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 15th, 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 22nd,
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
