My most popular presentation in 2012 has been Transformative Technology You Can Implement Today, and later this month you have a chance to attend the session via live webinar.
On Wednesday, November 28 at 3:00pm Eastern, I’ll be the guest of NAPFA’s Cutting Edge webinar series. Registration is $49 and is open to everyone. NAPFA members are eligible for a reduced registration rate of $19, and registration is free for NAPFA Genesis members.
One of the worthwhile breakout sessions I attended at NAPFA Connections this week was presented by Michael Bryant of Career Transition Services titled Staying Optimistic in Challenging Times.
In this session, Bryant began with the premise that we are all born optimistic. If we weren’t, he said, we would have just stopped evolving long ago and would have stayed happy as cavemen.
According to Bryant, all people have an optimistic part that can be tapped. Consider the following examples he gave to illustrate this point. When asked how many people think they’ll live to be 100, about 10% of an audience will respond affirmatively. In reality, only about 0.2% of the population actually does.
Or what about married couples asked if they might ever become divorced? Almost no one answers in the affirmative.
Bryant’s point is that optimism is something that is a part of all of us, and over time, we can develop skills to learn how to use our optimism to change our behavior and the way we react to external events.
Optimists, according to Bryant, just think differently. They see problems as temporary and externalize negative events (e.g. “It’s not my fault I got stuck in traffic, it just happens.”). For them, difficulties are limited and they think with an abundance mentality.
On the other hand, pessimists internalize many negative events (“I should have known I was going to get stuck in traffic.”) and assume responsibility for events beyond their control (“I’m sorry the markets had a bad week.”). Many times, Bryant says that pessimists play “pain olympics” with others, attempting to appear as the most unlucky, unfortunate individuals in the room.
Bryant provided 15 techniques to session attendees to help identify pessimistic traits, and what to do to refocus negative reactions and turn them into positive ones. If you have the chance to see or hear Bryant at an upcoming conference, circle his session as one to attend so that you, too, can be introduced to his techniques to stay optimistic in challenging times.
NAPFA Practice Management and Investments attendees are treated to techniques to accelerate strategic planning
What is business coach Tracy Beckes’ formula to fast-tracking the success of a financial advisory firm? It’s the clarity of a one page business plan.
But simply coming up with a one page business plan doesn’t guarantee success for any planner. And no, planners can’t cheat by using 6pt. font size or tiny margins on their one page plan! Beckes stressed the importance of following through with three stages that make up the strategic planning process, telling planners to:
To write a plan, Beckes identified the essential components of the one page document: Core Values, Core Purpose, and a Big Hairy Audacious Goal. The definitions of those components drive the business objectives for the future, starting with five year objectives, followed by 12 month objectives, and ending in 90 day objectives.
But as planners know all too well, plans are nothing without execution. So Beckes urged planners to apply the objectives stated in the plan and make the application part of a consistent routine in the firm. She outlined the structure of the inaugural meeting to kick-start the implementation of the business plan, then identified how planners can review and reflect on the plan’s progress in quarterly updates.
As planners leave the conference, Beckes counseled that they select a leadership team in the firm charged with the one page business plan process, complete the plan, schedule and complete quarterly review, and create alignment in the firm based on the plan. With these clear actions in mind, Beckes anticipated that planners will have the tools to create their ideal firm, one that is aligned with their priorities and definition of success.
I’m attending and presenting at NAPFA Practice Management and Investments this week, so when I have time, I’ll post periodic updates of key takeaways from this event.
Advisers always need help with marketing. One consultant offers strategies to increase referrals and new biz development.
Roughly 200 advisers queued up to the Grand Ballroom of the Brooklyn Marriott hotel to hear Richard Henry of Cambridge, MA-based Millennium Consulting Group deliver marketing strategies.
Henry introduced advisers to several marketing strategies that fall under the BOOM acronym: Big Opportunity Outbound Marketing. Here are some highlights from the BOOM program.
Henry told of one adviser who pulled a client’s file and looked through the paperwork for names of the client’s other advisors. She found the client’s CPA and promptly called him, saying “We haven’t met, but we share several clients in common, so I’d like to get introduced over a quick cup of coffee.”
When Henry asked the audience how many would accept the invitation, over 80% of the room raised their hands. So Henry used the goldmine analogy, as most advisers have a goldmine of information about clients’ professionals in their volumes of client paperwork.
Another strategy Henry highlighted is a technique to increase the convenience for clients. At the end of each year, advisers generate documents relevant to the preparation of a client’s tax return. Instead of handing those documents to the client, advisers can connect directly with the client’s CPA and exchange them directly (with the client’s permission, of course).
It’s a convenient service for the client, and the adviser and CPA now have the opportunity to work together and help each other directly.
Henry finished up with the “Would You Recommend?” strategy, where advisers should replace the word “referral” with “recommend” (Henry said referral implies some voodoo sales tactics), and the Golden Ticket Strategy, where clients give advisers a “golden ticket” to interview other professionals on the client’s behalf to find qualified professionals for the clients’ needs.
Advisers can follow Henry’s strategies with very little burden and effort, and the potential for the strategies to result in business growth is fairly appealing.
Bill’s second conference appearance in May will be NAPFA National 2011 held May 18-20 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
He will appear as a panelist for Thursday’s Technology Panel at 11:20AM, featuring Jeffrey Daniher, co-owner of Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory, LLC, Frank Moore, founder of Vintage Financial Services, and moderated by Davis Janowski, technology reporter for InvestmentNews.
The early bird registration deadline is next Wednesday, April 20. If you register now, you’ll save $100 off the regular conference rate.
Click the banner below to view additional conference information.
It seems that the average age of financial planners in the industry moves in lock-step with the welcoming of a new year. Add one to the calendar year, add one to the average age.
Like the NexGen community of the Financial Planning Association, a new networking group introduced today by NAPFA aims to reduce the consistent increase in average age by supporting young financial planners. The new group, called NAPFA Genesis, and is focused on the growth and advancement of students, associates and planners under the age of 33.
“We are hopeful the creation of NAPFA Genesis will help younger planners in the industry learn what they have to do to be successful while making Fee-Only financial planning stronger in the future,” said David Grant, CFP®, founder and volunteer leader of NAPFA Genesis. “Those providing financial planning services are getting older so there is a need to develop a strong presence of competent Fee-Only professionals to help drive the industry forward. NAPFA Genesis will be a resource that has the potential to develop a future generation of Fee-Only planners.”
For more about NAPFA Genesis, click here to read their press release (opens PDF in a new window).
NAPFA Genesis has a Twitter profile called @NAPFAGenesis. Below is their first official tweet (embedded by the Twitter Blackbird Pie plugin for WordPress)
[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/NAPFAGenesis/status/27893383158566913″]
In an open letter to NAPFA members and friends, Diahann Lassus, National Chair of NAPFA, addresses what the organization of fee-only planners is doing in light of recent accusations brought against several former members.
In the letter, Lassus writes:
Rest assured, NAPFA is not ignoring the accusations made against our former members, and we will continue to do what is right for our members, for our industry, and for the consumers we all serve. This commitment has guided us for more than 26 years and will continue to guide us well into the future.
This is a quick follow up to my post Anti-Fraud Measures Your Practice Needs where news of “irregularities” in accounts managed by Matthew Weitzman of AFW Wealth Advisers was highlighted in the New York Times.
It turns out the Mr. Weitzman is facing very serious charges. Here’s a snip from an InvestmentNews article released today:
Earlier today, the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan and the New York office of the FBI said they charged Matthew Weitzman, 43, of Armonk, N.Y., with one count of investment adviser fraud and six counts each of securities fraud and wire fraud.
He also faces charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission over the alleged theft of client funds.
Click here to view the full story at InvestmentNews.
It’s unfortunate to see anyone take advantage of clients, and it’s even worse when the individual in this case once had an affiliation with NAPFA, a group of respected fee-only financial advisers.
So again, take this opportunity to communicate to your clients about the processes and procedures you have in place to prevent fraud and protect your clients’ interests.
A story from New York Times personal finance columnist Ron Lieber quickly traveled through the Twitter universe and landed in my inbox. Lieber is a client of NAPFA-member AFW Wealth Advisors and was informed by the firm that one of their advisers, Matthew Weitzman, is under investigation for “certain irregularities in a limited number of client accounts.”
Also, see coverage from Roger at The Passionate Planner and Andrew Gluck at Advisor Blog Central.
Let’s face it. Your clients may very likely see this article. Once they do, they’re going to ask you what you are doing to protect their accounts from this kind of fraud.
How Advisers Can Steal Funds
FPPad readers, go get a free copy of Acronis True Image 10 Personal Edition today!
Update 2/3/09: The website is back online. Try registering again.
I found out about this deal from LifeHacker.com where they have this to say about the disk image backup solution:
True Image does offer backup archive validation, a recovery disk creator, a startup interrupter that can re-apply a backup image, and other tools for those shaking their fists at the Windows gods.
See the full LifeHacker.com write-up by clicking here. Advisers need to think about full disk imaging solutions in disaster recovery and business continuity plans. When (not if) your main server’s hard drive fails, what will you do? Dig up yesterday’s backup tape and run a full restore? How long will that take?
