# Creary_2026-08-22_M1
# Creary — M1 briefing room · no paper Wednesday · Saturday is the tax partner

First sale call in 90 days · ~2 hours vs 30-min slot · two more hours booked
Overall M1: 8/10
Paper Wednesday: NO
Paper Saturday: CONDITIONAL — Jennifer on camera, returns in, tax partner in the room, he teaches it back

Closed deals in the book fund solar/Roth first, then insurance from tax-clean dollars. Insurance-first failed in that corpus. Wednesday is illustration only because he scored IUL 9–10. Do not take paper. Saturday runs the eleven moves.

## Household
- Chris: Chris Creary, 53. Arlington Heights, IL (O’Hare). CPQ software 18 years (Oracle 8). Startup → ServiceNow. QSBS five-year clock ends next month. Federal exclusion; Illinois 4.95%. Chase 24 years. Existing advisor in the picture. Flying 20 years; commercial then multi; wants fractional/NetJets, 7 on / 7 off, $60–120k. Jennifer already approved the schedule.
- Jennifer: Jennifer Zaharski, 59. Career high-school psychologist, pension, retired begrudgingly, long-term sub, yoga, ukulele. She asks the good questions after he vets. Not on M1 Zoom. Psychologist — she will not inherit a husband’s two-hour high. Pages transfer; stories don’t.
- Zach: Zach Creary, 19. UW–Madison biomedical engineering. Careful, cerebral, chess, Calc 3, robotics strategy. Design constraint: he is set so a bad chapter never puts him in a bind.
- Place: House and lot they love. Echo Lake (Tahoe) — rustic, no electricity, dad’s ashes. Cabin is a maybe, not the close.

## Decision
Intellect 8.5/10. Internal first, then Jennifer. Spreadsheets over stories. “If it’s legal, it’s legal.”
Gates:
1. He gathers (sites, statutes, spreadsheets, names the product so he can study it).
2. He builds a model (durability of the code, exit hatch, Illinois tax to the penny).
3. Jennifer interrogates after he vets.
4. A specialist verifies (CPA / tax partner / existing advisor).
5. They commit to a step, not a stack.
Meetings before a trigger: 3–4 (M1 intake · M2 evidence · M3 tax partner · Jennifer + CPA).

## Scores (his mouth + in-room)
- Trust: 9/10 — 2 hours, 70–80% his airtime, extra life story, smile/lean-in, two more meetings, unpaid STR + commission honesty
- 0% Roth: 9/10 — His mouth, twice. Priority #1 — limited window.
- IUL (min non-MEC): 9.5/10 — His mouth, twice. 9 to 10.
- BlackRock annuity: 10/10 — His mouth, twice.
- Long-term care: 9/10 — His mouth, twice. Sister looking at a product.
- Property-tax rescue philanthropy: 9/10 — His mouth.
- Political communications forum: 9/10 — His mouth — novel idea.
- Jennifer pension tax-free idea: 10/10 — Interest 10. Number unproven until the document is on the table.
- Anticipation: 8/10 — Named IUL so he could talk next time. Saturday on the calendar.
- Belief you can deliver: 7.5/10 — High on you. Still: if it’s legal, I’ll check the site, I need spreadsheets.
- Intensity: 8/10 — Length + lean-in + scoring the menu.
- Connectedness: 8/10 — Son, wife, Echo Lake, flying, dad’s ashes.
- Conversational depth: 9/10 — Far past a 30-minute fact finder.
- Rapport with Chris: 9/10 — His chair time.
- Rapport transfer to Jennifer: 6.5/10 — She was not there.
- Move on one or more ideas (90 days): 8/10 — If Saturday is the eleven moves.
- IUL checking-account story — landed on him: 7/10 — He named it, asked exit, asked the dentist structure.
- Same story — Jennifer / CPA: 3/10 — They will break “interest on every dollar that ever flowed through.” Use the illustration.
- One swear (Chase): 6/10 — Exclamation with him. 3 if Jennifer hears it. Don’t Saturday.
- Unpaid STR / foreign apartments: 7/10 — Good faith. 5 for Saturday relevance. Don’t reopen unless they ask.

## Path order
| Path | Fit | Interest | Choose | When | Never say |
|------|-----|----------|--------|------|-----------|
| A. Cheap-bracket / 0% Roth | 9 | 9 | 8 | Saturday with tax partner. Name it first Wednesday. | “0% guaranteed.” Google/government. |
| B. Convert more, pay cash / QSBS | 6 | — | 4 | After A | — |
| C. Credits to offset tax | 7 | 9 | 6 | Saturday only, once returns exist. C = 0 until tax capacity is on a page. | “IRS sends half the IRA.” |
| D. BlackRock / FIA | 8 | 10 | 8 | Illustrate Wednesday. No app until tax-clean dollars (your line). | App on taxable money. |
| E. IUL + LTC rider | 8 | 9.5 | 8 | Wednesday illustration + LTC comparison. | 50% years. Can’t lose. Bank 900%. Dentist $600k. “This is the Roth.” |
| F. Wait / Jennifer / CPA / nothing | 8 | — | 7 | Always on the page until she’s on Zoom. | — |

## Untied
- Jennifer not in the room (done 2/10) — She vets. No spouse, no paper. Script: Wednesday only works if she’s on camera.
- No statements / returns (done 1/10) — Cannot do Roth math, IRMAA, or credit capacity. Script: Same-day email. No docs → Saturday is another intake.
- QSBS / ServiceNow next month (done 3/10) — Live tax event. Illinois 4.95%. More real than 0% theater. Script: Map shares: basis, holding period, IL tax, sell / gift / hold. Month-one money.
- Existing advisor (done 2/10) — You named yourself “not a threat.” He still has one. Script: Second opinion, specialist, or replacement? Jennifer should hear that.
- How 0% Roth actually works (done 2/10) — He already hit the brakes. Script: Tax partner Saturday. You do not re-pitch it Wednesday.
- IUL liquidity / 50% years / bank-ledger (done 2/10) — He will Google this. Script: Illustration only. No 50%. No can’t-lose. No Chase 900%.
- LTC standalone vs rider (done 4/10) — He ranked LTC #2 because of his sister. You folded it into IUL. Script: Show both. Let him point.
- Annuity while still taxable (done 6/10) — You already said you won’t take that app. Script: Keep that sentence forever.
- CPA (done 3/10) — He asked if you’re CPAs. Script: Name the person. Jennifer invited.
- IRA / income / conversion capacity (done 0/10) — Middle of the tape truncated. Credits stay zero until numbers. Script: Get the stack before Saturday.
- Have they filed 2025? (done 0/10) — The gate on every close in the book. Never asked. Script: First financial question Wednesday or Saturday.

## Homework
- [ ] IRA / 401(k) / brokerage, including ServiceNow / QSBS
- [ ] Last two federal and Illinois returns
- [ ] SS / Jennifer’s pension document
- [ ] Jennifer on Wednesday Zoom
- [ ] CPA name
- [ ] Existing life / annuity / LTC (sister’s quote if they’ll share)
- [ ] One-page spreadsheet you promised
- [ ] 2025 return: filed, unsigned, or extended

## Do not reopen
- Chess trophies and breakup origin
- Google / government / “Roth conversion champion”
- joinaqal.com and the 32-intelligence homework
- 50% IUL years, four of the last five
- Bank 4 million × 9 / 900% lending lecture
- Dentist $600k first call
- “You can’t lose”
- “IRS 20% bonus” as a spoken number
- Coaching Jennifer’s career
- “Never run out of money” as a guarantee in email or on the call

## Wednesday
Open: Chris, you gave this two hours. You scored Roth a 9, long-term care a 9, IUL a 9 or 10, BlackRock a 10, and you put them in that order because Roth has a clock. Jennifer vets. Today is the proof on paper. We don’t sign. Saturday is the tax partner. Is she with us?

- 0–5: Trust. His scores. His order. No paper.
- 5–15: Filed 2025? QSBS remainder? Existing advisor? Docs? Jennifer hold.
- 15–35: LTC standalone vs IUL rider (sister). One page. Costs. Rate increases. Exit year.
- 35–45: IUL illustration only — max vs obligated, surrender, two lives. No 50%. No Chase.
- 45–50: BlackRock as a later sleeve. Repeat: we will not fund it with taxable money.
- 50–55: Saturday agenda. Pretend-we’re-liars packet. Confirm documents.
- 55–60: Stop. Ask Jennifer if she has a question you didn’t allow.

Stalls:
- That’s a Saturday number. I won’t fake it on Wednesday.
- If Jennifer hasn’t seen it, it isn’t a decision.
- Show me on the illustration where I was wrong.
- You can keep your current advisor. This can be a specialist lane.
- If the spreadsheet is ugly, we stop. That’s a successful meeting.

Premium: Do not ask for 30–60% of net worth. Income is stepping down to $60–120k. Illustrate two numbers, split two lives if both insurable: a sleep-at-night premium, and carrier max. Let the illustration be the parent figure he asked for.

## Email
Subject: Chris — Wednesday is pages, Saturday is the tax partner

Chris —

Thank you for two hours. The slot was thirty minutes. You stayed. You did most of the talking. That is the only first meeting that actually works.

I have Zach at Madison, careful and cerebral, and the sentence about making sure he is set so a bad chapter in the economy never puts him in a bind. I have Jennifer — the one with the stable career and the pension who asks the better questions after you vet — and the fear of ever being a burden. Those are the design constraints. They are not slogans. We will build around them.

You scored Roth a 9 because the window is finite, long-term care a 9 because of your sister, IUL a 9 or 10, BlackRock a 10. I am treating that as the menu. Wednesday (11 a.m. Central) is evidence on paper: long-term care next to an IUL rider, and why we still will not put taxable money into an annuity. No application. Please have Jennifer on the Zoom. She should not have to hear this secondhand.

Saturday is the tax partner and the Roth math on your return. If “0%” is real for you, it will be real on a page, with your numbers, and you can take it to a CPA as if we were all liars. That is the point.

If you can send statements, the last two federal and Illinois returns, and whether 2025 is filed or still sitting unsigned, Saturday becomes a working session instead of another interview.

If the plane and Arkansas blow up Wednesday, reply with a better hour. Grateful for the time.

— Sam

## Eleven moves (Saturday)
### Move 1 — Open with a question, not a pitch
M1: partial · 0–2
The moment they become students they stop being targets. Flying was the right open on M1; then stories ate it.

> Jennifer, Chris gave me two hours on Zach, on your pension, on a sister and long-term care, and on a Roth window he doesn’t want to miss. Today is not insurance. Today is tax. Chris, do you know the difference between a deduction and a credit?

### Move 2 — You’re not investing in the solar company — you’re investing in the IRS
M1: missed · 5–8
Product definition. M1 used Google/government — the opposite of this move. Deploy before the risk objection.

> You are not investing in a solar company. You are purchasing credits and depreciation the IRS already put in the code. If a tornado took a panel farm, you are not in that farm.

### Move 3 — Retroactive recovery, quantified early
M1: missed · 2–5
Converts spending into recovering. Only with their 23/24/25 numbers. Do not invent $100k.

> If the return allows: here is what 23 and 24 already paid that can still move. That isn’t new money. It’s who you pay.

### Move 4 — Kill the disqualifier before they raise it
M1: partial · 12–15
Pre-emption reads as expertise. His disqualifiers: W-2 becoming pilot, Illinois, QSBS next month.

> You’re leaving software for fractional flying. This is not a W-2-only toy. QSBS next month is a separate Illinois 4.95% event. We will not mash it into this.

### Move 5 — The teach-back
M1: missed · 18–22
Mandatory. Brandt would have died silently on a wrong split. Chris will nod and still have it wrong.

> Jennifer, would you try it in your words? Chris, you fix only what she misses. If they miss “IRS not the farm” or “checking first,” correct gently.

### Move 6 — Pretend that we’re all liars
M1: missed · 22–25
Highest-trust move in the closed-deal corpus. Inviting hostile verification is the confidence signal.

> Take this packet to your CPA as if we were all liars. If you don’t like it, an attorney will read it for a few hundred dollars. We are not asking for a decision in this hour.

### Move 7 — Spouse rule, enforced by us
M1: missed · whole call
No ask of any kind unless every decision-maker is on the call. Your $2M annuity story is the mirror image of this move.

> If Jennifer isn’t here: then we book the hour she can do. Chris already told me she asks the questions that matter. No letter of intent. No application.

### Move 8 — How you get paid, before they ask
M1: partial · 25–28
You offered the schedule. Close it with the public-adjuster metaphor and the 5%.

> On credits I am paid 5% of the credit amount, by the company, if — and only if — you receive the credits. Public adjuster: we don’t get paid if you don’t. I will put that in writing. Insurance, if we ever do it, is a separate commission I already offered to show you.

### Move 9 — Honest disqualification
M1: partial · 28–32
They told Judy what not to buy. That is why she bought. Pick one that is true.

> If 2025 is already filed and signed, we wait or we do a smaller year. If tax capacity is thin, I would not do the full 50% of the IRA. Short-term rentals: 100 hours — I would not make a pilot on 7/7 do that unless you want the business.

### Move 10 — Real scarcity with a real number and a timestamp
M1: missed · 40–45
Only if you have leftover allocation today. Chris will smell fake scarcity.

> As of [time] there is $X left for 2026. I’m not inventing a line. If you don’t have it, skip.

### Move 11 — Have you filed your 2025 return?
M1: missed · 32–35
The largest unforced error in the book. All three closes were unfiled or extended. Fifty-five files never asked.

> Have you filed or signed 2025? If unfiled: don’t sign it until we know. If filed: slower path. Say so. Do not fake 0% in one year.


## 10% / 4X
Before we talk about numbers, let me tell you how people actually pay for this now, because it changed and it matters.

You put up ten percent. On your account that’s about [X]. The solar company puts up the other four dollars for every one of yours — that’s about [4X]. No collateral. No credit check. No personal guarantee. And while their money is out there, they pay you one percent a month.

Now — who has ever lent you money without checking your credit? And then paid you for the privilege?

[pause]

Nobody. They’re not doing it out of kindness. They’re doing it because they know exactly what the IRS sends back and exactly when. They are taking four times the risk you are. You’re not being asked to believe me. You’re being asked to notice who’s putting up the money.

Pilot frame: it’s a down payment, not a squadron of cash leaving the household.

Mechanic: Money hits checking first. Then a 60-day window to split: Roth and credits. If it goes straight to Roth, the credit play dies. Draw it. Then both teach it back.

## Saturday spine
- 0–2 · Move 1 — Re-entry. Credit vs deduction question.
- 2–5 · Move 3 — Retroactive recovery only if the return allows.
- 5–8 · Move 2 — IRS, not the farm.
- 8–12 · Move 2 — 10%/4X. Who holds the risk.
- 12–15 · Move 4 — Pilot / QSBS / Illinois pre-empt.
- 15–18 · Move 5 — Checking first, 60-day window. Draw it.
- 18–22 · Move 5 — Teach-back. Jennifer first.
- 22–25 · Move 6 — Pretend we’re liars.
- 25–28 · Move 8 — 5% and the public adjuster.
- 28–32 · Move 9 — Honest disqualify of one thing.
- 32–35 · Move 11 — Filed 2025?
- 35–40 · Move 4 — Jennifer’s pension as a question, not a $10,400 slogan.
- 40–45 · Move 10 — Real allocation number or skip.
- 45–50 · Move 7 — LOI = 30-day seat hold, free exit — only after teach-back, only if she is there.
- 50–55 · Move 7 — No ask if Jennifer isn’t there.
- 55–60 · Move 5 — What did we get wrong? Stop.

## Unasked questions
1. (10/10) Have you filed or signed 2025? Extension? — First five minutes Saturday. Also Wednesday if it fits.
2. (10/10) Jennifer, what would have to be true? — Wednesday if she’s there. Don’t ask him to guess.
3. (9/10) ServiceNow / QSBS remainder — sell, hold, or gift in 90 days? — Wednesday numbers
4. (9/10) IRA / 401(k) / brokerage totals and cost basis — Before Saturday
5. (9/10) Jennifer’s pension: document, COLA, survivor, taxability — Before you repeat $10,400
6. (8/10) Existing advisor: specialist lane or replace? — Wednesday
7. (8/10) In-force life / LTC / annuity — Wednesday
8. (8/10) Who is the CPA and have they ever done credits? — Saturday
9. (7/10) IRMAA / Medicare (Jennifer is 59) — Saturday
10. (7/10) Zach as beneficiary — Roth stretch vs life — Later
11. (5/10) Echo Lake cabin — cash or dream? — Only if he brings it

## Likelihood (clean Saturday, Jennifer + returns + tax partner)
- Saturday happens: 90–95%
- Jennifer engages (if she is actually on the Zoom): 80–85%
- They stay in process after a clean Saturday: 90%
- Some Roth path this year if the return supports it: 70–80%
- Credit / 10% structure (CPA, months, 5%): 55–65%
- IUL later, from tax-clean / surplus cash: 55–65%
- BlackRock after Roth-clean dollars: 60–70%
- Full stack in ~90 days: 40–50%
- Any wet signature without Jennifer: 0
- Application Wednesday: Don’t take it

## Body language (Sam’s report — video not watched)
- Smiling the whole time: Approach, not threat. Matches trust 9.
- Shifting + leaning forward: Engagement. Peaks likely at Roth “if it’s legal,” LTC/sister, naming IUL, philanthropy, pension 10.
- Two hours in the chair: Highest-cost signal he can send. Protect it Wednesday: no AQAL, no 50% years.
- Jennifer off-camera: The only body that matters for a signature is missing.
- Hard stop / Arkansas plane: He will leave on time next time. 60 minutes. You under 40% airtime.
Zoom share hit a login wall. Body language is Sam’s in-room report, not a watched file.

## What worked
- Flying question first — he opened.
- “Today I don’t want to talk about products” — he stayed two hours.
- Unpaid STR + commission schedule + “I put you first” — trust 9.
- Letting him rank the menu — Roth 1, LTC 2, BlackRock 3. Use that order even if Wednesday is IUL paper.
- Refusing out loud to take a taxable annuity app.
- Booking Saturday with the tax partner.

## What would have been better
- Jennifer on the Zoom or a hard hold.
- Have you filed 2025?
- Teach-back on 0% before “you can’t do better than 0%.”
- One illustration, not the bank-900% lecture.
- No AQAL, no chess champion, no Google.
- The unasked list.

## Prohibitions
- Never pivot to home equity or IUL within five minutes of a peak-interest moment.
- Never contradict a client’s accountant unless certain — and verify first.
- Never claim a fact about a carrier, a CEO, or a tax rule that is not known cold.
- Never answer a question the prospect did not ask when they have just stated their objective.
- Never take a signature from one spouse.
- Never write “never run out of money” as a promise.