Industry Insightfuls Share Solutions to the Greatest Challenges Facing Financial Advisors Today

On September 16, 2011 in San Diego, California, several leading advisors and industry thought leaders took the mic at this year's FPA Twitter Live session. This year, the focus was the biggest challenge facing advisors as we round the corner and head into 2012 and, more importantly, how to overcome it -- according to these insightful contributors.

This is the third year FPA has asked me to organize and record Twitter Live. You can see the video clips from the 2011 conference as well as 2010 and 2009, below. 

 
I hope you'll watch each of the 2 minute videos. Do post your comments on this blog if you'd like to add to the conversation!

Marie Swift

 

More Video Clips on the Way!

Here are the first few video clips from FPA Twitter Live in San Diego (September 16, 2011).

I'll be posting the rest of the video clips, one per day, over the coming week.

To get automatic notices of new postings:

1.  Follow me on http://www.Twitter.com/MarieSwift
2.  Connect on LinkedIn or FaceBook
3.  Follow this blog (see right hand widget area and it should be obvious how to do that)

Coming soon - insights from:

- Bob Veres, Inside Information

Posted below, are insights from:

- Sheryl Garrett - Garrett Planning Network
- Ron Lieber - The New York Times
- John Brackett - BAR Financial
- Deborah Fox - Fox Financial Planning Network
- Kevin Condon - MyFinancialAdvice.com
- Dave Hubbard - Exemplar Financial Network
- Geoff Davey - FinaMetrica
- Cameron Thornton - The Heritage Institute
- Ed Jacboson - Appreciative Inquiry / Ed Jacobson & Associates
- Darryl Celkupa - Tamarac, Inc.
- Michael Kay - Financial Focus / Money Quotient

Sheryl Garrett Says Planners Wise to Offer Real Time Planning, Debt & Credit Counseling

Sheryl Garrett, CFP, AIF, founder of Garrett Planning Network, addressed the audience while at the FPA National Conference in San Diego, on September 16, 2011. One of the things that Garrett espouses is real time planning -- it's a way for planners to deliver information and advice that provides immediate gratification and helps many clients get what they need, right now. Garrett offers a couple other gems in her 2.5 minute video spotlight.

Watch this 2.5 minute video clip now.

Michael Kay tells Financial Planners at FPA National Conference: Time to Build a Better Business, Band Together is Now!

Michael Kay, CFP, founder and president of Financial Focus, LLC, an RIA that provides  a "tuck in" opportunity for smaller and emerging independent advisors who want to gain efficiencies and scale their  practices, says financial advisors need to band together, provide more holistic services and put the clients' best interests first. The president of the Advisory Board for Money Quotient, one of the industry's leading providers of financial life planning tools and training, Kay delivered his comments while at the FPA National Conference in San Diego, on September 16, 2011.

Watch this 2 minute video clip now.

Darryl Celkupa talks about succession planning and maximizing value in the financial advisory business

Darryl Celkupa, vice president of business development with Tamarac, Inc., a company that provides financial advisors with a web-based Investment Strategy Management platform, says financial advisors who do not institutionalize their businesses will be at a huge disadvantage when it's time to transition out of the business. Celkupa delivered his comments while at the FPA National Conference in San Diego, on September 16, 2011.

Hear his words of caution and advice in this 2 minute video clip.

 

Ed Jacobson Says Planners Must Practice Self-Care in the Days Ahead

At the FPA National Conference in San Diego, on September 16, 2011, Ed Jacobson, PhD,  author of Appreciative Moments: Stories and Practices for Living and Working Appreciatively and a psychologist, business coach, consultant and public speaker who works with financial planners and investment managers, said that financial professionals must put their own oxygen masks on first -- before helping other people during touch times.

Hear Dr. Jacobson's advice in this 2 minute video about improving your personal resilience.

Cameron Thornton Says Client Retention is Critical, Shares Thoughts on How to Build Relationships Across Multi-Generations

Cameron Thornton, partner at Navigator Legacy Partners, LLC, a firm that works on behalf of families, individuals and non-profit organizations (often in collaboration with their other advisors) to help the clients achieve what matters most for themselves and their families now, and for generations to follow, talked about client retention and building relationships across multiple generations while at the FPA National Conference in San Diego, on September 16, 2011.

See what he has to say in this 2 minute video clip.

Stephanie Bogan Talks About Building Value in Your Financial Advisory Business

Stephanie Bogan, CEO of Quantuvis Consulting, Inc., a national consulting firm that specializes in business consulting to financial advisors and institutions, talked about maximizing profitability and building enterprise value  while at the FPA National Conference in San Diego, on September 16, 2011.

See what she has to say in this 2 minute video clip.

Dave Hubbard says independent financial advisors must band together if they are to compete effectively with the big name brokerage firms and banks over the coming years

David Hubbard, president of Exemplar Financial Network, a network of over 100 independent advisory firms, and one of the top 10 Regional Directors with Financial Network Investment Corporation, one of the nation's largest independent broker/dealers, says that bigger firms will put smaller firms out of business unless the smaller firms find a way to band together and gain scale. Hear what he had to say while at the FPA National Conference in San Diego, on September 16, 2011.

  Unite or die? Watch this 2 minute video clip now.

 

Kevin Condon says financial advisors must embrace social media, real time planning to stay relevant in today's virtual world

Kevin Condon, PhD, CFP, EVP of MyFinancialAdvice.com, an online financial advice service powered by real advisors in real time for real people, said at the FPA National Conference in San Diego, on September 16, 2011, that financial advisors should embrace social media and real time planner - or risk becoming obsolete. The company is rolling out a new social media training solution to help advisors do just that.

Hear Kevin's insights this 1.5 minute video clip.

 

 

Deborah Fox says financial advisors must systemize their practices now

At the FPA National Conference in San Diego, on September 16, 2011, Deborah Fox, CFP, founder of Fox Financial Planning Network, a training and empowerment company that helps planners build more efficient and profitable businesses, said that financial advisors run the risk of going out of business if they continue to do business they way they always have. Clients are fearful. We are only part way through the recession. Workflows and systems are key.

Hear what Deborah says in this 2 minute video about surviving and thriving in uncertain times.

Geoff Davey says regulators turning an eye toward risk tolerance and suitability of investments

Geoff Davey, co-founder of Finametrica, an international company that offers a cloud-based psychometric risk tolerance assessment tool to financial advisors and savvy investors, sounded the alarm for financial advisors while at the FPA National Conference in San Diego, on September 16, 2011: regulators will be turning an eye toward client's investments and suitability regarding risk tolerance.

Hear his words of caution and advice in this 2 minute video clip.

Ron Lieber talks about the greatest challenge facing middle-market consumers today at FPA Experience 2011

While at the FPA National Conference in San Diego, on September 16, 2011, New York Times columnist and Bucks Blog author Ron Lieber shared his thoughts about the biggest challenge, as he sees it, facing middle-market consumers today: finding independent, objective financial planning and advice -- with terms they can live with and service they can afford.

Hear the challenge he issues to the financial planning community in this 2 minute video clip.

Select Advisors and Industry Thought Leaders Provide Advice on Articulating Your Value at FPA Denver 2010

On October 11, 2010 in Denver, Colorado, several leading advisors and industry thought leaders took the mic at this year's FPA Twitter Live session. This year, the focus was on how advisors can best articulate their value and position themselves with current and prospective clients.

I was pleased to serve as moderator in both 2009 and 2010.  We recorded their comments and you can view the videos below.

I'm sure you'll learn something new and/or become inspired by what you hear - I know I was!

Marie Swift

Marie Swift, Impact Communications - Welcome

Welcome to Twitter Live! with the Industry Thought Leaders. My name is Marie Swift. I am president and CEO of Impact Communications, a full-service marketing and PR firm for independent advisors and the institutions that serve them.

We are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the financial planning profession. My how things have changed in just the past 20 years that I have been a part of the industry. I remember doing business before their was anything called “email” or “the internet.”

Today Twitter is all the rage. And since FPA has always been progressive, we decided to try something new this year – we’ll be combining the best of “high tech” with “high touch” here at Twitter Live.

20 Industry Thought Leaders are here in the audience. They will each come to the microphone and in 2 minutes max share the #1 thing that, from their perspective, advisors should be thinking about – or doing – as we round the corner into 2010 and beyond. I will ring this small chime 3 times to indicate that there are only 30 seconds left in the allotted time slot. I will ring the chime once when time is up. And I will be forced to use this gong if the Thought Leader just won’t stop – that’s doubtful, but you just never know when passionate people start speaking.

We have set up a Twitter page so you can sign up to follow all the great ideas that today’s Thought Leaders will share – and the other great information that FPA wants to share with you. Just go to http://www.twitter.com and sign up for a free account. Then follow “fpassociation.” So, the Twitter feeds will be found at http://www.twitter.com/fpAssociation.

We will also be video taping today’s contributions. You can find the video blog entries at http://www.fpatwitterlive.blogspot.com.

I hope you will take notes, follow the blog and twitter feeds, retweet the things that interest you and leave comments on the blog. Let’s start a dialog online – and include the other people who could not for some reason be here with us live.

In addition, if you want to speak further with the Thought Leaders here today, come by Booth #651. There you will find many of the 20 people who will be speaking here today.

To follow me on Twitter: @marieswift (http://www.twitter.com/marieswift) To follow my blog: www.marie-swift.blogspot.com.

Thanks for being here. Let’s get started!

Liz Weston, Journalist LA Times / Author "Your Credit Score"

I’m Liz Pulliam Weston, the most-read personal finance columnist on the Internet and author of the book, Your Credit Score, and I believe credit will be the big story for 2010.

We’ve already seen a revolution in the credit card industry, with issuers doubling or tripling rates, lowering credit limits and shuttering accounts even for customers with great credit scores and perfect payment histories.

This is pushing many over the financial edge into bankruptcy, and threatening the credit scores of others by reducing their available credit. Those who still have good credit need to know they have the power to fight back against these changes, or take their business elsewhere, since customers with credit scores of 740 and above are still in high demand.

If the economy continues to shed more jobs than it creates, defaults will remain high and issuers cautious about extending credit to anyone with less-than-exceptional scores. Expect truly good balance transfer offers to get scarce and rewards deals to get less appealing for all but the sterling-credit class.

New rules mean people under 21 will have a much tougher time getting a credit card starting in February—but they will still need good credit scores to get decent apartments, insurance rates and car loans when they’re out of school. Parents need to think about whether they want to co-sign for a card or add a child as an authorized user to one of their own accounts. This is a child-by-child issue—co-signing can work for the most responsible but could be a disaster otherwise.

If your clients have credit card debt, they should fix their rates now by paying off their debt with a three-year, fixed-rate personal loan from a credit union, where those with good credit can get a fixed rate of 10% to 11%. Other alternatives: social lending sites such as Prosper or Lending Club.

If they can’t pay off the debt within three years, they need to talk to a legitimate credit counselor and possibly a bankruptcy attorney. The old days of easy credit aren’t coming back soon, and strapped borrowers need to realistically assess their options rather than continue to struggle with unpayable debts.

You can learn more at www.asklizweston.com

Mary Zimmerman, Path Financial / Kinder Institute of Life Planning

Hi, I’m Mary Zimmerman. I’m a Certified Financial Planner® professional and Registered Life Planner ™. I’m proud to be a founding member of the Kinder Institute of Life Planning and was the first certified faculty member of the institute in the United States. I serve on the Board of the Greater Phoenix Financial Planning Association as Director of Public Awareness.

The one big thing all advisors should anticipate is managing change.

How do we do that? When we invest time with our clients, deepening our relationships with them, we find out what is most important in their lives.

As their trusted advisor, we understand their goals of keeping the family home or putting a premium on education. As a result, we put structures and safeguards in place to help protect our clients’ priorities.

We should walk side by side with our clients through change. Change isn’t always easy, and your guidance and support will help them through a difficult time.

Remember to
1) Be nimble. Change doesn’t just affect our clients; it affects us, our families, our societies, and our planet.

2) Be alert. If one of your clients wants to “go green,” and you know about cash for clunkers or energy credits for heat pumps, alert them!

3) Be enthusiastic. Crackle with ideas that support and encourage our clients’ dreams. For example, a middle class client, working for Southwest Airlines wants her parents in Milwaukee to have a driver. You can encourage your client to trade driving for buddy passes.

4) Be still. Make sure to have some quiet time. Just like I tell my grandchildren, it’s good for the soul.

If you have any questions, you can contact me via my financial life planning practice, PATH Financial Strategies, LLC., at mary@pathfinancialstrategies.com, or via the Kinder Institute's Find a Life Planner map at www.KinderInstitute.com.

Deena Katz, Texas Tech University, Evensky Katz Wealth Management

I’m Deena Katz, Associate Professor at Texas Tech University and Chairman of Evensky & Katz Wealth Management.

It’s a new world. After many years of negative returns, the past year of significant recession, and an unprecedented array of investment scams and fraudulent activities, we are now in a new world, a regulatory world that will set off a sea change of events like we have not seen in our lifetimes.

Be prepared. The latest draft of the Investor Protection Act of 2009 makes it clearer that the SEC must adopt rules setting a fiduciary standard for advisers and brokers providing investment advice to retail investors. It now states that the standard of conduct “shall be to act in the best interest of the customer without regard to the financial or other interest of the broker, dealer, or investment adviser providing the advice.”

Most people, who are afraid of accepting fiduciary responsibility with regard to the client relationship, interpret “fiduciary” in purely legal terms only. They worry about litigation in being held to a “trust” standard. They explain that they cannot be an agent of their firm and a fiduciary to their client. But, if we look at the FPA’s Standards of Care, there are five simple statements, that considered separately, are nearly impossible for anyone to raise serious objections:

1. Put the client's best interests first.
2. Act with due care and in utmost good faith.
3. Do not mislead clients.
4. Provide full and fair disclosure of all material facts.
5. Disclose and fairly manage all material conflicts of interest.

This, my friends, these are the definition of Fiduciary.

As you look toward 2010, remind yourself that in this New Regulatory World, we will be regulated. If you want to have a voice in that, contact your local representatives, volunteer and support advocacy at FPA. And finally, remember, all professions are regulated. And, we are a profession.

If you'd like to hear more of my thoughts, I write a regular column in Financial Planning magazine.

Julie Littlechild, Advisor Impact, Client Audit

Hello – my name is Julie Littlechild and I’m the President of Advisor Impact and the creator of the Client Audit, a client feedback tool for financial advisors.

The #1 thing that I believe advisors need to do is to clearly define and communicate their value to clients. And I think I’m backed up by the more than 70,000 clients we’ve surveyed over the last several years about what they need, want and expect.

The good news is that overall satisfaction has held strong in the last year. The bad news is that it doesn’t matter that much. What we’ve found is that there are two groups of clients. Both groups would define themselves as satisfied, overall, and both would describe themselves as dissatisfied with investment performance. That’s where the similarities stop. For the first group their dim view on the market is creating a negative halo – they said they have no confidence in their plan for the future and don’t feel their advisor has managed the relationship proactively. The second group, however, may be dissatisfied with investment performance but can see their plan forward and feels the advisor is managing the relationship. Advisors with more clients in the second group have done a better job of defining their value and creating a disconnect between market performance and the value of advice. In the process, those advisors have reduced risk.

So what can we do? I believe that advisors need to define and then communicate their value. They need to be able to clearly explain to clients what they do for them in words that are meaningful for clients. They need to document that value, from fundamentals such as contact levels to descriptions of the planning process. Consider creating a service agreement as a tactical approach to communicating your value. Research shows a clear connection between client engagement and knowing what kind of service they can expect. We also know that if your clients can’t clearly describe the value you provide, they’ll never be in a position to tell anyone else, and that will have an impact on referrals.

If you’d like to learn more about our Client Audit process, visit www.advisorimpact.com

Sheryl Garrett, Garrett Planning Network

Hi, I’m Sheryl Garrett, founder of the Garrett Planning Network - a network of fee-only advisors offering hourly, as-needed financial planning.

The number one thing I want advisors to be thinking about is that our emerging profession is on the verge of–potentially–the most important re-regulation of investment advisors ever. The public at large has little or no understanding of what a financial planning professional does, nor do they have faith in the financial markets or financial advisors.

To truly evolve into a respected profession, we must get politically active now! The proposed re-regulation of all those that render investment advice needs to be clear, powerful and client-centered. To truly emerge as a profession, we must make competent, objective financial advice accessible to ALL people.

We must have regulatory reform that ensures that all consumers of financial advice can trust that advice to be rendered by competent fiduciaries. Our society is desperate for quality advice from professionals they can trust to put their best interests first, always!

If you’d like to talk further about this issue, or learn more about the Garrett Planning Network, please contact me through my website, www.garrettplanningnetwork.com