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PERFECT TIMING!
End of Year Tax Break
As your clients and prospects begin looking for end of year tax breaks, this is the perfect time to tell them about the large tax breaks the OnePersonPlus defined benefit plan allows. Unlike defined contribution plans like 401(k)s and profit sharing plans where the contribution is fixed, defined benefit (db) plans allow clients to contribute at a retirement level that they set. The average contribution to OnePersonPlus plans in 2003 was $120,000. The average tax savings on this contribution amount was a whopping $48,000!*
For Small Business Owners
This plan is for self-employed professionals and small business owners who are 45 or older and making a lot of money. They can build retirement wealth faster by growing it tax-deferred for the life of the plan and then roll it into an IRA. You invest the contributions -- which are required each year -- and then manage the assets, easily accumulating more than $1 million for your clients in 5-10 years. It's a win/win!
Learn More
If you'd like to learn the basics of how a db plan works or need a brush up on how to present to clients, check out the web site at
www.OnePersonPlus.com or sign up now for an online demo.
Getting the Word Out
Think about getting the word out in your community. The Chamber of Commerce, Rotary and other clubs appreciate information of use to their members. Give a short presentation at a meeting. At larkspurdata.com
you can search databases of qualified plans and wealthy individuals by profile and geographic area.
CPA Referrals
CPAs are another great source for clients. The stories here give tips on how to connect with these professionals and how those connections work - for your benefit, their benefit and for the benefit of clients.
* Assuming a 40% state and federal tax bracket.
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PROSPECTING TIPS  CPA CONNECT |
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Access CPA Referrals with OnePersonPlus
Self-employed individuals have an average net worth of about $1,258,000. 1 |
16.4 percent of workers over 50 - 5.6 million workers - are
self-employed. And about one in three of those workers made the transition to self-employment after age 50. 2 |
These people use CPAs. If you want to reach the affluent self-employed, connecting with CPAs is the shortest route to success.
Financial advisors talk about networking with CPAs to get these high net worth referrals. But doing it effectively is something else. What do you have to offer them? Why should a CPA make a referral to you?
OnePersonPlus can help you generate these referrals. By introducing it to CPAs and positioning yourself as knowledgeable about setting up a small business defined benefit plan, you achieve two major goals:
1 | Give CPAs Info for Intros
You give CPAs a concrete reason to introduce you to those clients who currently need the plan. |
2 | Help CPAs Impress Clients
OnePersonPlus offers CPAs an easy, hassle-free way to help their clients set up a defined benefit plan and save on taxes. Many CPAs find the process of setting up a plan with a small, local third plan administrator time consuming and unwieldy. The OnePersonPlus process is a solution to these problems. |
How to Find CPAs in Your Area
There are 350,000 CPAs in the US and every state has a CPA association. The www.AICPA.org website has contact information for these groups and other accounting related information. Since these groups are always looking for program content, consider getting on the agenda at a conference or a monthly meeting. You might put an insert in a conference packet or provide an article for your state society's magazine or journal. These small steps could have a big payoff. To find your state CPA society information and a link to their website, click here!
Use OnePersonPlus to Open Doors to CPAs
 | | Send the CPA Connect letter, which you personalize with your letterhead and phone number. |
| | Call to set up a meeting to describe the plan. Prepare by reading the material on our website, www.onepersonplus.com, and call us with any questions. It doesn't take long to learn the essentials. |
| | Give the CPA a copy of the one-page overview, OnePersonPlus Financial Advisor Program Highlights (pdf). |
| | Ask to meet with the CPA and each client who needs to consider the plan. |
| | Additional questions? Call OnePersonPlus at 1-866-269-2706 and a specialist will give you answers over the phone. |
Yes, It's That Easy!
You'll get new high net worth clients and a CPA relationship that will provide you with additional clients over the years.
1 Federal Reserve Board, Survey of Consumer Finances, 2001.
2 AARP study institute paper, March 2004.
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SUCCESS STORY
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How One Advisor
Got a New Client,
Sold a OnePersonPlus DB in
Just a Few Days and
Saved His Client $39,000 in Taxes
Edward Culp, a 20-year CPA, CFP and investment advisor in Oregon, had been talking to a prospect for a long time |
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but to no avail. There just was nothing in particular to drive the relationship forward. The prospect, a computer consultant, was content enough with his present situation to have no incentive to make a change. |
One day, everything did change. Culp, 44, had lunch with the prospect soon after hearing a wholesaler describe the advantages of the small business defined benefit plan. He told the computer consultant about the plan. The rest, as they say, is history.
"Yes... have to do it."
As soon as he heard about it, the client knew he had to open the plan. "Yes," he said, "I need to check with my wife, but we have to do it."
Or, as Culp says, "Everyone says 'yes' once they understand it - it's a no-brainer."
A few telephone conversations later, with some help from the experts at Metavante, the plan was signed, sealed and delivered. As required, the client terminated his existing qualified plan and rolled the assets into an IRA. He opened the new defined benefit plan using fixed annuities and individual equities to fund it.
The Results
Time from introducing the plan to the sale: "Just a few days." |
 | First year contribution to the plan: $125,000 |
| Expected number of years contributions will be made:
6 to 8 years |
| First year taxes saved: $39,000 |
"I'm a CPA,
I'll emphasize tax savings."
Ed Culp plans to use the single-person defined benefit plan to find new clients from September through December this year. That's when high income individuals and small business owners start worrying about paying taxes on their earnings for the year.
How are you going to use the OnePersonPlus defined benefit plan to build your business this year? |
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Learn the Basics
right from your desk
LIVE ONLINE
Every Monday and Wednesday
Click here to sign up or request info
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Key Dates
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December 31 (or end of fiscal year)
Date 2004 plans must be opened |
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To read the PDF files, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader. |
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