Howard Pressman, CFP®

President’s Message

Hi, I hope your year is off to a good start. As I write this, the Nationals are preparing for their first game of Spring Training, and I can’t help feeling a little excited about Spring’s arrival. On February 16^th, we held our Annual Career Day, which was another big success. I can’t thank Kelly McNerney, CFP® and her committee enough for the hard work they put into this event. This year we sold out of interviewing firms, with 30 companies looking to hire. We also had over 50 job seekers from schools such as William Patterson, Edinboro University and of course Virginia Tech. The more I meet and talk with these folks, the more impressed I am with the level of skill this next generation of planners will bring to our profession.

During lunch, keynote speaker Jonathan Guyton spoke to us about the relationship skills essential for great planners. I found it very interesting that one of the brightest minds in our profession, whose quantitative research into safe withdrawal rates has challenged the status-quo, never once mentioned numbers or money. Choosing instead to focus on the “soft” skills that make a great planner was a fantastic lesson for all in attendance, but especially for the younger generation.

Speaking of great planners, our chapter is so fortunate to count many of the most successful and influential people in our profession among our members. I have recently begun talking with some of them about why they are members of the FPA and what they get out of their membership, even at this point in their careers. I will be including some of the insights I’ve learned from these discussions in my next few President’s letters. I can’t think of a better planner to start with than Alexandra Armstrong, the first person in Washington, DC to earn the CFP® designation.

“I joined the FPA 40 years ago to keep current on financial planning issues and to learn from other financial planners both locally and nationally.  My association with FPA helped me to start my business and enabled me to build it to its current level.  I can attribute this success to the friends I have made and the information I have gained over the years through my FPA membership.  It has been invaluable and for that reason I have encouraged my partners and employees to be active in the FPA as well.” 

On March 15^th we have our annual Media Training and Luncheon Program. Ben Lewis, Director of Public Relations for the FPA, will be speaking about effectively communicating with the media and how to create and leverage these important relationships. During lunch, Gary Altman, Esq. will be joining us to speak about the new tax law and what we as planners need to know.  These are two topics and speakers you don’t want to miss, as they can have an immediate impact on your practice. This program will be held at the Bethesda Country Club beginning at 9:00 am.

Also, coming up in April we have a Happy Hour on the 12^th and a NexGen Study Group on the 24^th. It’s never too early to sign up for our 25^th Annual Charity Golf Tournament to be held on May 2^nd at 1757 Golf Club. This year, our proceeds will benefit the Foundation for Financial Planning as well as our chapter’s various Pro Bono activities. You may register for all of these events on our website at https://fpanca.site-ym.com/events/event_list.asp.

Last, but certainly not least, we’re saying good bye to one of our valued Board Members. Mark Cecchini, CFP® who’s done an amazing job as our Career Fair Chair in 2017 and our NexGen Director in 2017 and 2018 will be moving to sunny California. While we are sad to be losing his talent and passion, we wish him all the best in his new position. I am very fortunate to welcome Emily Purdon, CFP® with SBSB to the Board as one of our NexGen Directors. Emily shares Mark’s passion for our profession and the NexGen community. We are excited for her to be a part of the Board.

Thanks for all you do to make your client’s lives better and to advance our profession!

All the best,

Howard

Howard Pressman, CFP®

2018 FPA NCA President

HPressman@EBWLLC.com

Howard Pressman, CFP®

President’s Message

I am excited to be writing this a couple of days after another successful Winter Symposium. I really hope you didn’t miss out, as I received many great comments about this year’s event. Early risers were treated to a fascinating ethics course led by Bonnie Kirchner, whose ex-husband ran one the largest Ponzi schemes prior to 2008. Her insights into the mind of a fraudster can help the rest of us better understand what we’re up against and protect our clients. The symposium was kicked off by Mark Tibergien from Pershing Advisor Solutions, who talked about the future of our industry and our firms. My two take aways from his insights were to always start with WHY and to focus on the client experience in order to remain relevant in a rapidly changing environment. Next, Kathleen Burns-Kingsbury gave a great presentation on breaking money silence and how to get your clients talking to their family about money as a way to increase the success of their plan. Helping a client to understand their rational mind and their emotional mind and the limits of each was a fascinating point to me. Next up was Amy Florian, brought to us by Ivy Funds, who helped us to better relate to our clients who have suffered a loss. Many of us are uncomfortable talking with a client who has recently lost a loved one. If you’re like me, the first thing you say is “I’m so sorry”. Amy explained why this simple platitude is wrong and gave us better tools to help our clients through this difficult time and strengthen these relationships as a result. Richard Clarida from PIMCO joined us to provide his insights on the economy and how he sees the many important dynamics playing out over the course of the year. Then, Stephanie Markiewicz with Fidelity presented the view from Capitol Hill providing valuable insights into the crazy and unpredictable world of politics in the age of Twitter. Lauran Star helped us to more effectively communicate with our clients no matter which generation they belong to. Lastly, delivering our keynote presentation was the incomparable Michael Kitces who challenged some of our long-held beliefs about providing retirement income and how to address sequence of returns risk in client portfolios. A better understanding of the ubiquitous 4% rule and the research behind it was a key takeaway for me.

During the day, attendees had the opportunity to star in their own promotional videos, talking about why they became financial planners and how they help their clients. These videos will be professionally produced and provided to the advisors to use in their own marketing efforts. Just before lunch, we presented awards to two of our Outstanding Award recipients, Ken Robinson, winner of the Norma Severns Award for Leadership and Eleanor Blayney, our winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award. It is truly humbling to see how many pioneers and superstars of our profession are members of our chapter.

New this year, we created 15 lunch tables with specific themes, so attendees could eat and network with likeminded members facing common issues. By connecting our members with one another, we are hoping to foster relationships and discussions that go beyond this one event.

Of course our sponsors were on hand to talk with us about their newest ideas and solutions. Our raffle prizes drawn from tickets distributed by the Sponsors during our networking breaks were a huge success at the end of a great day!

As you can see, this year’s Winter Symposium was packed with great information that could be applied to our practices right away, tools to help you market yourself to new clients and plenty of opportunities to connect and network with your peers. Thank you Dan Lash for creating this fabulous event. (Please see a few pictures from the day on page 12 of this Newsletter.)

We have several amazing events coming up in the next few months, they include: our February 16th Career Day and Professional Development Lunch, featuring Jonathan Guyton. On March 15th, we’ll have Ben Lewis presenting Media Training and Gary Altman discussing the recent tax law changes at Bethesda Country Club. May 2nd is our annual charity golf tournament at 1757 Golf Club, and lastly, our Spring Symposium will be held on June 8th.

Thank you for all that you do to serve your clients and advance our profession. If you have any comments or suggestions about our chapter I would love to hear them. As we think about how to best serve your needs in an ever changing world, I would very much appreciate your input. Please email me at hpressman@ebwllc.com.

All the best,

Howard

Howard Pressman, CFP®

2018 FPA NCA President

HPressman@EBWLLC.com