Author: Jamal Amimi
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Chapter 3 — Debits and Credits, Demystified
Chapter 3 — Debits and Credits, Demystified “Debit” and “credit” scare more small business owners than anything else in accounting. They are simpler than they sound — much of the confusion comes from the words meaning something different at the bank than in your books. Forget what your bank taught you On your bank statement,…
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Chapter 2 — The Accounting Equation: Assets = Liabilities + Equity
Chapter 2 — The Accounting Equation: Assets = Liabilities + Equity Everything in accounting — every journal entry, every financial statement, every audit — rests on one equation: Assets = Liabilities + Equity That is it. Memorize it, because nothing else in this book works without it. Every business transaction can be expressed in these…
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Chapter 1 — Why Bookkeeping Matters (and What Happens Without It)
Chapter 1 — Why Bookkeeping Matters (and What Happens Without It) Let us start with the most expensive sentence in small business: “I have money in the bank, so I must be doing fine.” You can have a healthy bank balance and still be in trouble. This is the single most important idea in bookkeeping:…
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From Receipt to Report: Introduction — Why This Book Exists
Introduction — Why This Book Exists If you have ever handed your tax preparer a shoebox of receipts in April, this book is for you. Maybe it is a desktop folder called “receipts-final-FINAL,” a pile of paper in the glove compartment of your work van, or thirty unopened bank statements in a drawer you keep…
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Conclusion: Keep More of What You Earn — The System in One Page
This post is the Conclusion of the book Keep More of What You Earn — a plain-English guide to US taxes. A year after the lunch that opened this book, Maria and Denise met again. Same desks, same company — but Maria had done her December checklist, fixed her withholding, funded her HSA, and claimed…
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Chapter 14: Year-End Moves and Recordkeeping — Beat the Clock
This post is Chapter 14 of 14 of the book Keep More of What You Earn — a plain-English guide to US taxes. December 28th. Two freelancers, same income, same deductions — almost. Elena spends the week between Christmas and New Year’s with a checklist: she tops up her HSA, harvests a $4,000 investment loss,…
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Chapter 13: Tax-Smart Investing — Keep Your Returns
This post is Chapter 13 of 14 of the book Keep More of What You Earn — a plain-English guide to US taxes. Two investors, same $50,000, same market, same decade. Chris trades actively in a taxable brokerage account — generating short-term gains taxed as ordinary income, never harvesting a loss. Pat buys a broad…
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Chapter 12: Self-Employment and Small Business Taxes
This post is Chapter 12 of 14 of the book Keep More of What You Earn — a plain-English guide to US taxes. Nadia’s first year as a freelance marketing consultant went beautifully — $92,000 in client payments, working from her spare bedroom, no boss. Then April arrived. Her tax software delivered the news: $24,700…
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Chapter 11: HSAs, FSAs, and the Family Credits
This post is Chapter 11 of 14 of the book Keep More of What You Earn — a plain-English guide to US taxes. The Alvarez family is choosing health plans at open enrollment. The PPO costs $320/month in premiums with a $1,000 deductible. The high-deductible plan (HDHP) costs $140/month with a $3,500 deductible. The benefits…
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Chapter 10: Retirement Accounts — The $1 Million Decade
This post is Chapter 10 of 14 of the book Keep More of What You Earn — a plain-English guide to US taxes. Two 25-year-olds start at the same company at the same $60,000 salary. Alex enrolls in the 401(k) on day one: 10% of pay, capturing the full employer match. Jordan means to enroll…
