Friday, June 26, 2020


President’s Message
Parker Trasborg, CFP®

Dear Members,

2020 has been quite a year already and we are just halfway through.  The S&P 500 hit its record high in February, followed by a swift 34% drop as the pandemic really began to hit the US in mid-March. Most recently, the world has watched the global protests against racism, injustice and inequality.   Our office closed on Friday, June 19th, in observance of Juneteenth.  The day off was used as a time to reflect and think about what each of us can to do make a difference.  The truth is there is a lot that can be done even in our own financial planning community.  According to Financial Planning magazine on February 28, 2020, less than 4% of the 86,000+ CFP® Professionals are black or Latino.  That figure is staggering.  Locally, we can work to be a more inclusive organization by raising awareness, actively supporting people of color and increasing the diversity of our speakers as we plan future events.  I encourage you to read FPA National’s note and learn more about their efforts and how you can help here: https://www.financialplanningassociation.org/fpa-message-need-inclusive-community and more about the CFP Board’s Diversity & Inclusion initiative here: https://www.cfp.net/initiatives/diversity-and-inclusion .

On June 1st, FPA National rolled out an 8-week externship program to help support financial planning students whose summer opportunities were impacted by the Coronavirus.  The program exceeded expectations and had over 1,950 students signed up to participate including over 20 from our chapter.  If you are interested in getting involved and learning how you can help, please reach out to Board Secretary, Kelly McNerney - kmm@fjyfinancial.com .

With over 20 people participating, we recently held our most successful Community Forum yet.  Platinum Sponsor, Gary Altman and Coryn Rosenstock, from Altman & Associates hosted a discussion about estate planning.

We are going to take a respite from the community forums through the summer as we host our upcoming Virtual Multi-Day Symposium on July 7th, 9th, 14th and 16th.  We are pleased to have a number of speakers covering a variety of topics at the symposium.

-        On July 7th, we have Joe Richardson from Nationwide discussing Traditional vs. Investment-Only Variable annuities and Gary Altman covering Estate Planning Post COVID and the 2020 election. 
-        On July 9th, Michael Townsend from Schwab will be reviewing the Current Economic & Regulatory Outlook and Rita Cheng will be presenting CFP® Ethics. 
-        On July 14th Eddy Vataru from Osterweis presents the topic on a Post COVID Playbook and Susan Kay from MFS will discuss Achieving Meaningful Growth: Engaging Our Clients. 
-        Lastly, on July 16th we have Lisa Crafford from Pershing discussing Empowering Your NexGen and Jeffrey Brooks from American Funds talking about Wealth Planning Across Life Stages. 

We have 9 CFP® CE credits approved including 2 CFP Ethics and 2 Virginia Ethics insurance credits approved.  2 Maryland Ethics insurance CE is pending approval. 9 CIMA CE is pending approval, including 2 CIMA Ethics. Register today - https://www.fpanca.org/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=1386130&group=

Our programs co-directors are now shifting their focus towards our virtual Fall programs, if you have any specific topics you would like covered or speakers that you would like to hear from, please reach out.  As always, the board welcomes any and all feedback on how we can make the chapter a better experience for you.  You are welcome to e-mail me directly at TrasborgP@cjmltd.com.  I look forward to seeing you virtually at an upcoming event.

Have a happy and safe Independence Day!

Best Regards,

Parker

Parker Trasborg, CFP®
2020 FPA NCA President
TrasborgP@cjmltd.com