Bryan Beatty, CFP®, AIF® President’s Message
I just returned from the Atlanta FPA Alliance Forum
Meeting where the largest chapters from around the country get together for
best practices and feedback, and sharing with the national leadership of FPA
before the FPA Retreat. I couldn’t stay
for the Retreat, but I encourage all of you to consider FPA Retreat. It was at
Chateau Elan and Winery and Golf Club north of Atlanta. The program lineup was
fantastic and the setting was gorgeous.
I flew out of Dulles on Delta and instead of my usual
luck of no hassle flying, I finally experienced a hell scenario where my plane
coming in to pick us up lost a wiper while touching down. There were no
maintenance facilities for Delta at Dulles and so they had to look for help
from another airport. The part didn’t arrive for 8 hours. You figure out why.
So, I took a taxi to National to get on a plane to Atlanta at 4:15 pm. I was
supposed to leave at 11 am from Dulles, but that plane finally left at 6:30 pm.
Oh, and my car rental was released, because I was late, and I got to ride in an
(upgrade) the Kia Soul hamster-mobile all around Atlanta. It made me think
about all the recent news about passengers being dragged off of flights with
head trauma, overbooking, bumping passengers, lost luggage and poor on time
arrivals. You really do not need to do a good job or service your clients well
to succeed in air travel. But – if you fail to serve your clients well as a
financial advisor, it can ruin your business in a flash.
How are you making yourself indispensable? How are you
serving your clients’ best interest? How are you justifying your fees? Because you do not have the luxury of little
to no competition like the airlines to protect your business from poor advice,
conflicts of interest or just poor customer service.
This June’s Spring Symposium will address these issues
head on. The Spring Symposium is June
5th at the Dulles Hyatt, and the theme is “Navigating Change in the Age of
Uncertainty”. You can register
here to learn how you can compete and prosper in the changing climate of
the new “Fiduciary” world. Speakers will include Wade Pfau, Bob Veres, and
Victor Gaxiola from Hearsay Social, to name just a few.
And on May 3rd tee it up for charity at our
annual FPA Charity golf event at Westfield Golf Club in Clifton VA. Since we
are close to that date, please call Peggy if you would like to register to
play, 703-620-1712.
NexGen will have its annual gathering in June in
Illinois. Advocacy
Day (click to learn more about advocacy) is also in June where we storm the
hill to educate our political leaders about the FPA and the planning
profession. See Parker Trasborg, CFP, trasborgp@cjmltd.com, for details on how to help. Our second happy hour
with CE is scheduled for July. See our chapter calendar for
other upcoming events.
Remember we are always looking for people to get
involved and volunteer, even if it is just one thing. See you at an upcoming
event.
Best Regards,
Bryan
Bryan Beatty, CFP®, AIF®
2017 FPA NCA President
