160 | Simple Year-End Money Rituals for a Calm Tax Season

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Tax season doesn’t have to hijack your nervous system or overwhelm your business finances. In this episode, I introduce the "Reflect, Release, Realign" framework to help women entrepreneurs approach year-end financial planning with clarity, calm, and confidence.

You’ll learn how to stop second-guessing yourself, build supportive money habits, and turn tax season into a grounded, stress-free ritual.

In this episode, we cover:

• How to reflect on your business finances without judgment and understand what the numbers are showing you.
• Practical tax planning steps such as reconciling your books, collecting W-9s, reviewing subscriptions, and checking insurance policies.
• The mindset shift that turns tax season from anxiety to peacefulness.
• How to release financial stress and avoidance patterns that block clarity.
• Creating a weekly CEO Money Time for real-time cash flow tracking and intentional money decisions.
• How to realign your 2026 tax and financial goals with your nervous system and long-term vision.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Sacred Success by Barbara Stanny

Ep. 158 General Liability Insurance Explained: Key Questions, Audits & Agent Insights

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Come learn with me in my monthly workshops

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From my soul to yours,

Erin

Chapters

• 0:00 Mini-Series On Taxes Begins
• 0:51 The 5D Approach To Money
• 1:14 Step One: Reflect With Intention
• 3:23 Set The CEO Environment
• 3:34 Revenue Sources And Gratitude
• 4:17 Profit, Joy, And Data Review
• 4:49 Vendors, Team, And Alignment
• 5:38 Data Without Shame
• 6:24 Lessons And Intuition In Investing
• 8:27 Expanding Capacity To Receive
• 9:32 Source Versus Channels Of Money
• 10:35 Love Letters To Money And Business
• 11:17 Year-End Logistics And Tax Prep
• 11:28 Step Two: Release What No Longer Fits
• 13:24 Subscriptions, Insurance, And Reports
• 14:35 Emotional Release And Belief Work
• 17:17 Suitcases Of Belief To Put Down
• 18:18 Step Three: Realign And Vision Cast
• 18:23 Offer To Work Together
• 19:03 Define 2026 Financial Priorities
• 20:26 Growth Year Or Maintenance Year
• 21:21 Habits, CEO Time, And Systems
• 22:39 Clean Books And Year-End Reviews
• 23:38 Intentional Action Before 2026
• 24:04 Make Money And Taxes Feel Light
• 24:33 Quarterly Tax Planning Mindset
• 25:05 Ask Your CPA For A Checklist
• 25:50 What’s Next And Closing Encouragement

Transcript

Erin Gray: 0:00

Since we have eight more weeks at the time that this episode is being released, I am going to do a mini-series on taxes, looking at how we think about them, how they show up in our nervous system, and how we can approach them with clarity instead of stress. So often I think with life and especially like in Q4, you know, I see entrepreneurs almost, I don't want to say rushing, but that's kind of what it feels like, you know, to maximize revenue before year end. And many aren't really thinking about their books until tax season. And so what I would like you to ponder or give some airtime to is what if we were just more intentional and made this time of year about revenue, of course, and also about clarity. So today I'm diving into more of the 5D, the emotional, the energetics, the spiritual part to help you create some simple year-end money rituals to reflect upon, to release and let go of, and then also to realign and to envision and vision cast your finances before 2026. So let's dive in. So let's talk about reflecting, step one. I think like anything else, this is a practice, it is a skill set. I was just on a call with a client and we were talking about a couple of things. And I was, I told her, I said, listen, you already know how to do this because you're doing it in other areas of your life. We're just going to take the skill set that you've developed in other areas of your life and we're going to move it to money, no problem. So think of it that way. Don't think of it as this big burden that we have to overcome, or it's something that you're struggling with and that you have to figure out how to do. No, no, no. You already have it within you. You're probably already doing it in other areas of your life. Just move the skill set over here. You know, allowing yourself time and reflection, giving yourself the space to gain and reflect on the wisdom that you have experienced over this last year. You know, I read, I think it was in Sacred Success by Barbara Stanley. She was talking about, or in the book, there was a page or where the wife of Steve Jobs was telling someone else at a party that, you know, he used to take six months off at a time to think and reflect. Now, I'm not advocating that that's what you do, but I do think you have an hour, you know, in your week over the next eight weeks or a couple of days sprinkled in over the next eight weeks to really review your money flow and to create more amazing things for you and yourself and your business. And however you want to approach this, you know, think of it like from that spiritual, the energetic piece, whether it's lighting a candle, bringing your favorite beverage, mine is tea and seltzer water, sometimes chai tea as well. You know, even going to like your favorite. There's a really lovely hotel that I like to go and journal in and sit in. Um, it just feels luxurious and it feels expansive. So, like maybe there's a favorite hotel in your city that you can go to so that you can just look and review your books so that one, you are in the vibration of being CEO and also just that luxurious feeling of luxury, right? Like feeling abundant, feeling luxurious, you know, wearing your CEO hat, like powerful, successful. I think that that allows for that. So, questions that you might want to ask yourself is take a look and see how much revenue have you received year to date, and from what sources. I know I've talked about before of like, are you actually characterizing or splitting how your income is received? You know, this is a perfect time to show and also feel gratitude for all of your clients, all of your customers, all the way that money has been received and funneled in and received in your business and reflect on what you have loved about it and maybe what you haven't, what you might want to change moving forward in 2026. Think about also, or journal on, you know, what offers or projects felt most aligned to you. You know, what are the ones that were actually like pull the numbers and look, like what were the ones that were most profitable? Were those the ones that you were having the most fun in? I would probably bet, or I would say that those probably were, right? Like a lot of times when we're having fun, that is where the money really flows from. So, you know, really get into the data and see where your income came from and what was the most profitable. Also think about where did you invest your money on tools that maybe you weren't using or aren't using, you know, and if you do have employees, do you love paying all of them? I used to have this conversation with my dad all the time. I'm like, if you don't love paying all of the employees, then that's an opportunity for us to sit down and figure out maybe we either need to shift, you know, where they are in the company, or maybe it's time for us to part ways. So really think about your vendors, your contractors, your employees. Are you in love with all of them? You know, if not, that is an opportunity for you to figure out why. And are you not in alignment? Are you guys just not on the same frequency? And that's okay if that is the answer, but at least you have clarity. At least you've given yourself the space and the time to ask yourself these questions so that you do have more clarity. I want to say here that this is all just data. This is information that you deserve to ponder, think about, and have as a business owner. And all you need to be doing is just reviewing it. You don't need to pile on the judgment or the guilt or the shame, just observe the data and the information that you are looking at. You know, you are becoming more aware of how money has been moving in and through your business. And so really gaining that clarity and that knowledge will help you to decide where do I want to continue to receive money? Where do I want to continue to flow money out of my business? And what do I might want to change in receiving and also, you know, investing in my business. Then you can also like from the mindset piece is what money lessons did I learn this year? Like what were the lessons that I learned or what was I taught in regards to money? You know, for me, it was a year of listening even deeper to my intuition and how that actually prevented me in the best way of not investing in some of the things that my mind was telling me to invest in. You know, like I probably would say I'm a pretty big investor in my business. And this was a year of less investing. I always implement, but it was really honing in and really tuning into my intuition and following that, even when my head, my brain was telling me I needed to invest, I really listened to my body. And that allowed me to not invest in several things, which worked out amazingly well. It really um honoring my intuition, honoring the way that I want to grow and build my business was a really good thing for me this year. So ponder for you, what were the money lessons? What did you learn? What did you um, you know, want to reflect on of how, you know, the lessons that you learned from money? You can also ask yourself, where did I expand my capacity to receive? I also just had this conversation with a client as well. It's like, as the founder, we are the endless vessel. And so even though that the electricity coming off of that transformer out there might be thousands of volts, what it actually is when it gets to your electrical outlet is 110 volts. And so, in order to be able to receive more, we have to expand our vessel, right? It doesn't mean that there's not a thousand of volts out there on that transformer. It means that what are we able to hold and what are we able and what are we at the capacity to receive? So we need to expand our vessel. So think about how did you already expand your vessel to receive? You know, receiving more money, holding and having more money, not necessarily as soon as we get it, we have to, you know, invest it somewhere else. Maybe for you, your growth edge is being able to just hold and have the money for a while. Maybe that's what your growth edge is. So think about where have you already expanded your capacity to receive and where do you want to expand it even more? You know, what patterns do I want to leave behind? You know, how often were you moving from spirit from God source energy, right? Allowing God to support you. I talk about this with on the podcast and also in client sessions. Like we think that our clients or our customers or our spouse or our ex-spouse or you know, whomever is our source of supply. That's not, that is the effect. God, spirit, source is our supply. So, how often were you moving from that place? How often were you allowing yourself to be supported from God versus looking at being supported from your customers or your clients or your spouse? You know, you can even write, I think this is a beautiful time to write a short just reflection letter, you know, a love letter, like just how I've talked about writing a love letter to money, writing a love letter to your business. You know, thank your business. Thank God for everything that you have created together this year, you know. Um, what worked beautifully? What did you love? What are you ready to let go of and evolve? You know, what are you ready to implement and modify and change moving forward? So this is definitely one of getting out the journal, writing down, reflecting. I think this is a really, I mean, all of my episodes are powerful, but like I think this is a really good one to reflect and give yourself some time to pause before you, you know, finish out year in and start into 2026. I think we a lot of us wait until 2026 or the new year to start reflecting. We can reflect at any time. Okay, so number two would be release, right? What do we want to let go of? In order for us to evolve into that next version of ourselves, we have to leave some of us. Some of us are parts of us, right, behind. And sometimes that comes with grief, you know. I don't think that we talk a lot about grief in regards to that, but like that part of us that isn't going to move on to our next phase in our life, like allowing that that grief to be there. But once you have reflected, you know, now you get to be really clear around the energetics, right? And the logistical mind clutter is the word that comes to mind that maybe is existing. And that what do you want to let go of? So start like with this is more 3D tangible stuff. So I'm assuming that you have either a bookkeeper or you have reconciled your own books up until this point. And if you haven't, this isn't a problem. You don't need to beat yourself up, but just set aside some time now to do this versus waiting until you're in or next year when it comes time for actually to file and work on your taxes. You know, do you have a what I always create is like a tax folder? Do you already have that set up so that you've been keeping information for your 2025 taxes for your tax stuff in? You know, so if you have made purchases in your business, like if you're a brick and mortar and maybe you have, you know, assets that you have purchased for your assets and then ultimately if you, you know, owe loans on them, they become a liability too. But like if you've made purchases in your business, you know, do you have all of that in a file ready to go for your CPA? If not, no problem. Just take some time to do that so that you are more prepared. You know, do you have all of your W9s for your contractors? Like the time to be asking for W9s is not in January, you know, that's putting pressure on yourself. And it's just a simple form, but that is something that if you, you know, do have contractors, making sure that that is already taken care of and you have that. The other thing too is like, you know, subscriptions or memberships that you're no longer using, like downgrade, cancel those. Like what I like to do is put the renewal date in my actual calendar. And so every year, what pops up, you know, depending on if it's I pay it on an annual basis, some of like my antivirus is every three years. I bought like a three year, and I think my website is every three years, something like that. But like put whatever it is in on your calendar so that every whatever month it is that comes to renew, you have that and it'll pop up for you. And you can see like, do I want to keep this? Am I still using this? Is this beneficial to me? You know, things of that sort. So if you want to cancel subscriptions, then do that. You know, make those decisions now so that everything that you are paying for, think about it from an energetic place. Everything that you're paying for, you love it, you use it, and you know, it helps you in your business. If you have general liability insurance, I know I talked about this on episode 158, I believe. Questions to ask your insurance agent, but you know, have you run your GLI reports, um, depending on if you have work comp, you know, and how often do you pay this? But if you need to run your reports, you know, see how much you've paid, what is your, you know, revenue, what is your payroll bin? So that when it comes time for an audit with, I'm talking about insurance right now, not necessarily taxes, for your GLI and your work comp that you are on track in terms of just revenue for your IRS, like the actual tax reporting, right? Like see how much you've paid in to the IRS, pull that report. And if you do have state tax as well, like how much have you paid in and where are you on track? And that might be a conversation that you need to have, you know, with your CPA and or bookkeeper. If you don't feel yet comfortable to do some of that yourself or to review the report yourself, it's not a problem, but just make that, you know, start to get into the habit of doing that. And that obviously is going to come from self-concept first, right? Like the CEO, CFO runs their business, looks at those reports, and they do it more so on a quarterly basis so they can see where they are. And if you haven't been doing it, like I say, it's not a problem. This isn't a place to beat ourselves up. It's to become aware and then to be more empowered and to start making different decisions. Okay, so then let's talk about the 5D, the spiritual, the energetic release of this. Questions that you can ask yourself is what am I ready to release when it comes to money? What am I ready to release in my business? You know, what do I believe I'm capable of and have been telling myself about being a CEO and business owner? Like, really get clear here. And what do you want to release? What are those stories? You know, some ladies will tell me like they're not a good business owner. Absolutely not. I'm not going to accept that from any of you. We're all successful, fabulous business owners, and we're all learning and growing and, you know, honoring ourselves even more. Maybe you have shame or guilt, you know, around your revenue number or your expenses, you know. I always talk about this, but like guilt and shame, it's not a productive or helpful feeling. So choose to look at everything as data. You know, if your income or your expenses aren't what they you imagined, can you pinpoint why? Like use this time to allow yourself to really get into the nitty-gritty and find out like why? What was it? Always start with your belief, start with the energetic piece first. What was your self-concept? What was your beliefs around your income and expenses? Start with that energetic piece and then move to the action piece. You know, maybe it's shame around not saving enough money, right? Maybe it's that constant mental loop that maybe you have on repeat around like you should be further along by now. Like, I know my thought loop is I've done something wrong. That's something that I am working on to release, right? So just notice what are some of those thought loops that you go to immediately. What are those basic deep-seated beliefs and start to to work through and and work through that, you know? This is a perfect time for you to see what those beliefs are, you know, that you're carrying around. And I love this. One of my coaches gave me the the analogy of, you know, our beliefs are like suitcases, you know, sometimes they they served us in years past, but they we don't have to continue carrying them. So if, you know, I've had to work through like I'm doing something wrong, like that's been a deep belief for me. And I see where it shows up in every area of my life. Like I'm ready to let go of that suitcase. I'm ready to develop and adopt a new belief. And if this is something that you would love help with, you know, if you're like, oh my gosh, Aaron, I don't even know where to start, I got you. Like I love doing this kind of work. I love getting into the nitty-gritty and 30,000 foot viewing it for you and talking about, you know, the business and the CEO, CFO side of things, along with the emotional part, right? Like we can't just take the action. We have to work through and move the energy and the 5D, the energetic piece and what we believe about ourselves first, but doing some of this 3D work of getting organized and understanding what you need to pay attention to, maybe what you need to let go of this year, focus on next year, those types of things. I love doing this type of work with clients. So if this is something that you are interested in or want some support with or curious of how I could help you, I encourage you to just schedule a call with me and you can just click the link in the show notes to schedule a time that works well for you. Okay, so step three is the realigning, the envisioning, the vision casting part, right? Here is where you get to connect with your money, your vision, your values. So ask yourself, what are my financial goals? Or I like the word priorities, right? What are my financial priorities for 2026? You know, do I want to focus on maybe more consistent income if you've, and I don't like that word, but like air quotes, if you've in your brain you feel like you've had inconsistent income, then maybe that's something you want to focus on. You want to have more consistent income, right? Which comes from a belief. Maybe you want to have higher profit margins, or maybe you want to build up some reserves because you're going to make some investments this coming year. You know, is this going to be, I think, also really something you need to ask yourself is is this going to be a growth year or is this going to be a maintaining year? You know, I think we've been taught with business that we're always growing, growing, growing, but nature doesn't grow, grow, grow, grow, grow. Nature grows and it, you know, like think about winter as we're going into winter right now. Like the leaves are falling off of my tree effortlessly every day, right? Nature's not afraid for the trees, excuse me, for the leaves to fall. The leaves fall, the trees bare, goes into a little bit of a hibernation, and then it comes back in the springtime. So just recognize if you've kind of been in these growth stages for a while, is this next year maybe going to be a maintaining year for you? You know, because growing is also maintaining. You know, while you're building more foundations, like that is growing yourself. That is growing yourself as a CEO. So if you're building more foundations, if you're getting better systems in place, think about growth and maintenance as the inhale and the exhale. Like we need both of these questions also that you can ask is like, what beliefs do I currently have that will support this? What beliefs do I have or I need to adopt to support this? What habits and actions that I will take will support this? You know, think about consistent CEO time, weekly money check-ins. You know, whether you have a bookkeeper or not, maybe you need to start working with your CPA on a quarterly basis instead of just like, you know, the first of the year for taxes. You know, tracking your cash flow in real time instead of months after. You know, you know your business best, you know what you need for your business. Sit with this, ponder this and figure out what is best for you and your business. You know, are you putting CEO time in your calendar and keeping your word to yourself? Like if self-trust is something that you want to develop, are you doing that for yourself? And is that something that you want to do and focus on over in 2026? You know, this is a great way to do that. Put it on your calendar and then see what comes up, see what your brain tells you is more important than sitting down and doing CEO and CFO work when it's scheduled on your calendar. And then from a practical standpoint, like that 3D, you know, make sure your business, like I always say, your business, your personal accounts, like they should be fully separated. You know, if you need support making journal entries, if you're doing the bookkeeping yourself, or if you have a bookkeeper, like working with your CPA to make sure all of that is trued up for any type of like if you've co-mingled, you know, if you've put money into your business account, if you need to make that journal entry for that capital contribution, things of that sort, work with your CPA and bookkeeper to take care of that. If you do work with an accountant or bookkeeper, schedule a year-end, you know, a quick year-end review. Think about also if you are purchasing, if you're in the process or if you are planning to purchase, you know, some assets that you've been wanting to make, now would be a good time to do that for tax reasons. So schedule a call with your CPA and bookkeeper to review this and tell them what your plans are and what you want to do and let them give you some advice. And then obviously you run it through your filter, your intuition as to what you want to do. You know, think about setting the intention moving forward. You know, if this was a reactionary year for you, how can you move in 2026 and even right now? Like it doesn't mean we have to wait until 2026. You've got eight more weeks. How can you be more intentional with your time now over the next eight weeks moving into 2026? You know, I think New Year's resolutions, I don't even know where that came from. I think it's so interesting and fascinating because you can literally change in an instant. You don't need a new year to do it. You can change today, you can change in this moment, you can change in this minute, right? We don't need new years to to change or to do something new. So start now, you know, start with building the foundations or making changes so that when you go into 2026, you know, I want you to get my goal desire for you is to get to the point that money and taxes and business, maybe first we have to get to the neutral point, right? Like maybe we don't feel super stoked about it, but ultimately I want it to be fun and enjoyable, not heavy and taxing, no pun intended. But like I I just want taxes and business and money to feel fun and light and free and enjoyable and empowering and knowledgeable and clear, confident, calm. All of those amazing feeling, vibration, emotions. So when you take this time to reflect, to release, to realign, to envision what you want for yourself, you are showing yourself your business, your money that you desire a relationship and a partnership, not just a transaction and an afterthought. Like really, this is part of self-care, taking the time to be with your money and your business and your taxes. You know, you're giving yourself also, I believe, like a clean, clear, energetic slate to start. And like I said, start now. Don't wait until 2026. But you're gonna come into these next eight weeks and carry forward in 2026 with more peacefulness, more calmness, more confidence, more power and empowerment. And so it's not just about waiting until, you know, oh gosh, it's tax season. I need to take care of this. Like I want you to think of taxes as a just like financial planning, taxes are a planning thing that you do every quarter. You look at your numbers and you tax plan every quarter versus, oh, it's the year end of the year. I got to get my tax stuff ready and send it over to my CPA. Also, one thing I would say if you don't already have, like every CPA I've ever worked with typically would give me, oh, I don't know what they called it. It's kind of like a checklist, basically, but it it would go down and it would give me all of the documents that they would need, along with what reports that I would need to pull and things like that. So if you don't have a CPA that is offering that to you, I would ask them if you like them and you want to stick with them, I would ask them to give you that. They offer that. Like I said, I mean, I can't tell you how many CPAs I've worked with over the years. They all do it. So ask them for it. And if they and if you are wanting to work with a CPA or looking for one, like make sure that they offer that and give that to you as well. Okay, that's what I have for you. So in Thursday's episode, we're gonna talk about how to prepare for tax season without feeling stress or scarcity and then the practical and emotional tools that it's gonna help you stay grounded when tax time rolls around. Until then, be gentle with yourself, love yourself, honor yourself, celebrate all of the wins that you've had so far this year. Like so much progress. It's so fun to be in the energy of like how far you've come versus how far you need to go. So, really celebrate all that you have done for yourself and your business and your money and know that wealth loves clarity and attention, and you're already creating it. So give yourself some atticals. Okay, I love you all. I'll see you in the next episode.