Lyon Share Podcast

Most CPAs are trained to record history, not create strategy. In this episode of The Lyon Share Podcast, Ed Lyon is joined by Aleksey Kaplan, CPA—an entrepreneur-turned-CPA who built and sold businesses before ever sitting for the CPA exam. Together, they dig into why most accountants miss tax planning, why billable hours fail clients, and how entrepreneurs can demand real value from their advisor...

In this foundational episode, Ed Lyon breaks down the U.S. tax code into a simple, memorable framework: red lights (where you stop and pay tax) and green lights (where you legally go without paying tax). You’ll learn why most advisors focus on the red lights, why Ed hunts for green lights, and how to “turn right on red” with strategies like backdoor Roths. Ed also explains how holistic, goal-drive...

Why Another Tax Podcast? Why The Lyon Share? With over 4 million podcasts to choose from, why launch another one? In this very first episode of The Lyon Share Podcast, host Ed Lyon explains exactly why this show stands apart from the crowded tax and finance space. Unlike most podcasts that focus only on what you can do to save taxes or recap the latest tax news, Ed digs into the why behind our tax...

What Financial Advisors Really Learn About Tax Strategy | Student Session w/ Ed Lyon Alternate options: The Truth About Tax Planning (From Inside the Classroom) Why Most Advisors Get Taxes Wrong—and How to Fix It From Selling Products to Solving Problems: Advisor Transformation What actually happens when financial advisors learn real tax strategy? In this special student session episode of The Lyo...

Why would someone buy life insurance… when they don’t need it? In this episode of The Lyon Share Podcast , Ed Lyon sits down with Chris Nissen of Trewick Financial Services to break down one of the most misunderstood financial strategies used by wealthy individuals. Spoiler: it’s not about insurance. It’s about tax-free growth, liquidity, and generational wealth . Inside this episode: The real rea...

Is the IRS using AI to audit taxpayers? Will AI replace CPAs and financial professionals? In this Q&A episode of The Lyon Share Podcast , Ed Lyon breaks down the real impact of artificial intelligence on taxes, audits, and the future of professional services. After experimenting with tools like Claude and AI agents, Ed shares firsthand insights into how AI is transforming his business — and wh...

What if you could sell your business… pay little to no tax… AND keep control of the company? In this episode of The Lyon Share Podcast , Ed Lyon sits down with business transition expert Bradley Etheridge to break down one of the most powerful — and least understood — exit strategies available to business owners: the ESOP. An Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) allows owners to: Sell their busine...

What if being a CPA didn’t mean working 14-hour days during tax season? In this episode of The Lyon Share Podcast , Ed Lyon sits down with Shelly Johnson, CPA , to talk about breaking free from the traditional tax preparation grind and building a more fulfilling, strategy-focused practice. Based in Carmel, Indiana, Shelly shares her journey from compliance-heavy work to proactive tax planning — an...

What really happens inside a tax office during tax season? In this episode of The Lyon Share Podcast , Ed Lyon sits down with Shane Phelps, part owner of Hemlock Financial Group, to pull back the curtain on the intense world of tax preparation, financial strategy, and client planning during the busiest time of the year. With over 2,300 tax returns handled annually , Shane shares what it’s like ins...

The new tax law is signed, sealed, delivered — and packed with planning windows. Ed Lyon and guest Martin Eisenstein, JD, CPA unpack the headline changes and zoom in on the sleeper opportunity: expanded Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS) under Section 1202. Translation: for the right industries and structures, owners can position for a partially or even fully tax-free exit, now on shorter holdi...

In this episode of the  Lyon Share Podcast , host  Ed Lyon  welcomes  Randy Sadler , Partner at  CIC Services , for a deep dive into captive insurance. This conversation moves beyond buzzwords and tax hype to clarify what captive insurance actually is — and what it is not. The central theme: Captive insurance is a  risk management strategy first . The tax benefits only work if the risk management...

It’s Q&A time on The Lyon Share Podcast — and no topic is off limits. In this episode, Ed Lyon answers real listener questions about tax reduction, corporate strategy, AI disruption in accounting, retirement tax planning, and how new strategies are discovered. Questions covered include: Do you feel guilty helping clients pay less tax during government deficits? Should you avoid C corporations...

Most business owners think bookkeeping is boring. Laura Cook is here to tell you that thinking could cost you thousands. In this powerful conversation, Ed Lyon sits down with Laura Cook of Excel Empire to break down why bookkeeping is not just administrative work — it’s the foundation of smart tax planning. They cover: Why 9 out of 10 businesses have flawed books How duplicate entries can cost you...

What happens when a small-town tax preparer decides she’s done “just putting numbers in boxes”? In this episode of The Lyon Share Podcast , Ed Lyon sits down with Diane Gardner , enrolled agent, bestselling author, Profit First professional, and nationally recognized tax strategist, to unpack her journey from a two-stoplight town in Idaho to working with seven-figure home service businesses across...

Most CPAs are great at filing tax returns — but terrible at helping business owners pay less . In this episode of The Lyon Share Podcast , Ed Lyon is joined by Mike Jesowshek , CPA, entrepreneur, podcaster, and founder of TaxElm, to break down why traditional accounting models fail business owners — and how proactive tax planning changes everything. Mike shares his unconventional journey from teen...

Healthcare costs in America are out of control — and most business owners think there’s nothing they can do about it. In this episode of The Lyon Share Podcast , Ed Lyon sits down with Anthony McMahon of ClaimLinx to explain why healthcare is fundamentally a tax problem , how the system became so expensive, and how employers can legally restructure benefits to save massive amounts of money — witho...

What started as a conversation about making taxes approachable turned into a revealing deep dive into the current state of the IRS — and why taxpayers, practitioners, and business owners are feeling the fallout. In this special episode of The Lyon Share Podcast , Ed Lyon is joined by tax attorneys and tax communicators Mary Lundstedt and Ashlee Hall for an unfiltered discussion on IRS dysfunction,...

Saving money on taxes is only half the battle. Keeping those savings when the IRS comes knocking is the other half — and that’s where most taxpayers get it wrong. In this episode of The Lyon Share Podcast , Ed Lyon is joined by returning guest Paul Channo , a 26-year-old Enrolled Agent, Certified Real Estate Tax Strategist, and bestselling author of The Ultimate Tax Log . Together, they break down...

In this forward-looking episode of The Lyon Share Podcast , Ed Lyon shifts the conversation away from last-minute tax panic and toward proactive planning for 2026 taxes — long before most people even start thinking about them. With the Big Beautiful Bill now settled, bonus depreciation restored, and tax certainty extended, Ed explains why January 2026 is the real starting line for smart tax planni...

In this eye-opening episode of The Lyon Share Podcast , Ed Lyon puts artificial intelligence to the test — live. With AI chatbots becoming the go-to “experts” for everything from health to investing to taxes, Ed and Neil Haley explore a dangerous assumption many people are making: that AI advice is gospel. They feed real tax questions into multiple large language models — ChatGPT, Claude, Meta AI,...

In this special Listener Q&A episode , Ed Lyon answers real questions submitted by listeners who are trying to make sense of the flood of tax strategies, social media “hacks,” and last-minute promises to lower their tax bill. From the Augusta Rule to short-term rentals, trusts, solar deals, oil and gas, and C-corporation strategies, Ed explains how to tell legitimate tax planning apart from hy...

In this powerful episode, Ed Lyon sits down with wealth advisor J’Neanne Theus — a former Naval Intelligence Officer turned financial strategist — to break down the truth behind financial success: it’s not the math…it’s the mindset. As tax season approaches, people panic about numbers. But Ed and J’Neanne dive deeper into why people struggle with money, how childhood programming shapes our financi...

This week, Ed Lyon sits down with Dallas Richardson , founder of Skytower Council — a former roughneck, construction kid, and now one of the most tax-forward wealth managers in the country serving one niche and one niche only: 👉 Blue-collar business owners who are sitting on millions of dollars… but hate dealing with taxes. Dallas has one of the wildest journeys you’ll ever hear on this show — fr...

Host Ed Lyon welcomes Jinhong Zhang , CPA, entrepreneur, and long-time member of Ed’s Tax Master Network. Jinhong shares his journey from weary auditor to inspired tax strategist — escaping what he calls the “compliance prison” and discovering the joy of planning that actually builds wealth. Together they dive into: Why traditional auditing often adds little real value How proactive tax planning e...

In this eye-opening episode of The Lyon Share Podcast , host Ed Lyon sits down with financial strategist Greg Pearson , creator of the Roth Accelerator Program . Together they reveal how to convert taxable retirement accounts into lifetime, tax-free income streams —without getting crushed by conversion taxes. You’ll discover why “kicking the tax can down the road” can devastate your retirement, ho...