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The Business Review

The Power of One Page 6

Retirement Plans forthe savvy Entrepreneur

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July - September 2012

In This Issue....

Utilize your space forincome, traffic and sales

Page 7

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As the year is half way over I feel like time is flying by soquickly but I have to admit that during the summer monthsthe heat can slow me down! Its been an exciting six monthsfor 2012! We are seeing some great things happening hereon the First Coast. Kerry’s Network is so proud of our newmembership website! It took us several months to get it justright and I can’t tell you how pleased we are with the finaloutcome! Be sure to check out the site, we’d love yourfeedback!We are also preparing for our upcoming September Busi-ness Expo and we are excited about the buzz around town.We hope you can join us, if your an out-of-town guest, besure to contact us directly so we can assist you in securinglodging close to the event.

This issue of the Business Review is filled with great adviceabout Sales tips, funding your retirement and so muchmore! If you are interested in becoming a contributingwriter, please send us a sample article to review.

Thanks for taking the time to enjoyour publication and as always weare wishing you continued success!

rom the Editor

Make your business sizzle in the summer heat!

Picturesque settings in the Spanish valleys.

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owner... to financial se-curity? We all hearabout it... we all dreamabout it... but there area LOT of people whowork all of their lives in abusiness that theybought or created andnever achieve any rea-sonable level of finan-cial independence.What is the difference?

The difference, simplyput - is in their point ofview. The business own-ers who ultimatelyachieve financial inde-pendence view theirbusinesses as a lever-age point which allowsthem to magnify theirefforts into their ownpersonal financial suc-cess. This is possible be-cause of the benefitswritten into the tax lawsof our country - some ofwhich can be found inthe provisions of thevarious employer retire-ment plans available tomost business owners.

Most people are famil-iar with the IRA – theIndividual RetirementAccount-

As a business owner, Ireceive tons of invita-tions to seminars, work-shops, Chamber ofCommerce gather-ings, networking meet-ings, and numerousother opportunities to"grow" my business. Itseems as though ev-erywhere I look, thereis some TV show, e-zine, article, web-page, or group I canjoin devoted to help-ing me "grow."But what if your busi-ness is already viable?Maybe it hasn't neces-sarily grown as big asyou may want (doesthat time ever come?)but what if the busi-ness is actually profit-able... you can paythe bills and the tax-man and maybe eventake some home foryourself? What then?

The American smallbusiness has mademore millionaires thanany other source ofwealth in history. Howdo you go from strug-gling startup... to suc-cessful business

that allows contribu-tions of up to $5,000annually for those un-der age 50, and $6,000for those over age 50.However, a number ofemployer sponsoredretirement plans existthat provide powerful,tax-advantaged vehi-cles for a businessowner to fund theirown retirements – andenjoy significant taxsavings and employeeloyalty along the way.The laws governingthe use and flexibilityof these plans continu-ously change, but thecurrent trend is thatthey are becomingmore attractive anduser-friendly as thegovernment seeks toease the nation’s de-pendence upon So-cial Security andincreasingly scarcepension plans.For most small businessowners, the easiest re-tirement plan to estab-lish and understand isthe Simplified Employ-ee Pension Plan – alsoknown as the SEP IRA.

Retirement Plans...By: Jon Castle

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them. For example,many small businessowners mistakenly be-lieve an employer re-tirement plan isdesigned to benefit theemployees at the ex-pense of the owner.Not so! While retire-ment plans can be criti-cal elements inrecruiting and retainingthose employees whocontribute greatly to abusiness’ success – mostretirement plans actual-ly benefit the businessowner far more thanthe employees!

For example, when es-tablishing a SEP IRA, abusiness owner doesnot have to includeunion employees orthose who have beenwith the business forfewer than 3 years. Yet,by structuring her per-sonal compensationcorrectly, a businessowner may receive upto $50,000 tax-deduct-ible dollars into her ownretirement account!

The SEP is available forsole proprietors as wellas partnerships andcorporations. Easy toestablish and inexpen-sive to maintain, theSEP IRA can be a pow-erful tool for a businessowner to fund their re-tirement. An addition-al advantage of theSEP IRA is that it can beestablished retroac-tively – meaning anemployer can wait un-til the tax filing dead-line for the previouscalendar year beforeopening an accountor making any contri-butions. This extra timeallows the businessowner to evaluatetheir tax situation andtally business profitsbefore making a deci-sion on whether tocontribute to a SEP forthat year.

I often find businessowners do not fully un-derstand just how flex-ible employerretirement plans are –and as a result, manycompletely forego thebenefits available to

In many cases, smallbusiness owners whohave only a few em-ployees and canmake hefty contribu-tions to their own ac-counts will save morethan enough tax dol-lars to pay for any re-quired contributionsinto the accounts oftheir employees."Mom and Pop" busi-ness owners with noemployees other thanthemselves might con-sider an Individual401k, which may pro-vide a larger contribu-tion and taxdeduction for eachowner than a SEP IRA.For individuals who areover age 50, the Indi-vidual 401k providesan additional $5,500catch-up contributionallowed, bringing themaximum total contri-bution for a businessowner to $55,500 in2012. Keep in mindthat this contribution istotally tax-deductible.Assuming a tax brack-et of $33% andenough income tomake maximum

Retirement...

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In many cases, small business owners who haveonly a few employees and can make heftycontributions to their own accounts will savemore than enough tax dollars to pay for anyrequired contributions into the accounts oftheir employees.

contributions (your CPA canhelp you figure out the opti-mal amounts), Uncle Sam ispaying $18,315 towardeach business owner's retire-ment - not a bad head starton retirement.

For business owners with em-ployees and who wish to en-courage their employees tosave for their own retire-ments, and plan on keepingemployees longer than 3years, a Safe Harbor 401(k)plan might be the answer.While a 401(k) plan does re-quire additional administra-tion and costs more to installand maintain than a SEP,the additional benefits canbe well worth the hassle.While the contribution limitsremain the same as for anIndividual 401(k), with theSafe Harbor 401(k), the busi-ness owner doesn’t have tocontribute one penny to anemployee’s retirement planuntil the employee choosesto make contributions forthemselves.While contributing up to$55,500 per year certainlysounds exciting, it is a paltrysum compared to the ulti-mate benefit a businessowner can enjoy by estab-lishing and fully funding aretirement plan for their busi-ness. Since retirement plancontributions are not taxedwhen the dollars areearned, and earnings on

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the account are nottaxable until they are withdrawn, an em-ployer retirementplan is one of themost powerful retire-ment funding vehi-cles currentlyavailable for a smallbusiness owner. As-suming an averagerate of return of only8%*, maximum annu-al contributions to aSEP or a 401(k) ac-count could poten-tially grow to over$700,000 within 10years – certainly apowerful step towarda well-deserved re-tirement for a be-draggled

business owner whoretires and gets thatlong-awaited goodnight’s sleep, know-ing their job is finallydone.

* For illustrative purpos-es only, not indicative ofany specific investmentproduct.Investors should beaware that there arerisks inherent in all invest-ments, such as fluctua-tions in investmentprincipal. With any in-vestment vehicle, pastperformance is not aguarantee of future re-sults.Jon Castle, CFP®,ChFC®

WealthGuards.com.

6Picturesque settings nthe Spanish valleys.

What gives someonethe ability to impactour world in a power-ful way? Are therecharacteristics inher-ent in these individu-als? And what pricedo they pay for thispower?

I will attempt to sharewith you, the reader,some of what I con-sider the essential ele-ments of power!

We have all eitherknown someone who

By: Roy Assad

he Power of OneTalways strives to makea difference, or per-haps it is you who haschosen this path — tomake a difference inour homes, schools,companies, and bet-ter yet, our world.

Steve Jobs of AppleComputer said, "Let’smake a dent in theuniverse," andthrough his techno-logical advances, Mr.Jobs has surely madea substantive dent!

In my many years ofworking with peopleand organizations, Ihave discovered sev-eral common -- somemight say uncommon-- characteristics pres-ent in those peoplewho effect change,first in themselves,then their environ-ment, and ultimatelythe universe. I like tocall it the Power ofOne!

Continued on Page 8

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tilize your space!Income, traffic and sales! By: Kerry Heaps

To make it more bene-ficial, have a give-away of your ownduring the event. Thishelps generate interestin your business.

To keep it fresh, youcan change artists ev-ery six months or oncea year. This is impor-tant to you becauseeach artist will have asmall following thatcan bring new facesto your business.

Kerry HeapsKerrysnetwork.com

Excellent sea viewfrom the Costa Del Renta.

Picturesque settings in the Spanish valleys.

UYou could also get amultiple business cardholder (usually holdsten to fifteen cards),place it on top of yourcounter and put upthe same sign, putyour business cardsout for the month,charge them for plac-ing their cards in theholder. This can helpdefray rent or market-ing costs for you.

Another idea to utilizeyour space, your walls!Rent your wall spaceto a local artist or pho-tographer to hangtheir artwork, you canreceive a percentageif anything is sold. Thisworks great for mostrestaurants and barsand there is no reasonit can’t work for yourbusiness as well.

I would recommendhaving the artist hostan open house fortheir artwork the weekthey hang it in yourstore. This way, the art-ists’ clientele will at-tend the open house,generating foot trafficinto your store.

If you have a brick andmortar business or astorefront don’t under-estimate the power ofa little storefrontspace.Sometimes a little ex-tra income, foot trafficor additional sales cankeep your businessfrom being in the redduring a slow month.If you have a store-front, analyze yourspace. Do you haveroom for a table topdisplay or counterspace for businesscards? What aboutyour walls, are theycovered with storebought pictures? Ifyou have this addition-al space, that’s great!This is a way to get alittle extra traffic andmoney each month.If you have room for atable top, set one upwith a table cloth andput a sign on it thatsays “ask how to rentmy space”.You can ask anotherbusiness to have theirproducts and informa-tion in the store for amonth and chargethem rent.

Don’t leave those

walls bare!

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Continued from page 6.

The power of being present.By this, I describe those peo-ple who are so "in the mo-ment" that you can tell theyare present in the mind,body and spirit. You are thefocus of their total attentionand they are not distractedby anything around them.The power of being presentis extremely effective andalways something we re-member. It fulfills the adage,"Where ever you are, be allthere!"The power of sacrifice. It issaid that, "Great achieve-ment is born from great sac-rifice." And we all knownothing in life is free! Evenfreedom has its price, sowhen we begin to under-stand the great privilegeswe have and the cost toothers in order for us to enjoythem, then we begin to un-derstand the meaning andvalue of sacrifice – think ofthe personal toll on thou-sands of people necessaryto set the Eastern Block na-tions free.The power of creativity. An-other wise person said, "Weare all born original; howev-er, many of us die a copy!"That is a sad commentary.We all need to be as cre-ative and different as possi-ble in order to create abetter world, better schoolsor even a better family.Don’t follow a path -- leavea trail.

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The power of enthusi-asm. Enthusiasm iscontagious. Whetherit is a consciouschoice or subcon-scious avoidance, wetend to steer clear ofthose who are alwaysdown on life. We re-spond and are drawnto people who live anexcited life, and weneed to always be"ON," excited aboutfuture opportunities,excited about our re-sponsibility to man-kind and to ourcommunity.

The power of commit-ment. When a friendpromises to love youforever,

or when someonepledges to supportyou in your efforts,you feel gratitude, forthese people are rarecommodities. We arechallenged to be ascommitted, for com-mitment can be felt.Someone once toldme a story of a kami-kaze pilot who wasflying his 59th mission– now there’s some-one who obviouslylacked commitment!

The power of humility.It is said, "Go the extramile -- it is not crowd-ed there." Humble-ness and humility aregreat traits to pos-sess..

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When people become suc-cessful, they sometimes losetheir humility – and that is areal shame. No one likes tofeel as if they don’t matteranymore. Perhaps you’veheard this one before: "It isnice to be important; how-ever, it is more important tobe nice!"

The power of your word. Dur-ing his inaugural address,President John F. Kennedychallenged the Americanpeople: "Ask not what yourcountry can do for you—askwhat you can do for yourcountry." That question stillrings true today, for powerfulwords are an amazingforce! Effective, committedcommunication is a re-quired trait of he truly pow-erful. Clarity in conversationis a must. In fact, a coachfriend of mine wrote aspeech titled "No Guessing."Do your words leave peopleguessing?

The power of the people.Every successful family,church, company and citythat has had the right peo-ple, doing the right things, atthe right time, for the rightreasons. Otherwise, nothingis accomplished. Call it peo-ple power!

It is said "there is nothingmore powerful than the hu-man soul on fire!"

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And that is when ahuman being canmake a difference;when one man orwoman can changethe way things aredone, and create anew way of solving aproblem.

I am not suggestingthat we all go outwith the aim ofchanging the world;however, I am sug-gesting that it is withinus to have the powerto make a differencein our own areas oflife, impacting the

people around us.And that, my friend, isthe "Power of One."

Joseph Epstein wrotea piece titled "The Se-cret Passion," and itsummarizes what Ihave said beautifully:"We do not choose tobe born. We do notchoose our parents.We do not chooseour historical epochor the country of ourbirth or the immedi-ate circumstances ofour upbringing.

"We do not, most ofus, choose to die; nordo we choose thetime or conditions ofour death. But withinall this realm ofchoicelessness,

we do choose howwe shall live; coura-geously or in coward-ice, honorably ordishonorably, withpurpose or adrift. Wedecide what is impor-tant and what is trivialin life.

"We decide thatwhat makes us signifi-cant is either what wedo or what we refuseto do. But no matterhow indifferent theuniverse may be toour choices and de-cisions, these choicesand decisions are

ours to make. We de-cide. We choose.And as we decideand choose, so areour lives formed. Inthe end, forming ourown destiny is whatambition is all about."

No truer words werespoken. You possessthe "power of one."You have only tomake the choice touse it.

Roy Assad

Human Capital Group

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elcome New Members!Welcome to Kerry’s Network, Inc.!

Excellent sea viewfrom the Costa Del Renta.

Picturesque settings in the Spanish valleys.

WBill BewTec-on-Call

Maya VelazquezInMortal Productions

Neil NewmanNeil Newman Accounting

Mary RemsonDanton & Dees Health Insurance

Butch TannerYau Law Firm

Jennifer KellerAdvocare

Learn more aboutMembership Benefits!

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