User talk:Jcristedi

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CPA/EA/marketing

If you position yourself as a tax expert, or a business financial consultant, and not as an accountant, then you shouldnt have a problem marketing in CT. But if you call yourself an accountant, then you will have the CPA questions to answer.

Most people don't know what an EA is anywhere (but California, where they have done a super job letting the public know that they are tax experts), so we all have to educate the public.

My firm name is Blue Ridge Tax Advisors, Inc. Probably 1 person in 100 even asks whether I am a CPA because I have my degrees and certificates framed and up on the wall. People can tell that I know what I am talking about, so that matters the most.

Good luck Kevinh5

Terminology

Yes, I do corporate and partnership returns. I do not do bookkeeping or accounting, however. I do offer financial services and taxes. Kevinh5

College Aid services

I would stay away from these types of services. They provide little service and only want to sell you their system.

Most people start offering financial planning after they have associated with a reputable broker/dealer.

HD Vest

I have been with Vest since 1993 or 1994 and have been pretty happy for the most part. Vest is kind of like H&R Block in that most tax pros who get into financial planning get their start at Vest. Many move on to other brokers once they learn what they want to know. Every broker dealer has pros and cons. What I like about Vest is a) no quotas or required products - you can sell what is best for your client; b) they work with tax pros - we aren't salesy people, we tend to analyze, and there is no pressure to "sell" from Vest; c) For the most part they are pretty competitive on what they offer and what they pay. Especially for people just starting out. Good luck. Kevinh5 If you want me to have Vest send you some info I'd be glad to. They will even let you attend (for a fee) one of their conferences if you want to kick the tires and look around before joining.

Best way to find per diem work

I am a practioner who has an EA designation and an out of state CPA license. I am considering looking for per diem tax and accounting work with a CPA firm to get additional experience and to seek if I can get reciprocity for my CPA license. What is the best way to go about this?

Jane in CT

Adding Financial Planning to your practice

I have been associated with Vest since Dec 1993, although I will admit that it took a year before I felt comfortable doing much business. About 3 years into it, I had a few clients do IRAs, and I suddenly had $500 a month "extra" income. I was so excited, because that's just about what my car payment was, and I had figured out a way to make enough to pay for a car!!!!!

Looking back now, I laugh at how small my thinking was. I have met many people who have made HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of dollars a year. I am happy with tens of thousands, but my goal is to get up to where the income from financial planning equals the income from tax & consulting. I had a practice in Georgia that I sold 5 years ago, before I moved to North Carolina. My financial planning income was about 40% of the total practice income at that time.

So YES, it can be done. You really should get licensed - they are offering a special right now to pay for your licensing fee. I think the offer is only good through August or September.

Kevinh5

HD Vest

1) While Vest does not have any minimums, obviously if you are not doing enough business to pay for your licenses and continuing education you will not stay around long.

2) Even with only 130 clients, if any retire or change jobs, you would have their 401(k) or 403(b) to roll over. Just one of these can make a very good first year!!! Then if you do a good job you will probably get referrals. I would not wait until I had more tax clients, I would start now.

3) Rolling Gross is how they track commission. There are 2 commission periods a month, 24 in a year. So your Aug 15 2007 commission through your July 31 2008 commission are added together to come up with your cumulative commission for the past year. Then your Aug 15, 2007 drops off once you have your Aug 15, 2008 commission. This is the "rolling" part. The "gross" part is the total commission earned, of which you will get a percent (50% to 87% as your income goes up). Vest gets the other portion for being your broker.

For example, if someone rolls over a $200,000 IRA with you, and you put them in A shares of a mutual fund family, the gross commission would be around $8,000, and you would get half of that if your payout percentage is 50%. How long does it take to earn $4,000 doing taxes? 20 hours? It may only take you 5 hours to make the same thing doing financial planning.

Kevinh5

NATP tax client marketing class

Give me your email and I'll email you a pdf copy. Sorry, I know you asked a few weeks ago - I was away from my office for 10 days and am now catching up on all those things that I have to do from this computer. Kevinh5