Chris Rivers, CFP®

President’s Message

Happy New Year! The month of January is often thought to be named after the Roman god Janus, who had two faces - one looking to the past and one to the future. In modern times, January often finds us reflecting on the afterglow of the holiday season, while planning for the future through New Year’s resolutions. Within our FPA community there is much to look forward to in 2019, including some significant potential changes on the horizon.

First, this year’s Winter Symposium on January 21st promises to be one of the best financial planning conferences of the year. Our program this year focuses on communication and the future of delivering financial planning advice to your clients. We are thrilled to have a lineup of speakers that includes Kathleen Burns Kingsbury, Kay Bransford, Joe Carbone, and more.  

We look forward to the opportunity to present our Outstanding Service Awards to three Outstanding Members: Alexandra Armstrong, CFP®, Dick Vodra, CFP®, and Dan Lash, CFP®. Please see our announcement about these Outstanding Members in this Newsletter. From there, our annual Career Day takes place on February 15^th, where you’ll have the opportunity to meet many talented students and job seekers. In March, we will welcome Ben Lewis, Director of Public Relations for FPA, to present our annual Media Training program. In addition, that same day we have retired FBI Special Agent Jeff Lanza speaking to the chapter on cybersecurity issues, a topic that should be foremost in all our minds. More programs for 2019 will be announced soon, so stay tuned!

Speaking of looking forward, many of you have likely seen the information released by the FPA national office in November, proposing significant changes to the structure of the national organization and its chapters for 2020 and beyond. While many of the proposed changes focus on the internal relationship between FPA and its local communities, they are sure to have an impact on our local chapter and our programs. The depth and breadth of the changes are so significant, that they are impossible to summarize here. 

I ask everyone who values their FPA membership and the community we have built in the National Capital Area, to visit the microsite FPA has created explaining the changes, at https://www.onefpanetwork.org/.  

Significant discussion of the merits and drawbacks of this plan has already begun online in several venues.  In particular, I encourage you to read the analysis of the proposed changes published by Michael Kitces on his blog here, the discussion between Bob Veres and the FPA board published on his blog here  and here, as well as the robust discussion initiated by current FPA NCA chairman Howard Pressman on FPA Connect here.

In conjunction with the proposed changes, we are hosting a OneFPA listening tour visit with leadership from FPA national, on January 22^nd, at 2pm at the UVA facility in Falls Church. More info on the event is available on our website.  If you have questions or want to engage in discussion about the proposed changes, please consider attending. We are fortunate to have the ability to provide direct feedback to those shaping the future of the Financial Planning Association, including executive director Lauren Schadle and FPA national president Evelyn Zohlen.

In the meantime, a heartfelt “Happy New Year,” to everyone in the National Capital Area chapter. 

All the best,

Chris

Chris Rivers, CFP®

2019 FPA NCA President

CRivers@AFMFA.com

Howard Pressman, CFP®

President’s Message

Wow, I can hardly believe this is my last President’s Letter. The year has gone by so quickly, I can hardly believe it. Someone recently explained to me that the older you get, the faster the years go by. As I sit here massaging my sore knees and grousing about time’s rapid pace, it all seems to make sense. Speed aside, this has been a truly wonderful year and the honor of leading our chapter will certainly be among the highlights of my career. I’ve met so many new people and talked to so many talented planners. There were so many great moments this year, but my favorites include hosting the Symposium in my Capitals jersey after their Stanley Cup victory the night before, joining fellow chapter leaders in Arizona for the Alliance Forum meeting, Metro Washington Financial Planning Day and addressing the student FPA chapter at Virginia Tech

As I entered the year, all bright eyed and bushy tailed, I had so many ideas for our chapter. But reality soon set in and I opted focus on two key initiatives that, in my opinion, will help to usher our chapter into the future. The new technology sponsorship package was designed to recognize the unique needs of this fast-growing segment of the financial services industry. We had our first tech sponsor this year, and I am confident this option will only grow. This year we also tested the technology to simulcast our chapter meeting to two locations. In efforts to reduce the amount of time required to attend monthly meetings, we aim to have a meeting location on each side of the river. Stay tuned for more information about this exciting initiative.  In addition to these, while many chapters saw membership declines this year, our chapter enjoyed a slight increase in members.

Looking beyond 2018, there is much that is uncertain. FPA National recently unveiled their OneFPA Network initiative which promises many changes to our association. For starters, chapters will no longer be independent legal entities, as they will be wrapped into the National FPA entity. Peggy Nelson will become an employee of FPA National and all chapter reserves will be turned over. According to the plans unveiled, local chapters will continue much as they have, with local leadership in charge, and we’ve been assured that we will have control over our budget. To be honest, I’m not certain how I feel about these changes. Primarily, my concerns center around the communication of these changes and the rapid pace at which National would like to dissolve the legal chapter entities. With many details left to be determined by new committees that have yet to be formed, I feel it will be a challenge to have sufficient details by the fourth quarter of 2019, when National hopes to move from 89 individual entities to only one. Moreover, I am having some difficulty in seeing how the chapter system stood as an obstacle to FPA’s broader goals as outlined in the OneFPA Network plan. The FPA NCA Board is reaching out to FPA National to have a conversation and to better understand how these changes will affect us. I encourage you, if you’ve not already done so, to visit the OneFPANetwork.org website to learn more about these changes. 

2019 will certainly be an interesting year for our association and will require strong leadership. I’ve had the pleasure of working on the Board with Chris Rivers for many years now and have tremendous confidence in him and the rest of our Board. These are the right people to make our chapter stronger than ever and to manage this transition. 

I thank you all for the support, encouragement, advice and inspiration you’ve given me over the year. You are the ones who make our chapter the vibrant and exciting community it is. Being President has been an amazing experience I will remember forever. Thank you and Happy Holidays!

All the best,

Howard

Howard Pressman, CFP®

2018 FPA NCA President

HPressman@EBWLLC.com

Howard Pressman, CFP®           

President’s Message

Hello and welcome to November and my second to last President’s Letter. November is an exciting month, the area is beautiful, awash in reds and oranges as the leaves change, the crisp air offers a welcome reprieve from the humidity of summer and autumn provides the last opportunities to enjoy the outdoors before the cold sets in. November also kicks off the Holiday season with my personal favorite holiday, Thanksgiving. As I reflect back on my career, I have so much to be thankful for. I ended up here not by intention, but rather by accident or perhaps circumstance. As doors opened, I entered. Often having no idea what lay behind them, guided not by a vision of my future, but by youthful curiosity and the occasional nudge from others. Amazingly, thankfully, it all worked out. I am thankful for the role others have played in my career and for the important role FPANCA and our members have played. When I started in the profession, the firm I worked for didn’t do financial planning, they did investment sales. I didn’t have anyone to look up to or guide me. This was a role that was graciously taken on by FPA members, they were my mentors gladly offering advice and guidance. When it came time for me to take the next step as a financial planner and switch firms, I met my future partners at an FPA meeting. This is why I joined the Board of FPANCA and why I became president, to give back to a group of people who have given me so much.

Take some time this month and reflect on all you have to be thankful for in your career and please, do not take your success, our profession or the FPA for granted. Changes are coming. Be they legislative, like Louisiana’s recent attempt to ban the word “Certified” from professional designations not issued by the state, or regulatory, such as revamped fiduciary rules or even changes to the FPA itself. Some of these changes will be welcomed and some, not so much. The only way you can play a role in the future of our profession is to get involved.  As the old adage goes, if you don’t have a seat at the table, you’re probably on the menu.

There are many ways, big and small to get involved. Our Board is always looking for new members and our committees could always use a hand. Our advocacy efforts often put us face to face with state and federal legislators who need to hear our perspective rather than just that of special interests. One of my favorite ways to get involved is through our Pro-Bono efforts. October saw another Metro Washington Financial Planning Day, where many CFP volunteers met with almost 100 members of the public who came looking for financial help. I spoke with many attendees and heard incredible stories about the difference this advice would make in their lives. This is where you truly feel the power of financial planning. Thank you to all who volunteered to make MWFPD a success.

November’s big event is our Happy Hour on the 15^th at the University of Virginia campus in Falls Church.  Come have a few drinks with your colleagues while learning about the role reverse mortgages can play in retirement planning and earn two CE credits.

Please join me in congratulating our own Emily Purdon whose paper “Planning for Conflict in Client Relationships” was published in the Journal of Financial Planning. In addition, we want to congratulate Lisa Kirchenbauer and Jared Jones for their cover story in the Journal, “Cracking the Code: A Blueprint for How to Work with Millennial Clients.” Also, a big congratulations and thanks to Yusef Abugideiri who was recently recognized for his efforts to provide Pro-Bono assistance to families who are dealing with a Cancer diagnosis.

Lastly, I am thankful for all that you do every day to make a difference in the lives of your clients. I wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving.

All the best,

Howard

Howard Pressman, CFP®

2018 FPA NCA President

HPressman@EBWLLC.com