Home at last! The months of April and May are usually the peak of my”‘travel season.” I’m not sure why, but it seems most organizations that touch my life seem to have meetings during these months. This year was especially busy. During the last 45 days I’ve made six trips.
It started with a trip to Nashville, TN, where I co-facilitated a special Healing Money Issues workshop for ABC’s 20/20. I’ll have more to say about that in the future.
I then was off to Palm Springs, CA, where I attended my 24th FPA Retreat. Not only did I attend a number of thought-provoking and informative presentations on everything financial, I was also honored, along with Dr. Ted Klontz, to address the attendees on “Growing Your Practice by Shrinking Your Clients.”
The next week, I visited Las Vegas, NV, and presented with Susan Bradley, author of Sudden Money, at the NFL Players Association. We presented a case study to the advisors of NFL clients designed to help them integrate traditional investment advising techniques with more holistic financial planning skills that addressed the specific needs of the NFL culture.
Next up was a trip to Phoenix, AZ, where I did two presentations to the Greater Phoenix FPA Chapter on “What a 19th Century Fable Can Teach Us About 21st Century Financial Planning.” This presentation covered bits and pieces of several of my co-authored books and explored the best practices of financial planning firms. My second presentation was on “Becoming Consumers of the Profession We Practice,” where I advocated that financial planners need to hire their own financial planners.
After that, I attended a quick training session at Onsite Workshops in Nashville, TN. After spending a couple of days at home, I was then off to Washington D.C., where I attended the national convention of the National Association of Personal Financial Planners. NAPFA is an association of financial planners that exclusively promotes the “fee-only” method of compensation for financial planners. While I’ve been a “fee-only” planner for over 25 years, I just recently joined this association.
While I am grateful for all the enriching and informative information I’ve received (which immediately goes to work benefiting my clients), I am glad I don’t have a trip planned in the next 45 days that doesn’t include being with my family or servicing my clients.
