That’s right…it’s question time!

With only four weeks until Christmas, I thought I’d dedicate the rest of the calendar year to answering your questions…so, what do you want to know?*

As an added bonus, for the first 10 people to ask a question, I’ll donate an extra $1 to the Warrnambool SES as per my post last week (you can read it here if you missed it!)

I really hope you will take this opportunity to learn something new or clarify an issue you’ve got – you are welcome to comment on this blog post via the website, comment on the Facebook link, or if you prefer to remain anonymous you may consider sending me a private e-mail (bron@thetaxchic.com) or Facebook message.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Regards

*Please do not include personal details in your message, all responses will be generic in nature as per the Important Information on the website, specific advice can only be provided by way of private accountant/client arrangement.

Most weeks find me out and about, engaging with the community and exploring new ideas – this week was no exception.

I attended a Deakin University Alumni event where Associate Professor Felice Jacka discussed the topic – “Can we prevent depression by improving diet?”

An unhealthy diet is now the leading cause of early mortality across the globe, that’s right, it is not cardio vascular disease, obesity, Type 2 diabetes, dementia or even cancer – and it doesn’t discriminate between gender, age, race, religion or social status!

Of the Australian women included in a survey, 35% reported a lifetime history of mood or anxiety disorders and 15% reported a current mood or anxiety disorder.  Some other figures noted were that consuming a western diet increases the chance of depression by 50%, while those consuming a traditional diet were 35% less likely to develop a depressive disorder and 32% less likely to develop an anxiety disorder (my apologies…I love the numbers!!)

Other studies have looked at adolescents and the health and diet quality of mothers and fathers and how that may have impacted on their children

The results from the study discussed at this event are still being finalised for formal reporting, so keep an eye on the newspaper because I think this will be well reported!

I’m certainly no expert in this area, but I wanted to share this with you and I hope you will all take notice of what you eat and what you teach your children to eat – it really is so important!

Regards

The company who host my website recently published an article on their blog about the upcoming “Small Business Saturday” – I’d never heard of it so I went off to investigate…

In 2010, American Express (in America) launched an annual event to give small, local businesses a leg up on major retailers…they called it “Small Business Saturday”.

At the time American Express offered incentives to their cardholders to shop at small independent businesses and their figures indicate that in 2014 approximately $14.3 billion was spent – OMG!!

I can’t possibly hope to match that, but in honour of Small Business Saturday, which will be held this coming Saturday 28th November, 2015 – I’ve got an incentive for you to support me and my chosen charity!

The Tax Chic’s Facebook page currently has 406 “likes” – for every new like between the publishing of this post (7am on Wednesday 25th November, 2015), until midnight on Tuesday 1st December, 2015 – I will donate $1 to the Warrnambool SES.*

So please, share my page with your family and friends, help this small business drum up some support, and help the Warrnambool SES!

Regards

* up to $200

The Xero Inbox is a tool not utilised by many…but it has huge potential!

Each Xero subscription is provided with a unique Xero e-mail address (it’s quite long so it’s not the type of e-mail address you would remember but as long as you save it in your contacts it will always be close to hand).

This Xero e-mail address sends any e-mails, and attached files to your Xero inbox which can be found inside your Xero file when open (take a look in the top right hand corner…).

The attachments can then be allocated to individual income or expense items that appear in your Xero file – eliminating the need to keep paper copy receipts and invoices (this is particularly handy for those small thermal receipts so many of us accumulate!)

In addition to receipts and invoices, you can use the Xero inbox to gather customer and employee contracts as well as other documentation such as insurance policies.

Go on…take a look!

Regards