GLO CPAs LLLP

It looks like the cost of living is on the rise! 📈 💵 Keep an eye on the rate of inflation if you want to stay ahead of the curve. 🤔

As a young kid, I could never get my head around why it was called "Good Friday." At a glance, it seemed like a day of betrayal, loss, pain, you name it. It took some time to understand that the "good" wasn't in Friday, but the Easter that Friday led to. We have many blessings in our lives that we miss because we're too busy or self-absorbed. Sometimes I pray that God will help me see those blessings so I can be grateful for them. Just like it took Easter for us to be able to see the "good" in Good Friday. Are there blessings that you don't notice in your life?

Google was famous for its philosophy of encouraging workers to work on their own projects by allowing up to 20% of their workweek to be devoted to side projects. These side projects gave rise to popular Google products like gmail, Adsense, WearOS and Google News.

What we don't hear as much about is the tremendous number of products that Google has launched and then killed off. By last count there are 275 products that have been publicly released only to be shut down! https://bit.ly/2Vmxo5u

I started GLO in 1981. The world of business has changed and we've kept up, but we haven't changed what we believe in and the trust the business was founded upon. We're not chasing the latest tax trend in this or that. We strive to be our clients' trusted advisor every day and it's been that way for over 40 years. Trust isn't fashionable, it's foundational.

Churchill said, "Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others." I think some of society's ills are rooted in the belief that a person is owed something rather than being grateful to God for what they have and who they are. I am grateful for the life God has made for me, the family and friends I'm surrounded by, and a business that I love and allows me to help others. What are you thankful for today?

I was shopping at my local H-E-B not long ago and saw this on the cash register in the next lane. Like Chick-fil-A , HEB and GLO say "My Pleasure" because it really is. One of the biggest blessings in our lives is how God faithfully brings clients for us to help.

As an accountant, you'd think that I had a spreadsheet where I kept the list of things I'm most thankful for, but you'd be wrong. Like many of us, when I was younger I didn't stop and think about the blessings in my life. But like Willie, when I started counting them my whole life turned around. This week I'm going to recount them, starting with my family. How about you? What are you thankful for?

The US National Debt blew past $31 TRILLION. That's about 5 trillion Chick-fil-A chicken combo meals. If we lined up all those combos end to end that would be about the length of a drive thru at Chick-fil-A on a Saturday. https://bit.ly/3Crpq1H

A 19th century philosopher, William James, once said "Thoughts become perception, perception becomes reality. Alter your thoughts, alter your reality." When people were recently asked about inflation, they felt that the prices of everything were higher, even if they really weren't. In the image, the stuff in the blue bubble hadn't really increased in price very much. That doesn't mean that inflation isn't real, it's just that how it's perceived impacts consumer attitudes, and hopefully how those folks vote. https://mck.co/3DzZXFp

Sometimes we talk about inflation like it's a tangible thing that everyone knows about, but it can be a bit confusing. The inflation rate is the change in price over a period of time (like a month or a year) for about 80,000 items that the US Bureau of Labor Statistics collects into something called the Consumer Price Index. Housing is about 32%, food is 14% and transportation commodities represent about 8% of the total. I'm not sure who decided how much each should contribute to the whole thing, but each of the items is affected by market forces differently, so combining them into a single measure is just a guess. So when the news reader says that the inflation rate is now 8.3%, keep in mind, they are just saying "the price of stuff is higher than it used to be and probably will be for a while." https://econ.st/3xzcnK6

We are very proud to call Alexander and Linda Rogers a good friends. They are the owners of Alexander Fine Portrait Design. https://bit.ly/3qLlTpC Alexander has taken the photographs of 9 US Presidents and an endless list of Texas' Who’s Who. With the popularity of cell phone cameras, Alexander's business has changed a lot, but what the technology has really done is focus our attention not on the point and click, but on the expertise and insights of a seasoned professional. At GLO was strive to be our clients' trusted advisors, something that technology can't do. What's it like for your business? https://bit.ly/31Xnkbz

The world thinks Texas is a pretty good place to do business! Texas is open for business! Who's next? https://on.wsj.com/3BuDVS9

We can all think of a teacher that made a significant impact on our lives. For me, it was Milton Pullen, our choir director at Clear Lake High School. Some folks in Washington seem to think that teachers are the enemy. I want to be clear. We love teachers. If there's a problem, it may be with teacher unions and some litigious parents and maybe opportunistic politicians, but the VAST majority of teachers are NOT the problem. In this graphic, we see that student-teacher ratios for the US are some of the highest in western countries. https://bit.ly/3UofmyD

Free Campaign Event!!
Come meet Carmen Maria Montiel, candidate for US Congressional District 18.

Carmen’s background and experience have uniquely prepared her to represent the people of TX CD-18.

The event will be held at Houston Baptist University's Morris Family Center for Law and Liberty, a new five-building complex stands tall off of HBU’s main entrance, featuring a main building modeled down to the smallest detail after Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

Be one of the first to see it!

Click for more information. https://bit.ly/3LkuUzz

If you're not from Texas, the notion of a Texas County Judge might bring to mind the likes of Judge Roy Bean (who was actually a Justice of the Peace) and who called himself "the Law West of the Pecos".
But the County Judge affects the lives of all of us. The Judge is in charge of helping prepare and protect residents from the effects of disasters, like Hurricanes and viruses. The judge oversees ALL county government departments. To my way of thinking, it seems like an awfully important job needing experience leading others in emergency situations. Maybe for once, we should leave the politics out of it and vote for the very best qualified person for the job. After all, it's our families, homes and businesses at stake. What do you think?

The phrase "Endless Summer" never survives an encounter with the word "August." Whenever August rolls around, the start of school can't be far behind. I can't wait to hear great stories about the kids at Beta Academy! Take a look at the current home of future leaders! https://bit.ly/3Q3h719

Texans like to think that because we don't pay personal income taxes, we live in a tax friendly state, but that's not the case. In fact, we're number 32! This chart shows those other taxes that we pay! Getting your money's worth? https://bit.ly/3bLXpsa

In business, if your debts are higher than your assets (a ratio over 100%), we would say your company is a risky investment because there aren't enough assets to sell if your creditors demand payments. Of course, no one is going to call in the note for some of these states. They'll just kick the can down the road and raise taxes. https://bit.ly/3OXeOfz

"Oh Lord, my God
When I, in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder
Thy power throughout the universe displayed"

In this great universe now stretching out before our eyes, we echo the psalmist
"Who am I Lord that you would be mindful of me?" - Psalm 8:4

https://go.nasa.gov/3AKm1f5

Yesterday was a big day in the world of money. For the first time in about 2 decades, the dollar and euro trade one-for-one. What's that mean? "The dollar is considered a safe haven, and it has gained strength as investors maneuver an uncertain economic playing field in Europe and elsewhere." Even with all the crazy stuff happening here, the good ole US of A is still the place the world looks to! I feel a Lee Greenwood song coming on! https://wapo.st/3PlOLPE

Holy cow! Even though the graph shows the amount of change (not the actual amounts), I had no idea it was this bad. When I went to UH, I just wanted a degree so I could get a job. Fancy gyms, dorms and cafeterias didn't come into it. https://bit.ly/3yCCVuV

I'm the first to admit that I hate it when people overpay their taxes. "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's..." but that's it. It's my mission to help our clients pay as little as possible. Who likes paying taxes? https://bit.ly/3P0z54c

If you've been around me, you know how much I love the kids at Beta Academy https://bit.ly/3OZbnVT and Junior Achievement https://bit.ly/3bKaH8q . I'm excited for the future for these kids. I wish I had seen a chart like this when I was their age. What did you want to be when you grew up? https://bit.ly/3ahU1EP

Whoop? https://bit.ly/3nyjnRV

What Schools Create the Most Student Loans in the U.S.? Crushing student loan debt is a drag on the U.S economy. These are the schools responsible for originating the most student loans in every state around the country.

Before Covid, I don't think I had even heard of most of these. The world changed right before our eyes and some companies where there to take advantage of it. What changes did you see? https://bit.ly/3R3w2tD

It's not easy comparing a company that's nearly 120 years old (Ford) with one that's nearly 20 years old (Tesla), but I think this picture speaks volumes, don't you? https://bit.ly/3nyasjk

Goodness Gracious Americans pay lots of tax https://bit.ly/3yAyLDQ Are you getting your money's worth?

I'm sure things will improve, but those of us who have driven across the Great State of Texas know that driving an electric car between Houston and El Paso says you don't have enough excitement in your life. https://bit.ly/3nyezfl

In the December 2019 Democratic debate, now President Biden was asked: “Three consecutive American presidents have enjoyed stints of explosive economic growth due to a boom in oil and natural gas production. As president, would you be willing to sacrifice some of that growth, even knowing potentially that it could displace thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of blue-collar workers in the interest of transitioning to that greener economy?”

“The answer is yes,” the former vice president said. https://on.mktw.net/3NIk5qn
image source: https://bit.ly/3yGEqbo