(CPAlliance) Hats off to those of you who made it through the first part of tax season 2023! Hopefully you’re reading this with your feet up relaxing on a beach somewhere, enjoying time with your family and friends and forgetting all about the heavy load of the last few months—apologies for the reminder; enjoy another sip of that mojito you're drinking.
In last month’s blog, we discussed how to prevent another grueling tax season by adding personal financial planning to your practice. As CPAs, we're trained to be professional skeptics, so I know you must be thinking, “How can I add a whole new line of business to my practice and not increase any staff, but make more and work less? Shawn, you’re crazy!” I understand. It does sound too good to be true. But, if you stick with me, I'll make my case then you can decide for yourself. If you’re coming across us and this article for the first time, I’d highly encourage you to click here to read last month’s blog before continuing.
The firm I’m part of, Chas P. Smith and Associated, CPA’s PA, is a licensed CPA firm in the state of Florida as well as a Registered Investment Advisory Practice doing business as CPS Investment Advisors. Since 1975, we have been a practicing CPA firm and became one of the nation’s first to register as an investment advisory firm. Since then, other CPAs trying to do the same have sought us out for advice and guidance. I say all that not to brag about our firm, but to illustrate how long we’ve been helping CPAs add personal financial planning (PFP) and investment advisory (IA) services to their practices. Over the years we’ve learned many valuable lessons in the art and science of integrating PFP and IA services into a CPA practice, but here are the three most important lessons we have learned along the way.
Lesson #1: Make room for your new line of business
First of all, you need to be willing to scale back your tax practice. To gain the time necessary to grow another business line, you’ll have to take some time away from your current business. Think of it this way: for every $1 of investment advisory revenue you bring in, you will need to reduce your tax book revenue by $1. While this may seem counterintuitive at first, you’ll quickly notice that the revenue generated from the investment advisory side of your business takes much less time to generate than the tax side of the business (see last month’s article for a better breakdown of why this works). So, if you effectively implement scaling, you’ll gain exponentially more time back on your calendar giving you the control needed to help your ideal clients more thoroughly and holistically.
Lesson #2: Be prepared to evaluate your clients
While you may be used to serving a number of clients as a CPA, adding personal financial planning to your practice will allow you to spend more time with fewer clients. This is going to allow you to determine a specific niche or target audience you enjoy working with the most. You can begin asking yourself: What do you enjoy about working with certain clients versus others? What clients do you get excited to see when you have an appointment with them? What do you wish you saw more of in your clients?
In one of our previous blogs, we discuss just how you can begin evaluating who you want to be serving and how to develop your niche. Read more for a step-by-step guide to helping you determine your most ideal client.
Lesson #3: Find your TAMP partner
Lastly, you're going to need a trusted partner, and a Turnkey Asset Management Platform (TAMP) is just the one you need. Your gut reaction that you simply don’t have the time to offer financial planning services is correct—unless you partner with a TAMP. TAMPs are designed to help you operate as your back office by providing the technology, support, and investment expertise you need to best help your clients. Not all TAMPs are the same, so how do you know what to look for? Some only provide the technology, leaving you to do most of the work yourself, while others such as CPAlliance™ provide concierge, white-glove service and support allowing you to focus on planning and building stronger client relationships.
When looking for your partner in your new business endeavor, ask yourself: "Do I want someone who is only going to be there some of the time? Or do I want someone I can lean on, count on, and trust to care for my clients in the same way I do?" If you are answering yes to the second question, a full-service TAMP such as CPAlliance™ will allow you to offer personal financial planning services while enjoying a realistic work-life balance.
If you’d like to learn more about TAMPs, tune in next month as we take a deeper dive into how a TAMP works and how they help CPAs become their clients' most trusted advisors! Better yet, join us and FICPA for a CPA Personal Financial Planning Boot Camp during this year's MEGA Conference in Orlando! This one-day conference will dive into how CPAs can offer tax, retirement, estate, risk management, and investment planning services to their clients, how to get started, and how to begin calling yourself a CPA Financial Planner. Click HERE to receive $100 off your CPA Boot Camp Registration!
