Andrew ↔️ Ando

My mission on X: 🍜Equip People that Love Japanese Culture 🍜Enable People Dreaming of Japan Expat Life 🍜Empower Expats in Japan How: via Specialized Financial and Tax Education I am a: ⚓ US Navy Veteran 🇯🇵 Former Expat in Japan (2009-2011) Nice to Meet You!

@CaydenWMcLaugh Whats the best way to adapt in this new world? I believe it's going up market... niche down and solve complex problems for people Don't cry about losing simple clients to an AI model Do complex work while being a relatable trustworthy person, and you will never go hungry!

@ando_arashi So true!

Here are my thoughts on all this AI: For context: I’m a damn good advisor with more to offer than the average bear. That said, I’m pretty scared. The velocity of AI releases is almost impossible to ignore. Without hyperbole, these tools are un-fucking-believable if you know how to use them. If you’re 60+, you might skate by running business as usual. For the rest of us, this is a paradigm shift. We can argue the minutiae of complexity until we’re blue in the face, but we’re missing the bigger picture. Why do some tax firms close up shop and sell for nothing while others command 4x multiples? Why would PE buy your firm at a premium when they can run ads for lead gen and prepare tax returns with AI…both cheaper than you? Same logic applies to independent RIAs. Financial advisors love to act like they’re God’s greatest gift to the earth, but their books are nothing more than a variable annuity. Why would PE pay 12x earnings for market returns when they can undercut the entire model with AI for a fraction of the cost? This hasn’t happened yet but it’s the obvious next step. If you don’t believe me, ask yourself what you’d do with a god complex and unlimited capital. Now think about the second-order effects. I’m Gen Z and self-employed, so I’m not looking for a job with any of you — but if I were, my expectations have fundamentally changed. WFH and a cushy salary won’t cut it anymore. Top-tier talent will demand equity ownership far sooner than any previous generation, and they will have zero tolerance for manual data-entry processes. Gen-Z will act like the third monkey boarding Noah’s Ark… and brother, it’s already started to rain. Your ability to attract great people is now directly contingent on how quickly and effectively you implement AI systems inside your firm. Perplexity isn’t going to complete every tax return perfectly today. But ignoring the trajectory is asinine. This touches every facet of your professional livelihood, not just the work sitting in front of you right now.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ I’m rooting for you. And I hope you kick ass today! One love, Cayden McLaughlin

💯 With the help of Claude, I am narrowing my niche further to "US citizen business owners in Japan". No one is serving this very small group of people with dual country advice...it's shooting fish in a barrel! Claude is accurately teaching me the JP national income tax code and JP entity structures, which even my wife struggled to translate for me b4.

@ando_arashi I am totally with you The people that have the free time and want to spend hours and hours in AI were DIYers before anyways AI helps us be better and work with more clients and spend more time with them That's what we want anyway

Do not trust AI This has so many things wrong: - qbid is 20% of profits at this level. It’s not capped by wages. Raising salary means less QBID not more here - you can’t just artificially raise then lower for no reason - PTET is for S Corps but you can also get it for a partnership - S corps in NYC are HORRIBLE. Added 8.85% tax.

I have 25% concern, but those potential clients that gravitate towards LLMs were never going to hire us anyway The smart move for us is to leverage these tools to move up market, which you have already done. I'm working on it myself! Got to level up b4 we reach AGI and society collapses!

@ando_arashi I do use paid for ai haha I just have 0 concern about it replacing top level professionals

@TKopelman Of course I agree with you But someone like you who is very intellectually curious should test drive a paid LLM before making such blanket statements The accuracy of the paid models is increasing rapidly, especially in last 2 months

All AI gets things wrong, it has no liability for being wrong And the issue for most wealthy folks is this: - they don’t have time: they hire professionals to free up time - they don’t even know the right questions to ask - implementation is the hardest part Both are great! Thanks man

@GaijinMommy For xenophobes, they certainly have an eye for design aesthetic! I saw the posters around the and thought "how nice" until I saw the author!

So am I.

Well if it's a foreigner needing to file US taxes then yes If you are talking about including foreigners who need to file taxes in their own country of origin, then it's a no All of us CPAs/EAs here only licensed for US tax. We can't touch other countries systems without additional licensing in the local jurisdiction

@ando_arashi i thought you were just for US Expats but if you can do work with non US, i'll shoot you a DM

People outside of the US are the most desperate to find a CPA To my surprise, many of them are coming to Sam's List looking for help and we do not have a solution for them I think we should start including accountants on our site who work with individuals and businesses in other countries? Maybe? Not sure if that would bring a logistical nightmare, but I'm seeing these inquiries daily and can't help but think 'should we just build the solution?'

@NotGoKGreen Myself of course ando-arashi.com

@ando_arashi if you know anyone that fits what i've described, feel free to tag or send their websites because i'd love to meet them

Then just subset the intl category more "No one can help"--have you read my bio? Most of my clients are business owners in Japan (US based LLC or JP Kabushiki Kaisha companies). I help intl business owners every day ! And plenty of other CPAs focus on foreigners living in USA You just have to refine the category labels more and people will fill them

We already have an international page and the ones on that page do what you described. That’s easy to find: samslist.co/accountants/se… The accountants on that page can only do what you just described but that’s not what we are looking for. We have hundreds of people a month that are non US residents and people with international businesses. No one on Sam’s List can assist with that so I am looking for accountants who can.

@TheRealDriiZZy @Hoopss @grok Grok is wrong This is the Chiba Urban Monorail. I know because I live near the Shonan Monorail and its cars are red...not blue, plus Shonan is a single track system.

@Hoopss @grok where in Japan is this?

How come Japan gets cool things like suspension monorail trains, and we don't? 😠😖

@NotGoKGreen Generally good to find someone in your business niche regardless of geography But there are exceptions *Ohio has extremely complicated local and state tax code *Oregon restricts tax filing to only CPAs and those who pass a state licensing exam *And many more!

The worst thing you can do is look for a CPA in your town.

@jennyrozelle Happy birthday! You are February 8? I'm February 9! We celebrated today with a special lunch in Fujisawa at a Chinese restaurant. It was great! Hope you enjoyed your special day as well!

Clients have taught me two things: age is just a number + life flies by. So here’s to making every moment count in year #38! 🫶🏼

No airline in recent memory has attempted a nonstop Florida - Japan flight, even though it's within the range of the Airbus 350 and Boeing 787 But that finally changes this month with 4 test flights Orlando - Tokyo on Zip Air (Japanese version of Southwest) I don't think @canediver would be comfortable... better to pay more and get better service. Just like in tax prep!

@canediver @ando_arashi FLL-ATL-Haneda via Delta is ~1k late Apr/early May, about 3 hours more than nonstop NYC-Tokyo.

For those of you who have visited Japan, what do you recommend as a minimum time to go for ?

Definitely! It's not "one size fits all" so I would need to understand your travel goals first before giving advice. For the flight, definitely do the Delta Airlines flight from Atlanta-Tokyo direct, or Japan Airlines direct from Chicago. Those are the best airlines and best routes for Florida residents

@ando_arashi I would definitely appreciate any recommendations, and was planning to DM you once we were sure we can go

@jennyrozelle BTW congrats 🎉 on all your success (X posts, business, life in general). Since I discovered you in 2023, we've both grown a lot!

@ando_arashi A lot of these times, they do! Though, some actually get their crap together and file claims on the estate (which if legit, get paid if sufficient assets) OR the family, ethically motivated, decides to pay from the estate (even if they don’t make a claim).

Are we going to hit 1 million impressions on this post? 👀

@mrjeffu I was surprised by the brevity of this snap election. Blink and you miss it! Maybe that was the point for the LDP though UK normally has 25 days of campaigning before election. Probably about the right length! US... seemingly endless! We could learn from the UK!

I was interviewed by BBC News for this article about tomorrow's election in Japan: "Will Sunday's snap election gamble pay off for Japan's first female premier?" bbc.com/news/articles/…