President’s Message

Ryan M. Fleming, CFP®

So, perhaps I was a little early on my “no more winter” call from the last newsletter. Despite the snow and cold, March was a fun month for FPA-NCA. We started with a downtown lunch meeting of the chapter’s executive board meeting with the National FPA executive board and FPA CEO Lauren Schadle. We shared ideas and had an honest dialogue about things we like and don’t like about FPA. It was an excellent opportunity for the chapter.

The day after that, over forty of us mixed and mingled with more than a dozen FPA NexGen members at On the Border in Tysons. Advisors and sponsors gathered for a strong showing by the chapter. Many advisors are looking to hire and NexGen is a great place to target hiring. And while many NexGeners would love to be practice owners, many more are simply looking for networking and engagement with advisors young and old, long-tenured and freshly client-facing. It was an enjoyable couple of hours where most people in the room met a dozen others they hadn’t known before. It was FPA-NCA at its best.

 

Our third event of the same week was Friday with an outstanding Professional Development Day at Maggiano’s in Tysons (something about the food makes those meetings just a little better than the rest). Dani Mackey and Nick Ludlum presented a really interesting dissection of messaging and the challenges of today’s complex communications environment. We were lucky to land two power players in Washington PR and they didn’t disappoint. Lisa Kirchenbauer gave me a new view on holistic planning – it’s not as simple as the three Kinder questions of a decade ago. And Bryan Beatty, Tim Jones, and Mary Malgoire debated RIA versus hybrid structures.

While April is a slow month for FPA-NCA, it’s just on the cusp of a busy six weeks for all of us. First, we have the 20^th anniversary of the FPA-NCA golf tournament on May 1. This is the only event for which we have to turn people away every year. 2013 will be the year we turn away the largest number of people given the turnout the last three years. 1757 Golf Club on Waxpool Road in Dulles is a fantastic course. I played it last year with a client and thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s worth a day away from the office to support the chapter, the Foundation for Financial Planning, and the other good works our pro bono committee comes up with. Callously, I will say the best thing about it is that it’s a relaxing day of fun with old friends and networking with new friends. The charitable stuff is great, but if you’ve ever met me, you know one of my passions is networking and member engagement. It’s also the best time for the worst golfers among us to get out on the course because we don’t count your score.

Golf is followed three weeks later by a great program on May 23 with Douglas French, noted author of three books, including the latest, The Failure of Common Knowledge. He’s presenting Money, Banking, and Inflation. And we wrap up this six week stretch with our Spring Symposium on June 6 at Sheraton Premier in Tyson’s. This is one of the best days of the year to be a member of this chapter, as our sponsors compete with one another to bring in the best speakers. More on this in next month’s note.

Finally, a word about our volunteers. Our survey went out and we had almost 10% of the chapter offer to be volunteers for one committee or another. A full dozen people volunteered for government relations assistance – only in Washington! We had dozens more volunteer for other committees, but can always use more. Volunteering is the best way to ease your way into the chapter. It’s not a very clubby group – most of us are pretty welcoming and open with our time and knowledge – but it can still be daunting if you’re new to FPA. Take a look at the board page and see if any of the committees interests you. If so, reach out to Peggy and one of us will connect with you.

Happy Tax Day in a couple of weeks. Hope everyone has an uneventful remainder of the tax season and a fantastic April. As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me (rfleming@afmfa.com) or one of my fellow board members (see last page) for information, feedback, an awesome speaker you just hear, or to see what this whole FPA-NCA thing you joined is all about.

Best regards,

Ryan M. Fleming, CFP®
2013 President, FPA of the National Capital Area