Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: The American immigrant show with Dr. Spert is a space where immigrant stories become American stories, challenges become inspiration, and real life experiences fuel, hope, opportunity and transformation. The show isn't just about surviving immigration. It's about thriving, contributing and redefining what it means to be an American.
Welcome to the American Immigrant Show. I am Dr. Dennis Burke. When people come to the United States to build a career, a business, or a better financial future, they quickly discover that earning money is only one part of the equation.
Understanding the system around the money, taxes, retirement, business structure, savings and the long term planning can have a major impact on what a family is actually able to keep and build.
My guest today is Hubert McIntosh, a financial strategist who works with medical professionals, entrepreneurs, investors, small business owners and working families. His focus is helping clients use carefully guided tax planning and tax saving strategies permitted by the Internal Revenue Code to better manage and protect their assets. Hubert is also the author of Smart Stands for Retirement, published by Forbes Books, where SMART stands for strategic movement Around Retirement taxation.
Hubert, welcome to the American Immigrant Show. It's absolutely awesome to have you.
I would like to first start off by asking you to tell us a little bit about your immigrant story. Story where you're from, where you're born and raised, where you grew up and how you ended up in America, and how you ended up getting into the accounting and taxation business.
[00:02:26] Speaker B: Thank you, Dr. Dennis. It's a pleasure being here. It's a pleasure being here. When you asked that question, I started smiling because my story has been such a wonderful story.
Growing up in Jamaica, I used to hear a song by Neil Diamond.
People from around the world, they're coming to America. They're coming today.
And at that time, I never imagined that I was one of those people that Neil diamond was singing about.
At age 14, I started working in a senior CPA firm in Jamaica as summer job. My summer job was at a CPA firm at age 14 and I graduated high school at age 16.
And that same CPA firm sent me to college while I was working. So I was working at 8, 60, 16 and going to college in Jamaica at 16.
Then I graduated, did not fully graduate. I migrated at age 19 to come to the United States of America. I landed in New York in November 1981.
It was too cold. I stayed in New York for one month and I moved to the sunny state of Florida. Florida. I had a hunk in Florida and I moved to Florida. December 1981.
My first job in America, believe it or not, was working in Daytona beach in an orange Grove, believe it or not, cpa. Working as a CPA in Jamaica. Came to America working in Orange Grove. I did that for about six, six weeks.
And my uncle said, this does not cut out for you. So I started going to a few banks in Daytona Beach.
Was. Did not have any success there.
And I moved to Miami, Florida in March, in March of 1982 and started there working as a bookkeeper, working as a bookkeeper in Miami, Florida.
And as time went by, I went to Miami Dade Community College because I did not finish college in Jamaica because I was migrating.
And the interesting thing was I did not know that when you get your green card, you could travel back and forth. I thought when you got your visa, you, you just have to leave and that's it.
So I started working here and then started going to college at Miami Dade Community College to finish my college degree.
Finished at Miami Dade, transferred from Miami Dade to the University of Florida where I got a double degree in accounting and four finance.
Left the University of Florida class of 94 and became a CPA in 1998.
And that is where that accounting journey started. Flourishing from then.
But interestingly, going back a little, in 1982, I worked in, in the U.S. and I had to file my first tax return April 15, 1983.
And I'm filing the tax return with a gentleman from Jamaica who helped me file the tax return.
And I was so intrigued, honestly intrigued with the tax return. And I said, but wait, this is something I could do because with my accounting background, I could really master this taxation here in the US And I started doing some side jobs for different individuals.
And I did the job of a gentleman. And he said, you know what?
I have an interview with the IRS. This was about November 1983. And he asked me, would you represent me at the irs? I said, sure.
So I represented my first client in 1983 in the at the IRS.
And from there on went around and then started working for different companies for my own company, even though while I was doing accounting and taxes on the side, left Corporate America in 2011 for my own company. And the rest of the story is history.
And it's just exciting being an immigrant from Jamaica and get to taste the sweets of the great United States of America.
[00:07:58] Speaker A: And so I wouldn't just say it's only in America that we can come and we can accomplish all kinds of great things with integrity and honor and be part of a fabulous system that allows people be free and make their own choices and decisions and more so do good for the people. They team up with or they serve in this case. And so I think you just have a free, fabulous, winning story. And I continue to marvel at your success and how amazing it is.
But I do have a few other questions for you.
For immigrants and first generation families who may be unfamiliar with the US Tax system, what are the first financial habits or records they should establish so they are not operating blindly?
[00:08:54] Speaker B: That's a great question, Dr. Dennis. That's a great question because it's, it's one of the number one trap for immigrants.
Because in Jamaica, growing up in Jamaica, there is no personal income tax. An individual does not file personal income tax. So when you come to a country like the United States of America and you have to file personal tax, the tendency, the tendency which becomes a detriment to many immigrants is not to want to file the taxes. Because here it is, you're filing taxes and you're going to be paying money to the government.
But in all your previous years, you never had to file personal taxes.
So my number one encouragement to immigrants coming to this country is instead of trying not to pay the taxes, find out the benefits of paying the taxes. Because there are many benefits in paying the taxes which get lost by a lot of immigrants because they don't realize that the taxes are tied to Social Security and Medicare, which are two of the most important things.
So a lot of time an immigrant will be in this country and they did not develop enough bank in the Social Security system or in the Medicare system. So I think it's one of the number one lessons any immigrant, and every immigrant should understand when landing here in the United States.
[00:10:40] Speaker A: And I think that's, that's good advice.
When you begin working with a new client, what do you look at first to understand whether the real problem is income taxes, cash flow structure, or simply lack of planning?
[00:11:01] Speaker B: It's two ways, Dr. Dennis. So basically, oh, you're gonna deal with an individual versus an individual that has a business. So there are two factors you have to look at.
Because when someone is just a W2 employee in America, there are not many tax benefits.
So the idea of them becoming an entrepreneur or a business owner owner becomes very critical.
Because the US Tax system is structured to benefit business owners. So individuals who don't learn that lesson will suffer, will suffer for it. So that's the critical part of it where I take an individual, okay, if they don't have a business, find out what are their, what are their gifts.
Because sometimes people have certain gifts that they can even have a side business.
So that's how I look at individuals. Do they have a business?
Should they have a business and help them, guide them, showing them the benefits of being a business owner.
[00:12:20] Speaker A: So we're about to come up on a break, but after the break, we will move into retirement planning and the central idea behind Hubert's smart retirement framework.
So we'll be right back.
As I welcome back to the American Immigrant Show.
My guest today is the fabulous tax expert Hubert McIntosh. We are going to continue the discussion with him about his book smart, which essentially is an acronym for retirement and tax diversification.
Welcome back, Hubert.
[00:13:48] Speaker B: Thank you, Dennis. I'm happy to be back.
[00:13:57] Speaker A: So we stay connected to this show and every NOW Media TV favorite, live or on demand, anytime you like, download the free Now Media TV app on Roku or iOS and unlock non stop bilingual programming in English and Spanish on the move. Catch the podcast version at www.nowmedia.tv.
from business and news to lifestyle, culture and beyond, Now Media TV is streaming around the clock whenever you want to watch it.
I am Dr. Dennis Burke. I am here with financial strategist and author Hubert McIntosh.
Before the break, we talked about the difference between filing taxes and planning taxes.
[00:14:46] Speaker B: Taxes.
[00:14:46] Speaker A: Now we are going, we're going to move into the retirement because the tax decision people make while they are earning can affect how much they have to pay at the end.
Hubert's book Smart Retirement introduces the strategic movement around retirement taxation. The key idea is tax diversification, understanding that there's different types of taxes. And he's here to clear up the matter as far as various options and what it is that you really need to pay and need to understand.
Hubert, the audience would like me to ask several important questions.
What does a smart retirement mean in practical terms for someone who is still 10, 20 or even 30 years away from retirement?
[00:15:46] Speaker B: Wow. Wow, what a question, Dennis. And this is one of the great challenges in the American economy.
And I'll just take you back a little bit into history.
I'll take you back to 1929.
I'll take you back to 1929. This is when America went through the Great Depression.
Multiple reasons. There's not one reason what caused the Great Depression, but what the government identified as we as a country were going through that Great Depression is like where it was such challenge. What is it? How are we going to help the American people?
That was a topic on the president's mind at that time.
So we come out of 1929, heading into 30, into 32. Then Franklin Roosevelt was president.
So they had to make some decisions because you want to sustain an economy.
If people are going to say, if the government is going to say, well, people just have to fend for themselves, that's gonna be a failing economy. So anytime you see.
So there's this thin line now, this gap between helping and giving away, you know, so that's thin line between socialism and communism in that case, you know, so the government had a tough decision to make. How do we sustain the economy?
And in 1933, the passing of the Social Security act.
The Social Security act, because it says old age, because it used to be called oasdi. A lot of people don't even remember that. They just hear Social Security.
But it was developed for old age, saying, what do you do for people? People, when they get to a certain age and they don't have anything, do you just let them die and starve?
You know, it's a question, you know, and what happened there with. Under the Roosevelt administration, it says, okay, what if we can help supplement.
Supplement a person's retirement by providing them with something?
And that act has worked good and it has also worked bad.
Because when people heard that there was a supplement, over time, as time went by, people start believing, well, Social Security is my retirement.
But that's not what it says says. It's supposed to be a supplement. In other words, you're supposed to have something and the government is going to help you. They're going to give you a leg up.
But what the government meant to say and what people heard turned out to be different.
So people start believing, well, the government is going to give me my retirement.
No, the government is not going to give you retirement. Then that is when you've gone into socialism, communism, in that sense, where the government is taking care of you and an economy cannot sustain itself if the government is taking care of you, because each person got to contribute, pay their fair share, so that we, as a thriving economy, can survive.
So the retirement question becomes a tough question because of concept, what someone may have heard.
So what we decide to educate people is to educate them about retirement, not the fact that you're going to get to a certain age and you may not be able to work or you're going to get to a certain age and you're tired, or you may just. You may be working for 40, 50 years and you want to take a break or you may get injured.
So there are multiple ways, Dennis, that someone may be retired because you can have voluntary retirement or involuntary retirement.
So what we try to teach people is to prepare themselves for their retirement. Whether voluntary or involuntary.
That is the basic of it that we are striving to do to help people understand retirement. Because before we start talking about diversification, we have to help you to understand retirement. Because if you don't understand what retirement is, diversification will not mean anything.
So that's the idea, what we try to do to educate people so that they can make informed decisions.
[00:21:21] Speaker A: So it sounds like that it's reasonable to say that retirement planning is not only about accumulating assets, that it's also about understanding how those assets may be taxed, how much flexibility you may have later, and whether today's decisions are creating options for creating constraints.
Would you agree with that?
[00:21:48] Speaker B: 100%, Dennis. 100%. And I can even share a story with you.
In January 2020.
In January 2020, I can use this. This is one is so specific. I'm at the University of Arizona with about six doctors. Doctors I'm talking about at University of Arizona, which is a medical school. They have a medical school.
So I'm in front of six doctors. My daughter happened to be a doctor at the University of Arizona. And I was visiting her and she's like, dad, would you spend some time to talk with some of my friends? So she arranged a dinner, I'm at a dinner party with six doctors.
And the concept coming from there, because the University of Arizona as a group, great retirement plan, great retirement plan.
And all these doctors thought that retirement was not going to be taxed because they had 401k and they also had another thing where they supplement their retirement.
And these doctors, these are doctors, they all thought there was not going to be any tax, that when they retire they get their money and that's it.
Because they don't realize that retirement, the way how you structure your retirement, you are developing a partner. So sometimes people hear the word qualified, investment, non qualified.
That's another topic we trying to teach people about because it's so contradictory. Because qualified, when you hear qualified, you're thinking it's something good. Normally in the English language, the word qualified is a great word.
But in retirement, when you hear someone as a qualified retirement, it means that that retirement has not been taxed yet.
So it will be taxed when the person gets the retirement.
So it's very important to understand qualified versus non qualified.
So Dennis, your question there or your conclusion is absolutely, absolutely correct. It's not just about accumulation. Because if you're accumulating and you have a partner, did you measure your partner's share?
Because if you have a partner, you have to measure your partner's share. But our tax system, because we have election, we have federal elections every four years, or you could say every two years because we have midterm.
And government changes, rules changes. So what the rule is for 2026, now we get to November 2026, some of those rules got to change. So it's a constant change.
So you don't know what your partner's share is because your partner keeps changing his share.
So that is one of the interesting thing we try to teach people so they get an understanding of that development is.
[00:25:19] Speaker A: And I'm grateful for your fabulous explanation of the content that you just described.
However, we again will have to take a short break. We'll be right back.
Sa.
Welcome back to the American Immigrant Show. We are continuing our conversation with Hubert McIntosh. And now I want to focus on entrepreneurs.
Building a business can create opportunity very quickly, but growth can also expose financial weaknesses just as quickly, especially when revenue rises faster than the owner's. Tax planning, cash flow discipline, or understanding of business structure.
For many immigrant entrepreneurs, the business is also tied directly to family security.
That makes financial planning more than an accounting exercise. The decisions made inside a company can affect savings, retirement protection, and the options available to the next generation.
Hubert, I have a bunch of questions from the audience that I want to ask you about.
The first one is how should an entrepreneur think about the relationship between business structure, compensation, taxes, and the amount of cash the company actually needs to operate safely?
[00:27:31] Speaker B: Wow. Wow, Dennis, that is such a loaded question.
It's such a powerful and loaded question.
Because even just talking about entrepreneur, you know, the topic is just near and dear to my heart in the sense that anytime you're gonna play a game, anytime you're gonna play a game, any game, I don't care what the game is.
The most important thing before you start playing a game is to know the rules of the game.
Because if you don't know the rules of the game, you're gonna lose. You're gonna lose in that game. So the important thing is to. Is to. Is to learn the rules.
And someone may say, but, oh, Dennis, you asked about the retirement. Why am I using the term game? Because life in itself is a game, Dennis, and we have to know the rules.
So we have to know the entrepreneurial rules. You. An individual can be an entrepreneur, but how do they structure themselves? Are they going to be an entrepreneur as an individual, or are they going to create an entity to be an entrepreneur? So through that entity, and if they even choose an entity, the question becomes what kind of entity? What kind of entity? Because the US we have three main types of entity. Some people will say four, but we have three main types. We have S Corp, C Corp, S Corp, C Corp and partnership.
Then you have llc where someone believes that LLC is an entity, but it's not an entity in the sense, because you have single member entity, multi member entity and they're all tax different.
So Dennis, knowing the rules of the game, how they are taxed is important.
And then the next part you're saying with cash flow in the sense you're generating income, it's imperative that you know your margins. You know your margins, what's the profitability, what's your fixed cost.
And when you know these things, you're going to know what's the cash available for the continuation of the business.
If you don't measure the that properly, then what happens? That business is going to go under.
So that's why it is so imperative to understand that part. Your operations, what your operations cost, what's your variable cost, what's your fixed cost and what's the cash leverage?
Do you have enough capital or do you need to borrow?
You need to borrow and when you're going to borrow, how much do you need to borrow and at what rate? So it's a very complex topic, not for the faint of heart.
[00:30:46] Speaker A: Can you comment for a minute on the, you know, the different tax structure between C Corp and LLC as an S Corp, since one flows down to your personal tax return, the other involves double tax conversation. It's confusing for a lot of people, even very highly intelligent people and complex business people.
[00:31:09] Speaker B: Lovely question. I thank you for that question. So we have two pass through entities.
An S Corp is a pass through entity.
A partnership is a pass through entity. What that means is that the entity at the entity level there are no income tax person per se, no income tax because that income tax is passed through to your personal taxes, you know, and that's in the S Corp and the partnership.
But the C Corp now is taxed straight. The C Corp currently in the US has a flat tax rate. So a lot of times individuals will say, well you shouldn't do a C Corp because the C Corp as double taxation.
You should use an S Corp or a pass or a partnership because they have single taxation. But here's the magical question, Dennis, when someone says double taxation, the question where we come in with tax diversification is that we try to identify that double what is it you're doubling?
Because if I say to you 100 times 1 it's $100, right? 100 times 1 is 100. Right. But if I say to you 40 times 2, 40 times 2 is 80, which one is lower? Is 80 lower than 100?
Yes, but it was doubled.
So you see, what is it is what's the factor that you're going to double? And this is where tax strategies, tax diversification and tax implementation comes in. Because if we can help you reduce that number that you're going to double, then it doesn't become the burden that you may hear people talk about double taxation.
You want to. You want to decrease that principle that you're going to double or that did not that nominator that you're going to double.
So very great question, Dennis.
[00:33:30] Speaker A: So I know that you have a lot of great tactics and strategies to help people save money on their taxes that unbelievably, most everyday people that drive the freeways of our society don't know.
But I'm going to ask you about one in particular. It's called the Augusta Rule. Would you mind explaining that to people?
[00:33:53] Speaker B: Yes. Okay, so that's another great question, Dennis. I don't know who creates your questions, man, but I gotta commend you and the team the Augusta Rule. As you know, the Masters, the golf tournament. The Masters is played in Augusta.
Most people know that. But if someone did not know that, we're gonna help them. Now, you know, the Masters is considered the number one golf tournament in the US and arguably, arguably the world, and it's played in Augusta.
So what was happening? What was happening then? I don't remember when it was created, but at the time when the Masters is happening, it's roundabout. Sometime in July when the Masters is happening, is that there become a challenge in finding enough room to board people because the hotels are packed out and everything.
And then it just.
Housing became a challenge.
So the government says, okay, what can we do? Because we want to promote the Masters.
So they said that, well, if you have a home, if you have a home in the area in Augusta where the Masters played, you can rent your own.
We're going to allow you to rent your own for 4, 14 days, but we're not going to charge you any tax on it because we want to increase the.
We want to increase the visitation.
So that rule came up where someone can rent their home. They can rent their home for 14 days and don't pay any revenue tax on that. That's the concept behind it.
[00:36:00] Speaker A: And so I really appreciate that explanation.
But again, we have to take a short break and we'll be right back.
Sa.
Welcome back to the American Immigrant Show.
Stay connected to this show and every NOW Media TV favorite, live or on demand, anytime you like.
Download the free Now Media TV app on Roku or iOS and unlock non stop bilingual programming in English and Spanish.
If you're on the move, then catch the podcast version at www.nowmedia.tv.
from business and news to lifestyle, culture and beyond, Now Media TV is streaming around the clock.
Ready whenever you are.
So welcome back. Welcome to the American Immigrant Show. I am Dr. Dennis Burke and we are closing out today's conversation with Hubert McIntosh.
We have talked about tax planning, retirement taxation, business cash flow, and the differences between making money and building something durable.
In the final segment, I want to connect those ideas to the larger immigrant and entrepreneurial story, creating enough financial knowledge and flexibility that the next generation begins from a stronger position.
For many families, financial independence is not simply a number.
It can mean the ability to choose when to work, how to support parents or children, whenever to start a business, how to report an emergency, and what kind of legacy can be passed on to the next generation.
Hubert, I have several new questions for you from the audience.
What role should taxes play, do you think, in legacy planning for families who are trying to transfer assets, businesses or financial opportunity to the next generation?
[00:39:02] Speaker B: It's one of the most, not one of. Dennis. It's probably the most important topic outside of healthcare in the sense because if you don't plan properly, that legacy will shrink.
The legacy will shrink because of taxes. And that is why we introduce smart move around retirement taxation, because the rules change. Taxation with, you know, will destroy a legacy. So it's very important. It's the most critical outside of health care, managing health care, you know, I want to say long term care might be the number one topic, but then right behind it is tax planning. It's very crucial, critical to legacy planning.
[00:39:56] Speaker A: And so since you talk about legacy planning, perhaps you could spend a very brief minute on trust concepts. And I know there are many different kinds of trusts, but it's at least one vehicle that can help people transfer their assets into a trust, protect their assets in a trust, and then also potentially save money when they, when the seniors, senior members of the family die, their children can have serious tax benefits because the parents put the assets into trust. Would you kindly speak briefly about that topic?
[00:40:35] Speaker B: Yes, yes. And it's also another confusing one, Dennis, because a lot of times people will hear of a trust and they just think that a trust is tax protection.
Trust can be a tax protection but it has to be layered properly with asset protection, because the trust mainly is for asset protection, but people confused it with tax protection.
But if it's layered properly, it's a very detailed topic. It's a very detailed topic. So I'll just briefly introduce it. You have trust that can help with anonymity, where sometimes, because you know, we live in a very litigious society and sometimes someone will want to sue you just because of what you own, what you own. But if someone doesn't know you own it, then they can sue you. That's one of the benefits for trust. Then another one is also, also for probate, because if the government doesn't know that you own it, if you don't protect it properly, what happen is that when a person dies, then what happened, they go through probate because the government has to prove, do you really own the assets that you're leaving? And that can be. That can be a challenge. So. So I encourage individuals to look into this topic. A lot of times people just default to having a will. But a will, even though it's good, is the worst type of protection for your assets. Because every will has to be probated. It has to be proven. And the difficult of it, because you can just write a will on a piece of napkin. So if you write 10 different wills, how does the government know which was the last will? Because it's supposed to be the last will and testament.
So that is where the challenge is and where trust replaces that. And there are multiple trust. When you invite me back, Dennis, we can go. We can even have one session. Can be just on the topic of trust. It's such a wide variety. You have different types of trust and different benefits depending on the situation.
[00:43:05] Speaker A: At least though we have touched on the subject and people get a feel for understanding the basic premise of it.
And for the sake of the general public knowing how to reach you and how to get a copy of your book, how do they get a hold of you? Could you give us out your website, your contact information, how you want people to reach your company?
[00:43:32] Speaker B: Well, what now, the number one way to reach me is at Macintosh Financial Group.
You read Macintosh financial group.com and they'd be able to get in contact with us at Macintosh Financial Group.
Where you'll see there, when you go to that website, you will see all the different topics that we talk about. You know, where it. It encumbers all of it encumbers all of it. From the investment to the taxes to the estate planning. You know, where we give. We give the individual a full flavor. It's like a buffet of where you choose. And that's the best way to get in touch with us.
[00:44:21] Speaker A: So in conclusion, today, I just want to tell you how amazed I am and grateful I am for having you as such a phenomenal guest with very robust knowledge of the tax and accounting system system.
Having you on the American Immigrant show has been just a fabulous experience.
And I'm looking forward to what our comments, the comments our audience will have, and we would look forward to having you come back in the months ahead and to do another show because this is not never a one and done type of situation when we're talking about people's taxes and their accounting.
It's one of the things you're guaranteed to do in your life every year is to file a tax return.
So people are always intrigued about what they can save or what they can make and maybe how less taxes they can pay.
So I really appreciate you from the bottom of my heart. I look forward to speaking to you again in the near future and interviewing you. And thank you so much, Hubert.
[00:45:33] Speaker B: Thank you, Dennis. It's been my absolute honor. So thanks to you and the entire team at no Media. Thank you very much.
