Ryan M. Fleming, CFP® President’s Message

 

It appears that summer doesn’t want to leave, but I’m not complaining – just means more golf. Despite the quirky weather, fall is still an exciting time for us with a full agenda for FPA NCA. As the final quarter of my tenure as president opens, we’re looking at nearly a dozen great events to wrap up 2013. There should be a little something for everyone, so I’m hopeful that each of you gets out of your office to at least a couple of things this fall.

My successor, Helen Modly, should you choose to elect her, has committed to spending on higher quality speakers for our events for 2014. It was one of three main topics at her strategic planning meeting with the proposed 2014 board of directors. With the chapter in great financial shape after years of excellent stewardship from the past five presidents Brown, Jones, Parker, Hess, and Cheng, we are planning to upgrade the monthly programs with a more national-quality speaker series.

The biggest event remaining this year, though, is Metro Washington Financial Planning Day (MWFPD). The 2013 event has been scheduled for the first Saturday in November. This event drew over 300 attendees looking for many layers of financial literacy last year, with everything from student debt to Thrift Savings Plan asset allocation to mortgage refi questions. It’s a great opportunity to sharpen your planning skills. We’re looking for another huge crowd and great pro bono effort from the chapter. A month out, we already have over 100 attendees signed up and more than 30 volunteers. We could use another 10 volunteers, but what we really need is information distribution. If anyone has any thoughts on this, we would love your input. We’re targeting non-profits, community groups, and attempting to get info out through the D.C. payroll system included with each paystub. This national Financial Planning Days event is coordinated by FPA, CFP Board, U.S. Conference of Mayors, and the Foundation for Financial Planning.

Details: Saturday, November 2, 2013, Columbia Heights Educational Campus in Washington, DC, 10:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., (volunteers to arrive by 9:30 a.m.)

Our committee is co-chaired by chapter members and past participants Melissa Sotudeh and Jim Sprung. Melissa is working on facilities, volunteers, and coordination with partners at CFP Board and the Mayor’s office, and Jim is working on outreach to community organizations, non-profits, colleges, and media to generate an overwhelming number of attendees who want to improve their financial lives. Consider volunteering or forwarding event details to your neighborhood email thread or posting on all of your social media outlets.

Another neat event that just happened last week was the the semiannual FPA NCA and FPA NexGen happy hour at Chima Steak House on Towers Crescent in Tysons. Turnout was robust at 75 people. It was a great opportunity to hear from NexGen business owners, NexGen ladder climbers, and NexGen recent graduates. The feedback from most of the younger set was that they appreciated having senior members of our chapter available from my firm, Yeske Buie, FJY Financial, and others come to share their stories as advisors who have been there and done that.

While you’re thinking about that, please consider nudging your 20- to 35-year old colleagues to both attend the event and join NexGen. Leadership in our area is incredible, with Jennifer Quigley (national NexGen president) and Laurie Belew (FPA NCA board member) engaging their peers at a level we weren’t engaged with in our twenties and early thirties. They’re breaking the mold, and you need to be involved as mentors or members. Come on out for a couple hours and meet them.

My two year CFP CE cycle was up on 8/31, so I was excited to see an ethics presentation preceding our 9/12 membership luncheon. Ethics is a free program for all FPA NCA chapter members. We will repeat the ethics presentation at the Winter 2014 Symposium in January. It’s your chapter’s effort to be where you need us to be, doing the things you need us to do (although, to my successor, Helen Modly, I will confirm that we’ll never have a meeting in Middleburg, sorry).

More on our programs for the fall can be found on pages 2- 9, and our Winter Symposium information can be found on pages 10-11. Thanks for taking a few minutes to read this note. As always, if you have any questions, concerns, suggestions, or just want to say hi, please feel free to reach out to me or any of my fellow board members. All of our contact info is on the last page of the newsletter, every month. Looking forward to seeing you at one of our events.

Best regards,

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