An interview with Samantha Santaniello, CPA and partner at RSK Tax and Consulting, LLC., who brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to her clients, specifically in accounting and financial reporting.
Samantha Santaniello is a CPA and partner at RSK Tax and Consulting, bringing a wealth of knowledge and expertise in accounting and financial reporting to her work with clients. She serves as a financial coach for female entrepreneurs and professionals, helping them to build wealth on their own terms.
Samantha shared that she grew up in a second generation immigrant family that distrusted banks and stashed money under the mattress! She and her sister were determined not to repeat the mistakes that their parents made, and instead to build wealth by growing their financial knowledge.
Samantha's mom encouraged her and her sister, both CPAs, to start a business together. When her mom passed seven years ago, Samantha decided to follow her advice and to start her own firm, with her sister contributing on a part time basis. Samantha acknowledges that being an entrepreneur is the hardest thing she's ever done, but also the most rewarding. She loves the flexibility in addition to doing what she loves, helping others achieve financial freedom.
"I'm a person that I'd rather make a decision, and if I make a wrong decision, I learn from it rather than not make a decision at all. I don't hesitate. I just go with it." - Samantha Santaniello
Key Takeaways:
- When going out on your own, start small and keep your full time job, if you can. Samantha and her sister were both CPAs, and their mom encouraged them to consider starting their own firm. When they decided to take her advice, Samantha kept her full time job with Montefiore Medical Center and worked nights on her own clients. She is now full time with RSK Tax and Consulting; her sister still retains a position with an outside employer.
- Work with clients where you can truly add value, and who support you and your mission. Samantha’s niche is real estate investors, small business owners. Samantha is a real estate investor herself, so is able to bring both her expertise and experience from a tax perspective, as well as knowing what to focus on from the beginning to the end of transactions for her clients.
- Know where your money stands. So many women delegate responsibility for their money to their spouses or partners, and then when something happens, they have no idea where they stand financially. Samantha recognized how important it was for her to take charge, understand where her money was going, and to become financially savvy, and advocates the same for other women.
About the Guest:
Samantha Santaniello is a CPA and partner at RSK Tax and Consulting LLC, a women-owned tax and consulting business dedicated to helping business owners and real estate investors optimize their tax savings. Their mission is to empower our clients to reinvest in the future of their businesses and families. They understand that starting a business requires significant sacrifices, and believe that proper financial management is key to scaling, growing, and living out your dreams.
At RSK, they recognize that your finances are the brain of your business - without effective management, it cannot sustain itself. That's why they offer comprehensive support, addressing all aspects of finances and tax. By relieving their clients of the stress associated with financial matters, they enable their clients to focus on their passions and core business operations.
They firmly believe that success is not solely measured by how much you make, but by how much you keep. With their expertise in tax optimization, they help their clients maximize savings and retain more of their hard-earned money. By having a solid financial foundation in place, businesses can continue to thrive and achieve long-term success.
Visit them at: www.rsktax.com
Email address: ssantaniello@rsktax.com
Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/RSK_tax
Resource mentioned: The Entrepreneurs Guide to Business and Personal Finance
Interested in booking a free consultation? Schedule a call.
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Disclaimer: Please remember that the information shared on this podcast does not constitute accounting, legal, tax, investment or financial advice. It’s for informational purposes only. You should seek appropriate professional advice for your specific information.
Samantha Santinello
I'm a person that I'd rather make a decision. And if I make a wrong decision, I learned from it and not make a decision at all. I don't like, I hesitate the numbers. I just go with it.
Narrator
Welcome to making change with your money, a podcast that highlights the stories and strategies of women who experienced a big life transition and overcame challenges as they redefined financial success for themselves.
Now here's your host certified financial planner, Laura Rotter,
Laura Rotter
I am so excited to have as my guest today, Samantha Santinello, she is a CPA and partner at RSK tax and consulting, bringing a wealth of knowledge and expertise in accounting and financial reporting to her work with clients. She serves as a financial coach for female entrepreneurs and professionals.
Helping them to build wealth on their own terms. And in her words, she's obsessed with helping women take control of their money and secure their financial freedom. So welcome Samantha to the making change with your money podcast.
Samantha Santinello
Thank you for having me, Laura. I'm so happy to be here.
Laura Rotter
I am going to start as I start all my interviews with the question, what was money like in your family growing up?
Samantha Santinello
So money, you know, when I, where I grew up, you know, my father and my mother would leave their money under the mattress. You know, we didn't, that's what they did. You know, there was no banking and we didn't really know anything about understanding finances. My sister and I, so I have an older sister. She's 10 years older than me.
So we, you know, they that's just how they lived everything they spent everything they made. They spent. And that's because they weren't aware of their finances as well. So we really didn't know much about investing and financing and, you know, so everything when, as we grew up, my sister and I, we just, we saved a lot of money.
We were good at that, but not investing.
Laura Rotter
So, I guess I'm hearing, did your parents ever talk about money or you just sort of watched what they did? Like, how were you aware that it was under the mattress, if you will?
Samantha Santinello
Well, that's just how, I mean, I guess I would say the Italians do. When all their money, they didn't trust banks, but yeah, so they would just put it under the mattress.
Meaning, you know, they didn't... Put any of their money in the banks, no investments, nothing like that.
Laura Rotter
Wow.
Samantha Santinello
Yeah.
Laura Rotter
Not even in a bank account, in a checking or a savings account?
Samantha Santinello
No. Yeah.
Laura Rotter
Were they, were they Italian immigrants and your first generation, like, or?
Samantha Santinello
Their second generation.
Laura Rotter
Their second generation.
Samantha Santinello
But I'm assuming just taught that way. We were just taught not, we didn't really have that financial background. So we made money and then we, we put it into the banks, my sister and I, but we didn't understand the concept of financial freedom, the concept we didn't even know that existed for us. You know, we thought we'd have to work for the rest of our lives, retire, and then live life.
Just like our parents did, you know, we didn't know that there's a way out where you can have financial freedom and be able to live life now.
Laura Rotter
Interesting. There's a lot to unpack there. So your parents did, it sounds like accumulate enough wealth that they could retire. Is that correct?
Samantha Santinello
Oh no, no, no, no. My parents didn't everything they made.
Well, my mom didn't work. My dad worked, but everything he made, he spent, there was no, there was no generational wealth there. So everything my sister and I had, we had to build on our own.
Laura Rotter
Wow. And did you also have to take care of your parents?
Samantha Santinello
Yes, we do. My mom, my mom passed away. She was the best thing that ever happened to me, though.
She's the reason where I am today. She was a very strong willed woman, and I thank her every day for making me who I am today. My dad, yes, he's great. We, we support, you know, support him because of the issue with not having his own retirement. So that, and I don't want to do that to my kids. So I've changed that whole, my sister and I, you know, we did a whole 180 on that and we're ensuring that we don't have tha problem for our kids,
Laura Rotter
Samantha. What age did you become aware? I mean, now you're an adult and obviously in the financial world, how did this evolve that you became aware that the way your parents were living financially was not something you wanted to continue?
Samantha Santinello
Yeah, so I went to college. My sister and I both went to Fordham University.
And we after that, they don't really teach you about how to, you know, generational wealth and financial freedom. They really, I really, you know, I learned the basics there. What when it really hit me was when my mom did pass away seven years ago. And I just got obsessed with like learning, you know, I said, you know, life is short.
And when something bad happens to you, it's like, sometimes you realize, you know what, I need to make a change. And when I was working and I had great jobs, but I was working and not putting enough in my 401k, I didn't think that was important because I didn't know, you know, so at the time, and then I just started becoming obsessed with reading books about money, how to make money.
My favorite book, one of them was bigger pockets. It was set for life. I forget the author. Yeah. So one of those changed my life, you know, reading about it. And so, yeah, so it was just reading really, really changed the way I seen things.
Laura Rotter
Thank you. I'm going to step back a bit. So you said that both you and your sister went to Fordham University.
Was that, was education stressed by your parents or, or by teachers? Where did you get that idea in your head that you were going to go to college?
Samantha Santinello
We went to good school. So my sister, I mean, like I said, she's 10 years old, so I kind of followed in her footsteps. So, so she always wanted to be an accountant.
You know, she did some bookkeeping when she was younger. Yeah. And then I just. Well, I guess, I mean, we really both love numbers and I seen the success she had and, and, you know, just following her footsteps. Did your parents pay for college? So we had help because they didn't, you know, so we had help programs out there to help us.
Laura Rotter
And I'm curious, did you have jobs growing up and, and were expected to contribute? Or so I saw you shake your head. You didn't have jobs growing up.
Samantha Santinello
We did. Both my sister and I, we did. We started working at 14 years old when she was 14. She worked at the Bronx Zoo. I was at the Bronx Zoo. And so, yes, we started very young hustling and making money. And And I think that, you know, the way we grew up made us be grateful for what we have. And motivated to I can hear that.
Laura Rotter
Yeah, there's like this, this energy in your voice. We were working, we've been money where you expected to contribute towards household bills or your money was your own. You could use it as you wanted.
Samantha Santinello
Yeah, money was our own. I mean, we would help when we can, but it was our own to save which. Which we did as much as we could, but I wish I knew what I knew now, because I would have been in a whole different situation, but I didn't. So, but now I know.
Laura Rotter
Interesting. I mean, I just want to help you acknowledge that your parents, whatever pressure they might have felt financially, it doesn't sound like, I mean, you knew you wanted to earn money, but there wasn't a sense that you needed to.
Your parents have at least as a young at a younger age, they sounds like they wanted you to feel like when you work, your money was your own. Was that something you sensed or you just took it for granted?
Samantha Santinello
We did, but we knew that as time went on and they got sick or, you know, they weren't able to work. We would have to help because they didn't have anything and that was okay because we right.
Laura Rotter
You were an adult at that point, right?
Samantha Santinello
Exactly. And they did a lot for us. And, you know. They didn't say for retirement, but they really did a lot for us to help us get to where we are today. And if it's not money wise, it's networking and the connections they had to help us get here.
Laura Rotter
Oh, that's wonderful.
So it sounds like they were part of a tight knit community and you sensed that growing up. So you benefited from that. So Samantha, it sounds like you said you woke up financially relatively recently. I mean, seven years ago is not that long ago.
Samantha Santinello
No, it's not. And I just wanted to be at a place. So, you know, I loved my job as well.
So once my mom passed away, it made me realize that I want to do things where I want to wake up in the morning and be excited to go to work. And, and so I felt like I was settling and I knew I had more value than that. I was capable of more. And so. My mom always wanted my sister and I to start a business cause we were both CPAs and we never did.
And when she died, we decided to finally do it. And once I own my own business with her, it was just like, I love the flexibility. Yes. It is the hardest thing I have ever done because it's a 24 hour thing. It's not, it's never like nine to five. No, but when you love what you're doing, your passion for helping people, you know, it's different.
And so, and it's hours. And so you control your destiny and I love that and I love waking up and being able to help my clients and, and being able to be with my family. So
Laura Rotter
Samantha, what were you doing before you and your sister decided like, what, where were you working? What kind of firm? Big one, small one.
Where were you before you went out on your own?
Samantha Santinello
So I started my career at KPMG, one of the big four hour accounting firms. Then I went to, so I was at Yeshiva University. And then, then I went to Domino's Sugar. I worked at Domino's Sugar. And then, so I've been around. And then my last job before starting the business full time was at Montefiore.
Laura Rotter
So you were always in sort of the accounting function bigger organizations.
Samantha Santinello
Yes, in the accounting function.
Laura Rotter
And I, I have to believe, again, I hear the enthusiasm now that you're doing it, but I have to believe it was Scary to make the decision to go out on your own, right? You're there's something nice about being a W2 employee.
You know what your benefits are. You know what, what you're going to be earning. So how did you and your sister make that decision?
Samantha Santinello
Yeah. So right now I'm running the business full time. My sister still has her position. So she's more of like. I guess we'll say passive, but she does a lot. She's just passive.
Well, I'm doing the overall managing of the business. She's the tax expert. She's been in tax for 25 years. I've been in the accounting industry for 15 years. So, you know, we have our different roles in the firm. But however, I truly believe and think it's so important to feel comfortable. when you go out on your own to start small, right?
And keep your full time job because that's how I got to where I am today. I didn't just say, all right, I'm leaving my full time job and I'm going to do this from scratch because I was able to build. Was it long nights? Absolutely. Did I sacrifice seeing my kids and my husband? Absolutely. But in the end, it was worth it because now I built this business and able to spend more time with them.
So I did both.
Laura Rotter
You were with at that point, Domino's Sugar, who were you with at you?
Samantha Santinello
I was with Montefiore. So I was actually doing both. Working full time during the day and then killing myself at night and weekends for a while.
Laura Rotter
Wow. And that was with, now I'm, I don't want to put words in your mouth, sort of smaller client.
How did you start even part time? What were you doing at that point?
Samantha Santinello
Yeah. So we had a couple of clients that we had and then smaller clients or a big client that we did everything for. Then we started to build, we changed, you know, we used to take anyone. You know, we didn't really know what our niche was, what our ideal client was at that time, right?
Because when you're starting a business, you just, but now we're at a place where we take our ideal client. It's great to have that niche, which is so important because you work with the clients that, you know, you can add value and, and that work with you and, and your mission. So.
Laura Rotter
So that's a great segue. What's your mission and who do you like to work with?
Samantha Santinello
Absolutely. So we support small business owners in the service industry. And real estate investors. So our niche is real estate investors, small business owners. We're also real estate investors ourselves. So not only do we have the expertise and the experience from a, from a tax perspective, but doing real estate ourselves, we kind of understand, you know, from the beginning to end of things.
For our clients. So we can discuss that with them, not just from tax, but any other questions they have.
Laura Rotter
Can you be more specific for our listeners? When you say that you do real estate, what, what is it that you do for yourself? Like, yeah.
Samantha Santinello
Yeah. So I purchased long term rentals out of state, so I'm an out of state investor and I purchased buy and holds.
So fixer flipper, I just really stayed with the buy and holds because I'm passive, you know, cause I'm trying to grow this business and fix and flips and other, other types of real estate. I think you have to be more involved with it. It's more like a business. So I'm really just passive on my, on my real estate, but that's what I do.
Buy and hold.
Laura Rotter
And what kind of properties?
Samantha Santinello
Single family.
Laura Rotter
Oh, single family.
Samantha Santinello
Yes.
Laura Rotter
Okay. And how do you decide which properties make sense for you to purchase?
Samantha Santinello
It's all about the numbers. So it's not emotional at all. I remember when I first bought my primary home, that's emotional, but when it comes to investing, it's all about the numbers basis, basically just coming up with what the rent, what the rent is out there, what the mortgage is going to be, what the, you know, all the other expenses that come along with it. And you also, it's really important when you do start real estate to have, you know, amount of money set aside because things do happen.
And I seen a lot of people, they start with real estate and then they have, they spend all their money on the down payment. They have no money for any issues or repairs. And that will be a that's a problem because then, you know, there's always something that happens. So I would always suggest setting aside savings for, you know, each property
Laura Rotter
and I'm curious, are there specific areas you focus on so that you're comfortable that your occupancy rate will. You know, stay at, I guess for single property, a hundred percent.
Samantha Santinello
So I actually use a company in Memphis. I, I, my properties are in Memphis, Tennessee. I have one in Florida, but yeah. So property management for me is everything because I'm not there and they helped me with everything. So they ensure that, you know, the tenants are good.
They, they check the tenants and everything else. There's an issue. They let me know when they handle all of that. And it's been great. I mean, of course there's issues. From time to time, but that's what any kind of investment, you know, um, it's real estate, but all in all, it's. It was, you know, a good investment.
They're a great company and I just buy my properties there because I trust them. I've been with them for about five years now.
Laura Rotter
Thank you. I just thought perhaps you're buying in college towns or near or something where you know, like, what are the length of the leases that you signed?
Samantha Santinello
Two.
Laura Rotter
Two years.
Samantha Santinello
Two.
Laura Rotter
So there is always a bit of uncertainty in this environment.
Samantha Santinello
Absolutely. I mean, with anything, right? I mean, but I always say without, without risk, there's no reward, right? And I say, what's the worst that could happen? You can always just sell the property. I mean, the way, especially in this market, everything's going up.
You can't even find places. So I always say to me, what's the worst that could happen is I can sell the property. But, you know, I just think that where I am in my life. I can always make more money, you know.
Laura Rotter
So, I have another question, given that I saw a headline yesterday that mortgage rates are approaching 8 percent because you just said you can always sell the property.
I'm, I'm actually frankly surprised. I guess there's not that much supply, but I've also heard that like closing rates are the lowest they've been in years as property, I'm sorry, as mortgage rates go up. So how has that affected your Real estate investing, if not like your existing investments, obviously you own them already, but in general, how are you looking at perhaps future purchases?
Samantha Santinello
Yeah. So for me, for my primary, right, I would not leave right now. It doesn't make sense. However, and this is what I was thinking about today. When I seen that 8%, the thing is now you have less competition, right? So it's like. Do I go ahead if I wanted to move and buy now and then I could refinance in two years and three years and think of it long term or wait till they go back down 5 percent and everybody's going to start rushing in at the same property, you know, so I don't know.
It's just, but from an investment standpoint, now everything I'm not, you know, I'm still, I still own the properties. I'm actually in the process of trying to sell one and it's so far, there's not, it's not like. You know, they're out there buying, investors are still buying as long as the numbers work and they make it work.
If the interest rates are high, they figure other ways to make it work.
Laura Rotter
You know, it makes sense running the numbers and of course, I'm sure you've seen the same articles may help you as, as someone who's renting out a property that it makes much more sense right now in most areas to rent than to purchase.
Which is just interesting because my adult children are somewhere around 30 give or take and there is this head that like we have to save money for a down payment and to purchase a property and yeah, I just wonder at that sort of absolute truth, which. Is not the truth. It depends, like you said, on the numbers.
It may very well not make sense to borrow, you know, 80 percent of a purchase price at 8 percent versus what rental rates are. And it's obviously something that, you know, you look atas a landlord, if you will.
What was it that, what is it that attracts you to real estate investing?
Samantha Santinello
Well, there's a lot of things.
One thing was the tax savings and the tax incentives. So that's a big one to wealth building and the equity appreciation, you know, houses for the most part go up in value for the most part. You know, we, I know we had our downturns, but for the most part, they go up in value. You have someone else paying your mortgage and you have some cashflow.
So four big things that like why I love real estate and it's. Something I just want for like generational wealth for my kids. So it's just one, one of the things I do for investing. I mean, that's not the only thing I'm a very, I like to diversify my portfolio. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I have some, it's funny because I have some client, my clients that are into real estate, just like real estate.
They do not like the stock market. Then I have clients that just invest in the stock market. Won't touch real estate, but I like it all. So.
Laura Rotter
I found whenever I, you know, work with people who are first or second generation American, there is an under, I'm making a generalization, there is a distrust of the stock market and Comfort level with what I'll refer to as hard assets, like you can visit your investment, you can touch it and, you know, I came from a background of investing in relatively illiquid securities.
I was, you know, a distressed debt investor. And so when I see, you know, young couples but
That have a lot of liquid investments in the form of real estate. I see they are so comfortable with it. And I feel like, what if there was an emergency? How are you, you can't like turn around and in a week sell a property.
So it's interesting. The flip side is I will agree with you that you can have a cashflow generating property that generates losses from a tax point of view, which is, you know, a nice thing. And that is, you know, with the depreciation unique,unique to real estate. Well, not, yeah, I mean, you could also have some limited partnerships, but, but that's interesting.
So did you, it sounds like it wasn't the case because you said they kept the money under a mattress, but did you, in your, In the community you grew up in was real estate investing something you saw?
Samantha Santinello
No.
Laura Rotter
So then how did you learn about it?
Samantha Santinello
I just read about it. I like all these books and I got so what really changed my perspective on just trying it out. And I'm I'm a person that I'd rather make a decision and if I make a wrong decision, I learn from it and not make a decision at all. I don't like, I hesitate the numbers. I just go with it. That's just who I am. Like, I'd rather I, cause I'd rather, I don't want to not make any decision. I'll learn from my decision that I make and fix it.
I read, I got involved with, um, different books and Bigger Pockets was a definitely a big life changer for me. And just reading about it, going on their forum, learning about it. And learning about, you know, reaching out so they provided the property management company that I've been working with. And so that's how it happened.
And I did it, you know, I had the money and I said, all right, let me try this. And was it scary? Yeah. But once you do it the one time, that's it. It's like a dick thing.
Laura Rotter
Did your, did you do it together with your sister or this was something you and, and your husband?
Samantha Santinello
Yeah. So me and my husband, my sister wasn't really into real estate or anything like that, and I got her involved.
So everything we do, we kind of do together, like not together. Like, but we're always talking about how we can grow our wealth. And, and she takes my advice, even though I'm 10 years younger,
Laura Rotter
is bigger pockets. Cause I'll put it in the show notes. Is it specifically about real estate
investing?
Samantha Santinello
Yes. Yes, all about real estate investing.
Laura Rotter
And did someone tell you about it or?
Samantha Santinello
I just found it. I just found it from reading. I just like reading different books. I started with Rich Dad, Poor Dad. That's how I started to. Okay. And how that worked out.
Laura Rotter
I know that book.
Samantha Santinello
One of the best books I ever read. And then that's how I started as well.
Understanding the concept of real estate, how it can help you. And it's just really the reading and then I found these websites and, and that's how it started.
Laura Rotter
I'm wondering, uh, our listeners are, and women who are reinventing, you know, midlifeas tax professional and a CPA, is there any advice that you have for them in terms of their finances?
Samantha Santinello
Yeah, I think it's just really important as a woman to know where our money stands. I've seen so many times, you know, in life that. Something happens with the woman and her spouse, and then she doesn't know where she stands, and I've seen this plenty of times, and I just think it's women, we should really know where our money is going, how to, you know, how to invest it.
It gives you power, it gives you just more than, you know, it's really, especially for your kids, you want to make sure you understand, you know, where the money is going as well for them for generational wealth. So to me, I just really think, you know, if you don't know now, make sure you, you know, understand where your money's going.
And I would recommend the starting point is mint. com. Mint. com is the best that, you know, you can integrate everything. It'll give you your net worth and see where you are. So then you can plan now after you know where you stand and then you can plan going forward. But as women, I think we should just take more charge and understanding where money's going and being, you know, more financially savvy.
Laura Rotter
Thank you. I would agree. I'm, I'm often blown away by the power of clarity. Like, it seems so simple when I, you know, sit with a new client and say, okay, after taxes, after your 401k contribution, what's coming in each month and then. What are you committed to spending like your rent or your mortgage or your electricity, you know, those bills that are the same each month, and you're definitely paying for them and just even looking at that and saying, Oh, my God, I spend that much of my monthly income on my gym membership and my or Oh, wow, I, you know, but just that clarity.
It's not complicated, but it's scary. Often people don't you. Actually want to take the time to do that. And that's why I'd also agree with you though. I have, you know, I didn't love mint somehow, like my bank accounts got connected three times and it didn't give me I've just started to use something that I learned about through a client, which is called Tiller T I L L E R.
I'll put that in the show notes. And it's a spreadsheet, it's actually crowd sourced, you can, as you said, connect, you know, your credit cards and your bank account, and the spreadsheet will calculate for you, you know, where you're spending your money. And so I can say maybe each week. You know, what's coming and what's gone out and have a snapshot.
And am I, how much is being spent on again, the committed things and how much is being spent on fun. And it's just, I find it very easy to use. And there's, you know, there's other apps that are similar, but that simple act of organizing and clarity makes such a difference and. Most people don't spend the time and frankly are avoiding spending the time.
And the way we spend money, which is everything's smushed in a credit card,gives you very little clarity about how you're making spending. Decisions even if you pay it off each month, you should know, are you spending more than what's coming in? You're spending less than what's coming in. How are you spending most of your money?
And again, as I say to my clients, I don't really care if your fun money is shoes or a Taylor Swift concert or whatever, you know.
But no, like, how much do you have to spend on fun? How much have you committed to so that you have enough to feel good about your life and how you're spending your money? So I would definitely, you know, underline everything you just said as a message to our listeners.
I always
like to ask the question as we come towards the end of our conversation, Samantha.What was your definition of success when you were
younger and how, how has that shifted over time?
Samantha Santinello
Yeah. So when I was younger. I just thought you get a nice good job, you know, you retire at 65 like and you and you live life and you buy the house like that's what I was taught and now it's just so different from me from owning a business success is just being able to have time.
And to me, that's everything, you know, if I can outsource as much as I can so that I can do the things that make me happy, like spending time with my kids. Being at my kids sports, hanging, spending time with my husband, my family, because if I'm at a nine to five job, like I'm able to just, if I need to go do something at one o'clock, I can, but if I'm working at four in the morning, those are my hours, you know?
Cause I do like to get up very early in the morning to start my, my routine.
Laura Rotter
What time do you get up?
Samantha Santinello
4am.
Laura Rotter
What time do you go to bed?
Samantha Santinello
Now it's been like 930. But I have to do that before my kids wake up. Cause I like to work out, plan my day. It starts my day.
Laura Rotter
Wow. Just listening to you, Samantha, makes me tired.
I get up,you get used to it. I mean, I used to get up. I frankly never got used to it. I had to be on the trading desk at 7. AM. And so I would be up like five, five 30 in the morning and.
Never again.Just thinking about that period of my life just makes me tired, but you know, everybody has a different clock.
I don't generally get to bed till after 11. And I also have learned about myself that I really do need about eight hours sleep, but not, not everybody needs this amount of sleep. And that is a wonderful thing about working for yourself that we can choose. When to work and when to be available for others.
So it sounds like it's generally often we have to get a little bit older to recognize that.We're constantly trading off our scarce resources. Like you said, we trade off time for money. We trade off energy for money and their energy and time aren't right, not renewable resources. And as we get older, we come to recognize that the trade offs we might have made.
And that made sense when we were younger, right? You, you learned a lot. I'm sure from your previous career at other places. And that was appropriate for that period of your life, but it's not appropriate for the period of your life now.I'm also wondering if your definition of financial success has shifted at all.
Samantha Santinello
So, you know, I, when I was younger, I would save into, I didn't really know much about the 401k, but then once I did and started my job, I would have a 401k and that was it. And then I would live off that in social security. Now I tell clients, I say, you know, why have the government, I would rather them, some of depending on where they are in life, you know, be able to invest that money if they could, instead of Put it like, you know, with some S corps, right?
You could, you have a salary and you pay. That's why a lot of people shift to an escort because of the FICA savings. But, you know, do you max out so you can max out for your social security at when you retire, but social security might not even be there. So you're able to control your own destiny. So with my financial freedom, I believe controlling my own freedom by making sure I invest.
properly according to how I want to retire. And one big thing I do want to mention before, or before we go, is a big thing was the life insurance policy. So with life insurance, I've heard a lot of bad things about it, but I, that's why I like doing my own research.
Laura Rotter
You're saying permanent, you're talking about permanent life insurance?
Samantha Santinello
Yes. So that's one, that's how another way I diversify my income, right? So instead of having, uh, like I have a whole life policy where I do like paid in additions, more money so that I could have more cash value. So I just purchased the car and the interest rate on my whole life to take it out is that 4.75 percent compared to what I would have paid if I would have took out a loan with the dealer, which was at 9%. So I'm using my own money to then buy the car outright and then while my money is still growing in the, in the life insurance policy. So that's just like a lot of different things that I do to make sure I'm, you know, financially savvy and, you know, so that those, so those are the different things that.
You know, it's important to learn because I would have been paying eight percent, nine percent. So
Laura Rotter
Again, as someone who really is not a big believer in whole life insurance, unless there's a reason to make sure that it's there till a hundred, I, you know, I could ask you questions of what the fee is on the life and housing, but, you know, different things work for different people at different times.
So as we come to an end, Samantha, is there anything else that you'd? You know, you'd like to share or any resources. I see that you, you had included a resource in the guest information form that you'd like to share.
Samantha Santinello
Yeah, so on our website, our state tax dot com, we have so many different worksheets. That can help you as tax season is around the corner.
I know it's October, but it comes quickly. You want to make sure you're doing your year end planning. So you're optimizing on any tax savings. You can take advantage of now before it's too late for, you know, this year. So there are so many different worksheets and great tools on there. It's just, it's called the tab is worksheets and I think, yeah, worksheets.
And it's just really great. It has so many things. For individuals and business owners.
Laura Rotter
Great. Thank you. And I will also include that in the show notes. And I agree, this is my time of year. I'm meeting with clients somehow mid October to mid November, and it's all about tax planning. It's all looking at, are there any tax losses that can be harvested?
Does it make sense to do some Roth conversions before the end of the year? Just paying attention now to what we can do between now and year end to minimize taxes, which it's wonderful that that's something that you work on so many. CPAs, frankly, get everybody provides their information at the last minute and planning is not something that really gets done, which is why, you know, I think I've said to you when we first spoke, it's one of the, I think my value adds, I can't control what the stock market's going to do, but I can really give.
Good tax planning advice that moves the needle in terms of my client's finances. So it was so nice to get together, get to know you a little bit more and really thank you for taking the time to be my guest.
Samantha Santinello
Yes, absolutely. Thank you for having me.
Laura Rotter
I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Samantha Santonello, founder of RSK Tax and Consulting. Some of my takeaways are When going out on your own, start small, and if you can, keep your full time job. Samantha and her sister with both CPAs and their mom encouraged them to consider starting their own firm.
When they decided to finally take her advice, Samantha kept her full time job with Montefiore Medical Center. and work nights on her own clients. She is now full time with RSK Tax and Consulting, while her sister still retains a position with an outside employer. My second takeaway, work with clients where you can truly add value and who support you and your mission.
Samantha's Niche. is real estate investors and small business owners. Samantha herself is a real estate investor, so she's able to bring both her expertise and experience from a tax perspective, as well as knowing what to focus on from the beginning to the end of transactions for her clients. Finally,know where your money stands.
So many women delegate responsibility for their money to their spouses or partners.And then when something happens, they have no idea where they stand financially. Samantha recognized how important it was for her to take charge. And understand where her money was going and to become financially savvy and she advocates the same for other women.
Are you enjoying this podcast? Please don't forget to subscribe so you won't miss next week's episode and leaving a rating and a review will help other women like you to find the show and I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you so much.
Narrator
Thanks for listening to making change with your money. Certified financial planner, Laura Rotter, specializes in helping people just like you, organized, clarify,
and invest their money in order to support a life of purpose and meaning. Go to www. trueabundanceadvisors. com forward slash workbook for a free resource to help you on your journey.
Disclaimer, please remember that the information shared by this podcast does not constitute accounting, legal, tax, investment, or financial advice. It's for information purposes only. You should seek appropriate professional advice for your specific information.