Chris Rivers, CFP®
President’s Message
As we enter May, we all breathe a sigh of relief that
tax season is over, and many of us are getting a first look at clients’ tax
returns under the next tax bill. The
changes to the tax system bring with them new planning opportunities, and we
will hear about a number of these at our Spring Symposium, June 6th
at the Dulles Hyatt.
Mary Beth Franklin of InvestmentNews will kick things
off in the morning with an overview of current Social Security strategies. We’ll
hear about new opportunity zone investment vehicles from Doug Goff at Hines,
and Peter Mazareas from Legg Mason will delve into estate planning techniques
using 529 plans.
Christopher Huemmer from FlexShares will present on
factor based investing and economic cycles, and Rob Kuharic from Russell
Investments will give us an overview of the economy and the market as the
second quarter winds down. We’ll round
out the day with David Lau from DPL Financial Partners on insurance and the
planning process, and a keynote presentation from nationally renowned CPA and
speaker Ed Slott on IRA strategies. Be
sure to stick around afterwards for a networking happy hour in the lobby bar. Our
program has been approved for 8 CFP CE, 8 MD Insurance CE, 8 VA Insurance CE
and 8 CIMA CE. We will also offer CPA CPE. You don’t want to miss this year’s
Spring Symposium.
I also wanted to take some time to highlight the pro
bono opportunities we have coming up on the calendar. Many of you are familiar
with the work of the Foundation for Financial Planning. The Foundation is in
the midst of a major initiative to bring pro-bono financial planning advice to
families battling cancer. You can
volunteer or donate to the initiative here.
Over on Capitol Hill, June 5th is Financial
Planning Day for staffers. This event is organized by the national FPA office
and provides education to congressional staffers on financial planning and our
industry. Lastly (for now), we have a
tentative date of June 18th set for a planning day at Quantico Base
in Lorton for our service members. More
info will be posted as soon as we have it.
You may have seen recent coverage regarding an update
to the plan of reorganization proposed by FPA national earlier this year. The original plan generated significant
discussion online, in the press, and amongst chapter members, as noted in my
January message. FPA national leadership
visited DC in January, and we had a great turnout as FPA NCA made its voice
heard in a lively, open and amicable discussion.
It is clear that FPA national listened to that
feedback and took it to heart. The recently released updated plan essentially
hits the “pause” button on the major initiative of dissolving the chapters and
becoming one organization. Instead, a
beta test of 10 chapters from around the country will be formed later this
year, and the idea will be tested and shaped on a small scale in 2020. While we will not be one of the beta test
chapters, we will be eager participants in shaping the FPA of the future. In the meantime, our community will continue
to operate as it has for more than 20 years.
As always, please let me know how the chapter can
better serve you the members. I look forward to seeing each of you at an event
in the near future.
All the best,
Chris
Chris Rivers, CFP®
2019 FPA NCA President
CRivers@AFMFA.com
