Without careful planning you could lose it all.  This is the
time of year when you have a good idea of your income for the
year and may want to look at expansion for next year. That can
be a risky decision but can also provide opportunity to meet
your long-range goals. Expansion risk is a difficult risk to
assess because there are many unknowns.  How many times do we
make a decision not knowing that it's decreasing our future
wealth? Based on my experience, it happens more often than we
think.  One tool that has been very helpful for our clients is a
program that determines net present value and the internal rate
of return for any investment. It's on an Excel spreadsheet and
easy to use.  Net present value is today's value of future
income. If it's positive, the project is feasible, and the day
you make the deal you increase your future wealth by the amount
of the net present value. If it's negative and you make the
deal, you decrease your future wealth by that amount. Modified
internal rate of return is the