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Michael Buettner Staff Writer
January 19, 1998

It's not often that you hear someone mention the words "tax code" and "fun" in the same breath. For two Bay Area finance veterans, though, there's enough enjoyment in guiding others through the vicissitudes of tax and estate planning to keep them in the business for a combined total of more than 60 years.

Between them, Bertram E. "Bert" Cutler and Herman W. "Hy" Yurman, principals of Clearwater-based The Pension Professionals, have experience in just about all sectors in the finance industry. However, both men agree that experience alone isn't enough in today's constantly changing tax environment.

"We're out on the edge of what's happening tax-wise," commented Cutler.

"We're working in the more sophisticated areas," agreed Yurman.

What Cutler and Yurman do, specifically, is advice business owners and other high-income individuals on how to structure their finances to take advantage of tax-saving provisions in federal and state law.

"We work primarily with accountants, attorneys, financial planners, agents," Cutler explained. "We make recommendations, and then the clients have to meet with their attorneys or whatever to put the recommendations into effect."

What makes their advice necessary, Cutler suggested, is lawmakers' constant tinkering with tax laws. "The tax code changes every year," he noted. "You have to understand the tax code and know what's changing to know what strategies will work."

This year's changes are especially complicated, Yurman said.

"The new laws on (individual retirement accounts) are about 1,000 pages in the tax code," he pointed out. "There are a lot of changes that are going to affect people who cash in their IRAs."

In addition, he said, "Changes in the capital-gains laws are going to confuse people. You have a whole new set of tax rates for short-term gains, long-term and long-long-term."

Of course, change is nothing new to a man who started out in the finance industry working in insurance in the early 1960s. Compared to those days, Yurman commented, "Insurance isn't insurance anymore."

The biggest difference, he said, is the proliferation of choices. "You used to have fixed life policies and fixed annuities," he recalled. "Now you have fixed, indexed and variable, in life (policies) and in annuities."

For the financial world in general, Yurman said, the biggest changes include the globalization of markets and the huge increase in the number of mutual funds from a couple hundred in the 1960s to more than 8,000 today.

During a career that also included working as a broker with St. Petersburg-based Raymond James & Associates Inc., where he founded an insurance division, Yurman found time to help create the certified financial planner certification program. He co-authored three textbooks used in the program and served on the board of regents of the College of Financial Planning, which administers the designation. In addition, he served as the first chairman of the International Association of Financial Planners.

Like Yurman, Cutler has worked in insurance and as a broker. In addition, he has been a successful entrepreneur, founding two companies -- KayCee Sales, a marketing firm that was later sold to Michigan-based meat packer Thorn Apple Valley Inc., and Career Development, an executive-search firm that he later sold to its employees.

Cutler, too, has taken time out from business to contribute to the community. He has served as a member of the Belleair Beach City Council and takes considerable pride in the fact that taxes there were actually lowered while he chaired the council's finance committee.

Cutler and Yurman joined forces to create Wealth Preservation Strategies about four years ago. Business has grown steadily, Cutler said.

As its name suggests, the company's services are concentrated on helping people hold on to the wealth they've accumulated, by setting up tax-favored and tax-sheltered trusts and retirement accounts.

An area Cutler considers especially important right now is helping clients protect their assets from possible lawsuits.

Cutler also believes many business owners would be well-advised to set up defined contribution plans. "Those do a couple of things for them," he said. "First, the more you can give benefits to your employees, the more apt they are to stay with you, which helps cut your turnover. Second, there's a tax benefit to the employer."

Wealth Preservation Strategies' services are geared toward clients who already have a substantial amount of wealth to preserve. "If a guy doesn't have a tax problem, he doesn't need us," Cutler commented.

However, almost anyone would benefit by knowing more about how tax laws affect their investments, suggested Yurman.

"The main thing people should be aware of is that they can save money through IRAs and 401(k)s and save on income tax at the same time," he said. "They can really accumulate a lot of wealth that way. They should take advantage of it."

Giving that kind of information to people and helping them increase their prosperity is what keeps Yurman on the job at age 77.

"I don't chase girls, I don't have hobbies," he said. "This is my vocation and my avocation. I feel I could be of benefit to people by helping them save on their taxes and accumulate more wealth. It's a challenge and it's fun."

© 1998, Tampa Bay Business Journal, reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.