20th Annual FPA NCA Charity Golf Classic

On Wednesday, May 1^st, FPA NCA will hold its annual charity golf classic at 1757 Golf Club in Dulles, VA. This year’s tournament is particularly special, as it is the 20^th annual tournament, and we hope to celebrate this milestone in style at 1757.  This is a great day to relax, reconnect with old friends, and make new connections.

As in years past, proceeds from the tournament are donated to the Foundation for Financial Planning, as well as local chapter pro bono efforts centered on financial counseling at Our Daily Bread, in Fairfax, VA.

In 2012 the tournament raised over $26,000 for these two groups, thanks in part to a pledge by TD Ameritrade to match any donations to the Foundation for Financial Planning.  TD Ameritrade is once again matching donations in 2013, up to $1 million total. Please join us on the links and encourage your colleagues and business partners to join us on the course or as a tournament sponsor. Without our sponsors, the tournament would not exist in support of these two great organizations.

The Foundation for Financial Planning (FFP) helps people take control of their financial lives by connecting the financial planning community with people in need. To achieve this mission, the FFP supports pro bono advice and financial life skills education by making grants to organizations that reach out to and extend the benefit of financial planning to those generally underserved by the market.  To date the FFP has awarded grants totaling over $4.6 million, to low income individuals, military families, disaster victims, and underserved groups such as Native Americans, foster care youth, the unemployed and the victims of abuse.

Local FPA NCA pro bono activities currently support Our Daily Bread, a non-profit organization dedicated to easing the plight of low income residents in Fairfax County, Virginia.  Since 2011, the FPA NCA chapter has collaborated with Our Daily Bread to provide free financial counseling sessions to low and moderate income individuals and families. Our Daily Bread follows up with the client 90 days later to track the client's progress.  Of those clients that responded to the 90-day follow up survey (80% average monthly response rate), on average 81% improved their financial situation.

Registration begins at 1pm, with a shotgun start at 1:30pm, and the round will be followed by dinner and a prize raffle.  Slots are limited this year, so sign up here online before it’s too late!

Chris Rivers, Golf Classic Co-Director

Building and Maintaining Closer Client Relationships: Professional Development March 22nd Program

Friends, we have a problem. In their 2012 Reputation Survey, Harris Interactive reported that only 17% of respondents had a positive impression of the financial services industry, which is down from 22% the prior year. More than three years after the financial crisis, our industry ranks third from last in popularity, besting only tobacco and, thankfully, government. Unfortunately you can hardly blame the public; the wounds inflicted by Bernie Madoff, Allen Stanford, Wall Street and a host of others are still fresh in consumers’ minds. You could argue that financial planners shouldn’t be lumped in with these bad actors and I would whole-heartedly agree – but would consumers and prospects agree? Or does the public unfairly paint us with the same broad brush and greet us all with a hefty dose of skepticism?

If we want to help more clients and build our practices, we will need to overcome the negative perception consumers have of our industry, which makes the difficult job of building trust with prospective clients that much more important. Ogilvy Public Relations, a leading PR firm specializing in reputation management, advises clients worldwide on creating, articulating and protecting their most valuable asset: their reputation. Dani Mackey, Senior Vice President and Nick Ludlum, Senior Vice President will address the value of reputation, and demonstrate how a strong reputation is linked to greater trust. They will outline the challenges of today’s complex communications environment, specifically as it pertains to the financial services industry, and will offer best practices and case studies to help you communicate more effectively with consumers, prospects and existing clients.

Also in our program, we are excited to have Lisa A. K. Kirchenbauer, CFP®, RLP®, President of Omega Wealth Management, who will speak about holistic financial planning and what a comprehensive financial plan looks like. With more than 20 years of experience as a financial planner, and Life Planning skills developed as an instructor for the Kinder Institute of Life Planning, Lisa brings an important perspective on building your practice for the future.

Have you ever wondered why some planners chose to be RIAs while others are fee-only or fee-based?  For the final portion of our action-packed program, we will host a panel discussion on the different types of practice formation. Our panelists will share insights into their particular business model, the pros and cons of each, and why they selected one over the others.

We look forward to seeing you on March 22^nd at Maggiano’s in Tyson’s Corner!

Check in 10AM – Program starts at 10:30 – Program ends at 1:30PM

2 CFP CEU, 2 CIMA CEU, 2 VA Insurance Approved!

MD Insurance Pending, 2 CPA CPE Offered!

Register on line at www.fpanca.org!

 

Howard Pressman, CFP® Professional Development Co-Director

Parker Trasborg, CFP® Professional Development Co-Director

 

FPA Diversity Scholarships: Applications Due March 29

Rita Cheng

As a member of the Financial Planning Association (FPA) National Board of Directors and former chair of the FPA Diversity Scholarship Committee, I would like to take this opportunity to promote the FPA Diversity Scholarship Program.

The FPA Diversity Committee created a merit-based scholarship program to sponsor Diversity Scholarship award recipients to attend a FPA national conference, collaborate with the FPA community, and promote inclusivity and creativity within the financial planning profession. The FPA Diversity Scholarship Program helps FPA develop strategies to raise awareness and promote inclusiveness of diverse communities including, but not limited to: age, race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation in the financial planning profession.

FPA is dedicated to providing knowledge, advocacy, community, and
leadership to all those who need, support and deliver professional financial planning. FPA believes that everyone, no matter what their situation or economic status, can benefit greatly from the experience and advice of a competent, ethical financial planner. FPA strives to increase professional opportunities for the widest spectrum of individuals so that all may thrive and prosper in the financial planning profession.  

We are in our fourth year of scholarships and have an impressive team of FPA Diversity Scholars. Winners are selected based on their willingness to demonstrate and act upon an intense desire to affect the diversity of the financial planning profession. Winners were chosen to attend FPA Business Solutions, Experience and Retreat in 2012.  Please consider applying for a scholarship to attend Retreat or Experience this year. Applications for FPA Retreat are due March 29.

For more information regarding diversity and inclusion at FPA, please visit www.FPAnet.org/Diversity or call 800.322.4237. Please visit the site to obtain the 2013 FPA Diversity Scholarship Application and Guidelines.

Join the Discussion! For information about getting involved with FPA Diversity Committee, email FPADiversity@FPAnet.org.

Rita Cheng, CFP®

Chair, FPA National Capital Area

Board Member, Financial Planning Association

President's Message

Ryan Fleming

 Just a few days into March and it looks like winter is behind us. Even if we’re not fortunate enough to see the temperatures warm quickly, you can be assured the FPA National Capital Area schedule is heating up. We are springing forward into an exciting schedule this month.

On Tuesday, March 19, the chapter is sponsoring a NexGen happy hour in Tysons at On the Border at 5:00 p.m. in the bar. It’s a chance for younger members of our chapter to mix and mingle with intermediate and seasoned members. We encourage you to drop in, even if it is just for 30 minutes before you head home. Given that over 20% of our membership works within a couple miles of the restaurant, we are looking for a significant turnout. 

We are hoping for a few things to come out of this evening. First, we want to give established FPA members a chance to meet the people who make up NexGen, perhaps enlightening all of us to the breadth and depth of experience of this FPA subset. Second, we want to extend the welcome mat to the people who could eventually buy each of our practices. And finally, one of the great things about growing up in the practice I’ve been a part of for 22 years is that I’ve been able to bend the ears of dozens of colleagues on a regular basis over that period. Many younger advisors don’t have that luxury or can’t do that in a one-on-one with their boss, so this presents a great opportunity for them. It will take some time to build momentum in this area, but we are committed to making it work.

The big program for March is Friday the 22^nd, titled “Building and Maintaining Closer Client Relationships”, features Lisa Kirchenbauer speaking on Holistic Financial Planning, and the Ogilvy Public Relations speaking on building a stronger positive impression of financial planning and trust with your clients. We encourage you to join us, perhaps with a younger/newer member of your firm, at our semiannual Professional Development program. This program will be held at Maggiano’s Restaurant in McLean, VA, and will offer 2 CFP CEU, 2 CIMA, 2 VA Insurance Approved, as well as 2 MD Insurance Pending, and 2 CPA CPE offered. Please see the exciting details of this program in this Newsletter!

The last event on our calendar in March is that your chapter’s executive board is meeting with National FPA’s CEO and its new president. If there is something you would like us to address or ask, please let me know by March 15. As always, you can reach me by email at rfleming@afmfa.com.

Finally, Golf registration is open for our May 1^st event! Please register quickly, as the foursomes are already heavily pre-committed. We are cutting registration off at 128 golfers to make the event run more smoothly. 1757 Club in Ashburn is going to be a great location – we think it will be the best event yet and a fitting 20^th anniversary tournament.

Best regards,

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