Read part 1 here.
In 2024, I started my first business…I had absolutely no idea what I was doing BUT we had a CPA, so I’m covered right??? …or at least if I could ever get ahold of him.
I didn't know what questions I should be asking and I definitely didn't know what opportunities we were missing. What I did know was that we were saving, and paying off student loans, my business was growing so I thought that was enough. We were kind of just assuming since we were coming out on top, everything was good.
After starting the business, my husband was promoted twice, and in 2025, I started another business. We had multiple income streams, business finances, taxes, and investments. My CPA just said everything was good and I would likely hear from him at tax time. But I felt like I was missing something so I asked for CPA recommendations that would be a little more involved, but truly didn’t know what exactly I was looking for.
We didn't just need someone to file our taxes at the end of the year. We needed someone who could actually come alongside us and help us understand the bigger picture. Repeated Facebook forums answered with the same name over and over, Blend Wealth. We scheduled a Right Fit Call and one year later, we are entering our first tax season that we actually feel prepared for.
What changed after working with Blend Wealth
Before Blend Wealth, I don't think we even knew what we were missing.
We didn’t really have anyone looking at everything together and saying, "Here's where you are, here's where you're going, and here's what we should be thinking about next."
Since starting with Blend Wealth, they haven’t just helped us manage our money, they've helped us understand it. Instead of only hearing about our finances when something needed to be filed, a question came up or when it was tax season, we now have a team that is proactively looking at our business and personal finances throughout the year.
Here is exactly what they do for our Business Finances:
Monthly bookkeeping: Every month they manage our books and upload our financial statements to our portal, so we always have our most recent profit and loss statement and balance sheet.
Sales tax: They calculate and pay our sales tax.
Business and personal tax returns: They prepare both business and personal tax return. Both are included in our monthly fee, so there's no large bill at tax time.
Quarterly estimated tax payments: They calculate how much we need to pay each quarter, so I don't end up owing a large tax bill or paying penalties at the end of the year unexpectedly.
Tax strategy meeting: They forecasted our taxes for the rest of the year and walked through specific strategies to lower our tax bill. (I have not heard of any other CPA doing this) but it has helped me be strategic with how I can mange money and writing things off….that is a huge one for us, we were missing a lot of things that can be legally written off.
IRS letters: Anytime I get a letter, I send it to them and they help me with it or handle it if they can. This happened to me recently and they were able to handle it quickly!
Someone to call: I never wait to hear back from them with any questions I have.
Here is exactly what they do for our Personal Finances:
Investment management: They manage our investments and trade for us using low-cost ETFs.
Tax-loss harvesting. When the market is volatile, they tax-loss harvest. (That means selling an investment that has dropped in value and buying a similar one, so we stay invested.) The loss we lock in can offset investment gains and some of our income, which lowers our tax bill.
Savings plan: They tell us how much to save each month and which accounts to put it in (Roth, pre-tax, or taxable), so we’ll have more control over our taxes in retirement.
No products and no commissions: They don't sell products or receive commissions based on the investments they put us in. I love this because so many advisors feel salesy have conflicts of interest.
Insurance review: They analyze your insurance and tell you how much you need, which gives you confidence that you're covered.
Estate planning: They will be helping us put our estate plan in place, which matters even more with our baby on the way.
Buying your house. When we bought a home, you knew exactly how much house you could afford without putting your other goals or your savings at risk.
Building, protecting and transferring wealth is their main focus in everything they do!
Common questions that I know others think about too.
What you do with your business, your taxes, your savings and your investments can all affect each other. These are the things I think about and Blend Wealth has answered these for us.
Are we being strategic with our taxes?
How much should we actually be saving and investing?
Where should we be putting that money?
Are our business and personal finances working together?
Are there financial opportunities we're overlooking?
Are we making decisions today that will help us build wealth long-term?
My experience over the past year
After a year of working with Blend, I feel like we finally have a plan. I’m not constantly wondering if we’re doing something wrong or if there’s something we’re forgetting. I feel confident that we’re not only doing things correctly, but actually making smart decisions with our money.
Tax season, which used to feel stressful, honestly doesn’t anymore. Our tax strategy meeting was especially helpful because we were able to look at our finances ahead of time and make changes that helped lower our tax bill. Instead of waiting until tax season to find out what we owed.
Buying our home felt less overwhelming because we weren’t just guessing at what we could comfortably afford. We had a true understanding of our finances and what made the most sense for us.
And now, with a baby on the way, I feel even more confident knowing that our finances and investments are being looked at and that we have Blend Wealth helping us plan for what’s ahead. We’re not just figuring things out as they come, we feel like we’re actually financially prepared for our future.
Is Blend Wealth The Right Fit For You?
If you’re a business owner and your finances feel complicated or you’re just not sure if you’re making the most of everything available to you, Blend Wealth is worth looking into.
Blend primarily works with business owners, but they also work with individuals and families. And honestly, I think the biggest thing I’ve learned through working with them is that you don’t have to know exactly what you need help with before reaching out. Sometimes you just need someone who can look at the bigger picture and help you figure out what questions you should be asking.
If you’re a business owner with more than $1 million in revenue, Blend is currently offering a free tax strategy meeting. One thing I wish I’d known sooner: most tax strategies have to be in place before December 31. Once the year ends, your accountant can only report what already happened. Our tax strategy meeting is what helped us lower our bill, and it only worked because we did it before the year was over.
