Inspiring Conversations with Kc Chohan of Together CFO

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kc Chohan. Them and their team share their story with us below:

If you could imagine a kid growing up in the countryside of England, lots of beautiful green fields and rolling hills running around playing in the mud with his dog, that was basically Kc as a kid. His hopeless curiosity and desire to grow led him to be interested in business, specifically big business with big problems to solve because he loves solving problems and really pushing what people consider the limits.

Kc ended up getting a degree in business and finance thinking that those two combined would be a great skill set to understand and thrive in business, not anticipating or thinking he would start an accounting firm.

He then went in the direction of being a boring accountant and working on bookkeeping – which makes most people have a visceral cringe when mentioned, “Oh dam, that sounds terribly boring.” It was a great opportunity, not something he could say no to especially as he had the job before he had even finished university.

It was very difficult to say no to an immediate paycheck but…

Becoming an accounting as you can probably imagine was kind of miserable doing the same thing day in day out because HE REALIZED that he had so much more to offer than just hiding in the books.

It became apparent to Kc that this was not aligned with his unique disposition and personality and one thing he believes in strongly is that to be successful, people need to live in a place they thrive.

Kc is so much more of an outgoing people person that an introvert and wanted to become an entrepreneur so that he could understand how to build a sustainable business.

Unlike everybody else from his university program who moved to London or Dubai and basically just worked in finance and investment banking, Kc moved back to his home town Middlesbrough. After working at an accounting firm he quickly realized this was not a great fit for what he wanted out of life, going back to his unique personality he knew that he needed a place to have a bigger impact so he then moved into management accounting for a big Fortune 500 company called Flowserve.

After eight years working with Flowserve relocating two times domestically and then eventually internationally to Los Angeles Kc had enough of the corporate lifestyle and wanted to try something new.

For almost a decade he had been performing:
– Month-end close
– Cashflow analysis
– Forecasting
– Budgeting
– Building better systems and processes
– Tax analysis and optimization

By the time Kc left, Flowserve had $4.7 Billion in annual revenue. But Kc got bored with corporate America. Which was very different in the US compared to the UK and had a focus on maximizing everything instead of optimizing, perception over results, Kc is all about results over perception.

In 2016 Kc then went into the startup world, working with CEOs of smaller companies than the Billion dollar corporate environment he was used to. Open communication between departments allowed Kc to optimize not just systems and processes but how they interact and create a better culture and desired outcome for the business owners.

Kc started to thrive quickly and realized he could create a much bigger impact working with multiple companies rather than just one. This was definitely Kc’s sweet spot and the deeper he dived into outsourced CFO services and got his client’s amazing results the more people would reach out and ask for advice.

Now Kc helps successful business owners all the way up to family offices structure their estate planning with a focus on tax efficiencies. His clients have paid as low as 5% or less effective tax rate, as well as totally eliminating capital gains tax. The unique structures and strategies Kc uses are what make him the best-kept tax secret in Los Angeles and service many top celebrities all the way to developers and family business owners.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Leaving a well-paying corporate job to start your own business full time is always a big risk, you go from being very comfortable to fight for your existence in a very short period of time.

I had an advantage and was growing my clients on a part-time basis before taking the leap of faith. It paid off and business was booming. With one of our first clients, we helped him realign and scale his business from $5m per year to $10m per month all within a short 6-month span. This ultimately was a huge pivotal moment for Together CFO as it was the start of a new era, it forced us to solve the client’s next problem which was going to be a huge tax bill. With this pivot, we then took on a new challenge and succeeded.

Now six years on, we have focused on advanced estate planning and building wealth for our clients in a way no other CPA or legal team can do. We are a hybrid of legal/accounting/ family office, all designed to make life easier for our clients.

As you know, we’re big fans of Together CFO. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Let’s start with this quote by Judge Learned Hand: “In America, there are two tax systems; one for the informed and one for the uninformed. Both systems are legal. Anyone may arrange his affairs so that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which best pays the treasury. There is not even a patriotic duty to increase one’s taxes. Over and over again, the Courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everyone does it, rich and poor alike and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands.”

It’s a known fact that the elite/wealthy/ billionaires/ politicians all pay very little tax as has been proved various times in leaked tax returns and articles.

(Example below: https://www.propublica.org/article/the-secret-irs-files-trove-of-never-before-seen-records-reveal-how-the-wealthiest-avoid-income-tax)

What isn’t as well know is how they legally do this.

With the unique structures and strategies used by Together CFO, we are able to help our clients pay single-digit tax rates, eliminate capital gains tax and stop any estate planning taxes, all by having the right team in place.

Too often as businesses grow, the owner has not managed to improve the level of his/her team as is often still using the same CPA/Legal team they started with. The team that takes you from 0 to $5m usually isn’t the same team that takes you from $5m to $50m, so it’s vital that owners take responsibility to add specialists to their team as they grow.

What matters most to you?
At my core is to help educate as many people on taxes and helping them go from being rich to becoming wealthy.

Being rich is calculated in dollars or currency, being wealthy is calculated in time, I want to help people create more time so they can enjoy that with family/friends and create memorable experiences together.

When we all die, no one is going to remember the bank balance you had, they will remember the good times you shared together. The goal of Together CFO is to create and structure as much money in a way that can help you grow wealth for yourself and future generations all in a tax-efficient way.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://togethercfo.com/
• Instagram: together.cfo.tax.savings