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Ken Zahn Live Reivew

Posted on June 25, 2008 by in Professional Development

ZahnUpdates to my blog are going to be a bit more sporadic over the next few weeks. Tomorrow I’m headed to Los Angeles to attend Ken Zahn’s live review course for the CFP® Certification Exam.

I’ll be there through Monday the 30th and then spend a short week managing the end of the second quarter quarterly reports. Hopefully the quarterly reports will go as smoothly as they did last quarter.

I imagine lots of my time will be spent studying leading up to the exam on July 18th and 19th. Until then, I imagine I’ll find time to post quick updates on Twitter.

See you on the other side.

Optimize Your Outlook Habits

Posted on June 17, 2008 by in Professional Development

OutlookToday begins a new personal experiment.  As I posted on Twitter, I will attempt to only access my Outlook email just three times throughout the day today.

The impetus is an evolution of my reading over the last few weeks and the discovery of “email bankruptcy” on Tim Ferriss’ blog.  If you have 7-10 minutes available, view the related video and read the New York Times article about the subject.

So I will update periodically on my Outlook habits and determine whether or not the decision to reduce its use increases my productivity through the day.  You might want to give the experiment a try as well.

FPA Increases Membership Dues, Adds Member Segments

Posted on April 7, 2008 by in Professional Development

FPAThe Financial Planning Association (FPA®) Board of Directors recently approved changes to its membership structure, most notable of which is an increase of up to $100 in membership dues. The changes become effective on June 1, 2008.

Currently there are two main categories of FPA membership; Individual members and Institutional members. The Individual member category includes three segments:

  1. Financial Planner Members (CFP® certificants or former IAFP members)
  2. Members (individuals demonstrating a professional interest in financial planning)
  3. Students (individuals enrolled in a CFP Board-registered program)

Dues for the individual members currently range from $145/year for Students to $295/year for Members and Financial Planning Members.

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Study Groups: Not Just for Owners

Posted on February 5, 2008 by in Professional Development

Study GroupLast weekend I wrapped up an invigorating session of no-holds barred conversation. I was invited to attend the first meeting of folks from across the country that belong to a national study group. All together, there are eleven of us that spent 48 hours discussing anything and everything that was on our collective minds.

Are we all business owners? Far from it. The majority of us are employees in firms serving in a variety of capacities including operations, planning, and business management. It was evident that one does not need to be running the firm from an ownership position in order to provide insight and perspective about current trends in the industry. Sure, ownership topics do come up as employees consider ownership opportunities, but we also share ideas on leveraging operations, fair compensation, and work/life balance.

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