I may have been the former president of a large bank, and an attorney for the past 50 years, but I am totally incapable of doing my own investment activity," admits Jim Mulvaney, laughingly. "In fact, I was desperately in need of help."

When Jim Mulvaney, Chairman Emeritus of Chela Financial brought his case to the Clark team, he faced a number of challenges. His executive team did not have the right retirement program. And he faced a serious tax liability with a lump sum distribution.

Clark analyzed 20 different tax planning strategies and focused on four that would yield the greatest reward. First, we put a deferred compensation plan and SERP into place for Chela Financial's executive team, and then we designed a fully integrated executive retirement plan for Mulvaney. Strategies used to mitigate the 50 percent tax bracket he faced:

• Reposition a large contribution from earlier Qualified Plan as tax deduction
• Place 30 percent of Adjusted Gross Income into a Charitable Lead Trust
• Made 97 percent of Mulvaney's contribution fully tax deductible, saving 48 percent
• Further limited tax exposure by investing in an Oil and Gas Limited Partnership
• Completed two 1031 Exchanges on two properties to save 80 percent of tax liability
• Consolidate and protect all other assets.

One intelligent retirement plan can and does yield significant rewards.