Starting today sports lovers will be glued to the TV for the NCAA men's basketball tournament. But one small financial firm is drawing clients in with its own March Madness attraction.
Adviser Johanna Fox Turner said her office started an NCAA tourney betting pool five years ago at her CPA firm, Johanna Fox CPA Inc. in Mayfield, Ky.
“Since we're in the Bible Belt, we were concerned the first year that we would get complaints that we were promoting gambling,” she said. “But we've only gotten positive response and we get entries from several states.”
The basketball pool is open to Ms. Turner's CPA clients and her financial advisory clients. The CPA went independent as a financial adviser at the end of 2009, launching Milestones Financial Planning LLC.
The pool, which has a $5 entry fee, used to be called Cook The Books. Since the company opened the pool up on Facebook, management decided to change the name to Bracket Busters, said Paul Bell, a vice president for the CPA firm who runs the pool.
“We were afraid someone might get offended,” he said.
Mr. Bell is a big college basketball fan and favors his alma matter Murray State. He's predicting a major upset with No. 13 seeded Murray State beating No. 4 seeded Vanderbilt. Mr. Bell runs the pool.
The leader after the first weekend of games wins 5% of the total pot. The leader after the second weekend wins 5% of the pot. The winner gets 60% of the pool, the second-place finisher gets 20%, and the third place finisher receives a 10% cut.
The bracket betting has been popular with clients and Mr. Bell and Ms. Turner. Typically, they've gotten about 30 entries, and about 90% of those come from clients.
“The only time we see some clients is when they pay their entry fee,” Mr. Bell said.
For her part, Ms. Turner isn't a basketball fan. But she is a supporter of the University of Kentucky, a favorite in the tournament.
In fact, the certified public accountant said she's become quite superstitious about the Wildcats and their chances in the tournament. Case in point: Ms. Turner thinks the team could be jinxed this year because too many sports analysts have picked the Wildcats to win the tournament.
Therefore, Ms. Turner filled out a second bracket predicting Syracuse to win it all.
“I just think it's bad luck for everyone to think that Kentucky will win,” she said.
Her firm's pool has been anything but bad luck, however. “We were an all-women firm for years and didn't do these things,” she said. “When I started hiring guys, they taught us about brackets and it changed everything. We love it.”
Shop Talk is a regular column detailing how financial advisers run their businesses. The column focuses on unusual or innovative ways to attract more clients. Suggestions or tips for Shop Talk? E-mail Lisa Shidler at [email protected] or visit the Shop Talk page at InvestmentNews/shoptalk.
