Dan Matarrese

I am a closet techno-geek (thanks in part to my brother-in-law Reed). For a while I wanted to compile a list of the gadgets I use for my professional and personal life. Here is my current line-up and some specifics about each item:

1.  I have to start with my BlackBerry Curve (8330). My favorite and most important gadget. It allows me to always be accessible to clients and colleagues who may need me. Remote access to email, contacts and calendar is a must have for any professional who values flexibility in their work schedule. Many people think that having a BlackBerry means that you are always working. Although that may be true for some, if you use this tool properly, you can actually be at work less and still keep everyone happy.  Here are some of the applications and tweaks I have on my curve:
   • Custom theme created by Reed - Shows messages and next five calendar events on my home screen.
   • Gmail Application 
   • Google Talk Application (Although I prefer BB messenger for easy file transfer) 
   • Opera Mini - Awesome full web browser that I don’t use all the time, but it is great when you need to see full web page content 
   • Google Maps 
   • Viigo - Allows you to access content from all types of RSS and web sources. You can even set it up to access you existing RSS reader! Mine just piggy backs of my Google Reader account and I get all my favorite blog content in an awesome, easy to read format on my BB 
   • Wikipedia App - Nothing more than a link that makes it easy to access Wikipedia when you are on the go and someone asks a dumb question that you need to know the answer to 
   • Splash ID - Allows you to save important info like password and account numbers in a password protected app. Syncs with your PC for easy organization 
   • Facebook App 
   • Market Simplified - I can get quotes and up to date info on the market. Also works with your TD Ameritrade account if you have one and allows you to trade online.
   • BerryStore - Cool application that allows you to browse and download a bunch of other BB applications.
   • Games
     • Pro Gold Paradise
     • Bubble Popper
     • Brick Breaker
   • Motorola H-700 Bluetooth Headset - I don’t get how people ever talk in the car without one.
   • 2 GB Memory Card
2. I’m a PC:
   •  Dell Latitude D-820 provided Laptop - work provided. The organization I work for does an amazing job providing us with the best technology. Set up includes secondary 19″ wide screen monitor. 
   • Gateway Desktop at home - I have had this baby since freshman year of college and it has gone through some awesome changes. Added RAM, changed Video Card, loaded Vista, and got rid of Vista.
   • Seagate 250GB external hard drive - I back up all my pics, music and other important stuff to here.
   • Belkin Flip KVM switch- Allows me to pop my work laptop onto the extra docking station I have at home and with one tap of my switch, my desktop monitor becomes the second monitor to my laptop. It also allows me to use the keyboard, mouse and speakers from my desktop.
3. Zune 30GB   - Original Zune player which I still love.    
4. Garmin Nuvi 200w - A GPS is a must for anyone really. No more wasting paper to print directions!
5. 8GB SanDisk Thumb Drive - Nothing says “I am a geek” like having 8 gigs of storage on your key chain. It is surprisingly handy to have when you are working with clients or doing presentations. 

Nothing too crazy, just some practical tools that allow me to do my job and keep my life in order. 

DJM 

For many Gen-Y professionals like myself, this is the first set of “tough times” we have gone through. Up until now, the economy and the companies we work for have been doing pretty well. We now find ourselves in the midst of bailout, downsizing, layoffs and recession.

Call me the eternal optimist, but this is an opportunity for my generation to truly shine. We pride ourselves as being the generation of technology. The ones who does things differently, more efficiently and more effectively. Well now is the time to put our money where our mouth is. Lets get creative, challenge assumptions and do our parts to help our companies not only survive, but thrive!

Lets also set some realistic expectations…. we are not going to see the big pay raises that we wanted or maybe even deserve. Now is not the time to “demand” salary increases. It is a time to bite the bullet and trade in your short-term monetary wants for a long-term focus. Be part of the solution to the struggles that your organization is facing and your pay day will come. And if it doesn’t, the experience will make you a better professional which will lead to more success in the future.

My buddy shared an FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) devotion with me recently. I thought it was fitting for how I believe we should all be reacting to our current economic situation; “Commit for the long haul. Don’t bail. Be faithful. Dig in and make a difference. Sink your teeth into something, and be a competitor who is marked with consistency. Just start where you are and stay after it.”

At the end of the day, wouldn’t you rather be the employee who stay committed to your organization’s vision and did everything you could within your role to work towards that vision rather than the one who jumped ship because of short-term gain? When my grandpa tells stories about growing up in the depression and cleaning chicken cages just so his family could eat, I realize that I have it pretty darn good. I owe it to the ones who went before me to suck it up and be part of the solution.

DJM

Many of us are familiar with the hedgehog concept that Jim Collins outlines so eloquently in Good to Great. The basic premise is that the hedgehog, unlike other more cunning animals, only has one line of defense against predators. It curls up in a ball and rolls, quickly. I have to admit that when I read this part of the book for the first time my mind quickly traveled back to a more simple time when I would spend hours playing Sonic, but after focusing myself I began to really grasp what Jim was getting at and I can certainly say that his theories have been reinforced consistently in my short professional experience.

Jim goes on to explain that companies that became great and sustained that greatness all found that one thing that they should be focusing on. In Good to Great, we are instructed to look for the one thing our company can do that it is passionate about, can make money doing and be the best in the world at. The hedgehog concept is not only something you can apply big life questions like “what should our company do?” or even “what should I do with my life?” I am quickly learning that there is much value in applying this concept to many of the “smaller” questions we face daily in our professional lives.

A colleague was recently telling me about a book he was reading called Let Me Tell You a Story. The book is chronicle of the stories told by basketball great Red Auerbach. As my colleague explained, Red did some revolutionary things (first coach with 5 black starters on the court, first GM to hire a black coach). When asked about these decisions and their motivation, Red would come back to the same thing… they gave his team the best chance to win a championship, that’s why he did what he did.

Red not only grasped the idea of the hedgehog concept, but he successfully applied it to every decision he made as it related to the Celtic organization. This may seem idealistic, but I challenge you (and myself) to look for that concept, goal, focus point in everything you do professionally and let that guide your decisions and actions not only on a strategic basis, but on a daily basis!

Being focused in thought and action is more important now than ever before. Consider all the information and distractions we have at our finger tips. Take time to ask yourself every day “how does what I am doing help me accomplish our team’s goals?” If it doesn’t, then work with your team to focus your efforts and energy in areas that bring you closer to your destination.

Growing up in a family that owned a business, we never took vacation. I think my first official summer vacation was when I was 17. Well I must say that I have a new found appreciation for the good that a week of rest and relaxation can do. Not only was my vacation last week a lot of fun but I came back refreshed and excited about work. In The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey stresses that we should “take time away from production to build production capacity”. After just one week on the beach I can certainly say that it can do wonders. Next year, I plan to take a mini-vacation right after tax season to really give my mind a break and a chance to recuperate. I didn’t do that this year and I feel like I was not the best I could be for myself or my employer in May, June or July.

Many times, we get so caught up in our routine that we don’t realize it is draining us. We become negative, unhappy, and even develop bad habits. It is better to get away, to change our scenery and let our mind and body “reboot”. If you are anything like me, you need to be excited about what you are doing. After a while I can lose my passion if I don’t take some time off. There is nothing wrong with knowing you need a break, it is natural. Actually, I think it is more common if you are really passionate about what you do and put alot into your career. I look at my wife as an example. She is a teacher who is very passionate about what she does. With that being said, she loves having the summers off. It gives her a chance to recharge her batteries. I saw a direct change in her overall demanor once she had sometime off this summer. If you are not a teacher you probably can’t convince your boss to give you the summer off without taking a pay cut (if you can let me know how), but you can make sure you are conscious of how drained you might be getting. You are doing your team no good by sticking around when you are negative, non-productive and just plain pissy. Don’t try to be the super hero who works three years without taking vacation. Take the time off when you need to get away.

 So this week I am on vacation with my wife and in-laws in the OBX. We have a house on the southern shores that is dominant. It comes complete with a hot tub and pool, which nicely compliment our 5 minute walk to the beach. After just one day here I am already half way through The 4-Hour Work Week, a book that two of my bosses have read and seemed to enjoy.

I have to admit that the book is very thought provoking. I have already come to realize that I waste a heck of a lot of time on things that provide no results. Reading this has also reinforced some of the “off-base” notions I have already tried to implement in my career. Here are some thoughts about my job, and profession that have come out of my reading and thinking:

•  Working more is the easy way out - allowing yourself to work 55, 60 or 80 hours in a week creates the opportunity to be inefficient, ineffective and will leave you utterly busy for the sake of being busy. Don’t take the easy way out by staying later, find a better, quicker, easier way to do things.
• Ask for forgiveness not permission - something my boss has been telling me for as long as I can remember. You think you have a better way to do something? Just do it, and if it works out you are a hero, if it doesn’t apologize and move on.
• Judge the end product, not the path taken - If the end result is desirable who cares how, or how long it took to get there.
• In order to create the work you want, you have to get rid of the work you don’t want - we get caught up in worrying that firing certain clients cant happen until we have the right replacements. Newsflash…. we won’t work hard to get those replacement unless we have already fired the other clients (80/20 rule in action. Get rid of the 80% of our clients that are providing us only 20% of our benefit and replace them with those that are similar to our top 20%)

If you have any thoughts please share….

DJM

So I recently came across a new outlook add-on called Xobni (thank you Gadget Cube). For some reason I am pretty serious about keeping a clean inbox (I delete everything once it is taken care of). Most days I have about 5 emails max sitting around. If an email requires action on my part, I create a task and drag and drop the email into it.

With that being said, I sometime sacrifice the ability to find old emails or remember who said what in what email. Xobni allows me to index my emails and search them very quickly! For example, last week I played golf with some buddies and forgot where we had our tee time. I had already deleted the email and instead of sifting through my deleted folder I simply searched for “golf”. There was the email, and I made my tee time.

Another cool feature is that is displays chains of emails in conversation format (much like gmail or SMS on a BB). I recommend giving it a try. Check out the vid:

I believe self awareness is one of the important aspects of one’s life. In other words, you have to know yourself. As I “grow up” I have come to realize something interesting about me.I tend to get very very very excited about something for a short period of time (A.D.D. ?). It can be anything from a book, to a TV show, to a possible new hobby. Right now my “obsession” is golf. I can hardly be considered a golfer but I do enjoy the game. After not playing much ever since college, I have played 3 times in last few weeks which has sparked my interest in learning the game. Luckily there are plenty of videos to watch online which have kept me busy. In thinking about “why” I enjoy golf I decided to make a list. Here are the top ten reasons I have decided to start golfing, in no particular order:

1.  It gets you outside and away from the cube wall
2. The game exercises your mind - it’s 90% mental
3. Is anything more fun than driving a golf cart?
4. How often do you get to spend 4 hours with your friends just hanging out?
5. Business benefits - as Reed has pointed out, for some unknown reason golfing during “work hours” is totally permissible and encouraged. How do we get this treatment for Wii Tennis?
6. Everyone else is doing it
7. I like saying “you really shanked that one”
8. I look sweet in golf shoes
9. You have something to do with all the golf stuff that companies give away
10. Show me another game where 80% of the people who play are awful at it?

As many of you know I am pretty passionate about what I do. I take my job seriously and I have a strong desire to be the best. Although I am admittedly young and inexperienced, I have come to realize that many financial/tax/estate advisers fail to keep one important theme in mind… do what is best for the client, at all costs, no matter what.

It is easy to chase the $ and not put your client’s best interest in mind. But we must always keep in mind the golden rule as it relates to advising clients. If I was paying someone to advise me on tax/financial/estate issues, I would expect them to recommend whatever is the best for me, not what makes them the most money in the end. Therefore, I am going to do that for my clients.

Growing up in a family business, I had many important lessons taught to me early on. Grandpa would always say “Think about how hard that person worked to earn the $5 they spent in our establishment.” I was always taught to “make a customer, not a sale”. I want to be the type of adviser that turns away work if I believe I am not the right guy for the client. I want to point clients towards better fits for their needs, even if that means giving up cash in the short term.

Thank God I have a boss/mentor who lives by this theory. In the end, as with most things, it is all about the people.

DJM

So here is the deal… Obviously, you can tell that I shy away from writing many things about tax or other complicated financial issues on this blog. It is not because I don’t have anything to say about these things (because trust me, I do) but rather that blanket statements about taxes and finances are seldom correct for everyone. It is just annoying to read blog or news articles that make statements about tax and financial issues and are completely wrong. Here are some of today’s incorrect quotes:

1. You can place up to 10,000 per child, per year, into a 529 plan -
   • Wrong, you can actually place up to what ever the plans contribution limits are. For example, PA’s plan is around 368k. The annual limitation is not imposed by the plan itself but rather by gift tax law. A contribution to a 529 plan is considered a gift to the plan’s beneficiary, therefore, you must contribute less than the annual gift tax exclusion to avoid gift tax implications (that annual exclusion was 12,000 in 2007). It should also be mentioned that a married couple can each contribute up to the annual exclusion amount to their’s child’s 529 plan (i.e. each can give 12,000 in one year without gift tax implications).
2. You can put up to five years amounts on contributions into a 529 plan and the money is out of your estate -
   • Partially right, there is an exception to the annual gift tax exclusion amount that says you can “front load” a 529 plan with 5 years worth of contributions. So in 2007, one individual can put up to 60,000 into a beneficiaries’ 529 plan without gift tax implication. However, if the “giftor” (the one who gave the money) passes away during that five year period, part of the 60,000 will be brought back into the value of your estate, depending on when you died in that 5 year period.
3. You can deduct the cost of clothing you had to buy for your job, like a new suit or dress shoes -
   • Wrong, not partially, just completely. The IRS does allow you to deduct the cost of a uniform as a an unreimbursed employee expense, but the deduction is meant for actual uniforms, not work clothing. Some examples might be nurses, doctors, sanitation workers etc. To be deductible, the uniform must be:
     • Specifically required as a condition of employment; and
     • Not adaptable to general usage as ordinary clothing

Well I have vented, have a good day!

DJM

So I am the type of person who gets on kicks with certain things. Whether it be technology, a book, a song, a hobby, etc…. I usually get really excited about something for about 3 days and then I get over it and move on to something else. However, a new “flavor” has kept my interest for well over a month. It was sparked by something I read in True Professionalism.

The idea of “knowledge sharing” within a professional service firm has captured my attention and some may say has become an obsession. The basic premise is that most individuals in professional service firms do a very poor job of sharing knowledge, tools, and experiences with the rest of their team. As you gain experience in your career you are bound to come across some great resources that have served to make your job easier. Do you regularly share those with your team? When you had to research something for a client are your findings properly documented and stored in such a way that the rest of your team has access to your work?

It is no surprise that professional service firms find themselves in this situation. Development of the team is, more often than not, secondary to the task at hand (usually billable work). I am not arguing that this order of priorities is incorrect, after all we need to serve our clients so we get paid. But I do believe we owe it to ourselves, our team, and our clients to work towards sharing our knowledge. It will allow us to be more efficient and effective in what we do.

DJM