coffee.)
11. Tour Guide (Lied to children about dinosaurs.)
12. Professor (I hate talking this much.)
13. Accountant (Bean counter with a specialization in tax.)
14. Entreprenuer (Failing on a daily basis to save you from my mistakes.)
15. Author (Short stories by interesting people and my business experiences.)

In all of the above, I learned that – I don’t want do this.

It’s bullshit and I hate it.

There’s nothing wrong with the jobs or the people that work in them, but I personally thought they were horrible.  If I ever have children – god forbid – I’d probably force them into a similar situation and have them work in a bunch of crazy jobs too.

Here are a few nuggets that I’ve taken away from my past jobs.

1. Tipping really is optional and people that say it’s required or expect it are out of their mind.  The restaurant and service industry in general is created so that they “offer” servers the opportunity to earn “tips.”  This is because the job pays less than minimum wage but because the addition of their tips means that the business has met the minimum wage requirement.  It’s not my job to subsidize the server or the business.  I was thankful for tips but I never chased anyone out the door if they under-tipped me by 5%.  WTF?
2. Hard labor blows giant round sweaty balls.  Hard is an understatement.  I remember lugging 4×2’s up flights of stairs and thinking my heart was going to burst in the 93 degree humid heat.  Any job that requires you to do hard labor can’t be a long-term job by design.  Your body will literally give out.  I remember screwing nails into gypsum, putting up drywall while contorting my body into ungodly positions.  The Olympics should hold a new gymnastic event for contractors considering the positions they get into to screw a nail.
3. It’s really all the same at the end of the day.  Same shit, different day.  Truer words have never been said.  I’ve never had a job or career that was “aces” across the board.  All jobs suck.  But, every job has its moments.  You can always be proud of your work.
   1. Admiring that caramel macchiato I just made for that cocky long-island douche paying $4.17 with an AMEX black card.
   2. A kid super excited after a walkthrough and tour or the shark section.
   3. The look of that guy who’s about to jizz himself finding a hotel he can afford with his faux girlfriend/mistress.
   4. The way numbers on a tax return can be so pretty when they all tie together and make sense like my Sonata #1040. LOL
   5. You can basically learn almost any job in 6 to 8 months.  If you can’t learn 80% of your job, then chances are you either (1) not true, (2) a ridiculously slow learner or (3) the people around you don’t know what the f*ck they’re doing.  Example of number (3) are investment bankers trying to understand the concept of risk through reports provided by their math PhD. Dropouts.

There are many more, insights but needless to say.  The moral of the story is that a job sucks, but you can always learn something and you should try as many as you can before you settle on one that you’ll do for the long haul.

disclaimer:

I don’t hate what I do, but people should try everything they can so that they can decide for themselves what they hate about their jobs and lives.

Not many people can say that they were able to come out of law school debt free.  I can say that not only am I debt free, but I was paid to go to law school.

There are exceptions to everything in this world, whether we realize it or not.  As much as I think Instagram is bullshit, I can’t deny that they’re the exception to the rule that photo apps are always losers.

The thing we need to realize is that exceptions can always be created.  Before I went to law school, everyone told me that it was going to bankrupt me and I’d end up hating my life.  This was coming from all of my cousins that became attorneys.  They all came out with $200K plus debt and an extreme disgust with their working life.

I went to a normal law school (not insert ivy league).  CUNY Law was a city law school that I chose because it had the strongest return on investment.  They were 4^th string, but they were accredited and the #1 law school in public law.

CUNY Law didn’t have a scholarship program. 

After I received my acceptance, I received a bill to pay the extremely affordable in-state tuition of $10k.  I, being the cheap miserly bastard I am, called the school to request a scholarship.  The Admissions office clearly said that they don’t offer any and fellowships programs are determined by the applicant pool’s applications.

Unwilling to accept this, I draft an 1 page letter to fax over attention to their Admissions office.  The letter I wrote (see below), was fairly straight-forward.  It said the following:

1. I want money.
2. I’m a big deal. (LOL)
3. Here’s proof.

Here’s exactly what I wrote…

To Whom It May Concern:

I, Cameron Keng, would like to be considered for the fellowship program at CUNY Law. The past 2 years has been an amazing experience where I’ve transitioned from my full time position at major accounting firms such as PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG to my nonprofit 501(c)(3) tax clinic that offers free assistance to low-income families, the elderly and non-native English speaking immigrants.

Cam’s rules to being the exception the rule:

1. Asking for something BIG.
2. It is absolutely necessary to be fiercely shameless.
3. Back your shit up.

CUNY Law was awesome enough to offer a scholarship that covered $5,000 dollars in light of my prior achievements and accomplishments.  Standing out and becoming the exception could be as simple as asking for something that wasn’t stated.

Take this process, rinse and repeat…

The result is getting about $20k in scholarships to cover all of my costs including cost of living.

Please do the same.