2016 Conference Program

Friday, August 12, 2016

8:30am to 10:10am

Things My Mother (Nor Anyone Else) Never Told Me About Estate Planning

Speaker: Ray Sheffield

Ray is back for another talk highlighting a number of areas, changes, and techniques which you must know to serve your clients. He will examine, among other things, why California may not be the best place to have your trust. Why you need to develop a directed trustee relationship, and what that is. Why the Charitable Remainder Trust is passé and out of date, and what replaces it.

10:20am to 12:00pm

CFPB: An In-Depth Look at Advocacy, Services and Resources

Speaker: Pam McClelland

 Pam is a Senior Education Specialist with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Think Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform and the Consumer Protection Act Education within this regulatory Bureau. A major part of the vision of the CFPB is to have a consumer finance marketplace in which no one can build a business model around unfair, deceptive or abusive acts or practices, and one that works for American consumers, responsible providers and the economy as a whole. Educating financial consumers so that they can make better informed financial decisions is key to their work. Ask questions and make suggestions to our in-person expert while she describes the new initiatives, services and resources available to us and our clients.

 

1:30pm to 3:10pm

Whoever says he knows all that one needs to know about ____ in China is either a fool or a liar

Speaker: Tim Kochis

Fresh from the publication of Wealth Management for China’s New Elite (University Press, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. January, 2016) and just returned from his 30th visit to China in July, Tim Kochis will lead a discussion of how financial planners can better understand the issues and grasp the opportunities presented by the developing world, particularly by China’s present and likely future. In addition to insights regarding investment risks and opportunities for domestic US investors, he’ll explore the potential for collaboration with financial planning professionals serving clients in China and other developing markets, and US advisors serving foreign clients, especially involving outbound Chinese capital flows to the US.

3:20pm to 5:00pm

 Become a Superhuman Financial Planner: Strengthen Your ESP and Fight off Your Personal Kryptonite

Speaker: Amy Mullen

Examine what personal roadblocks you might have that keep you from doing your best work with clients and identify ways to address and conquer them. Continue to enhance the effectiveness of the work you do with your clients by taking a multi-disciplinary perspective of the dynamics at play in your relationship, in how you communicate, and in your client’s financial beliefs, behaviors, and decisions. During this session, Amy will share common obstacles financial planners are struggling with in integrating more values-based, goal-focused conversations in their client meetings, provide insights from research in behavioral finance, positive psychology, and biology, and demonstrate how to apply these insights and knowledge into your client meeting process. All will assist in enhancing the 6-step Financial Planning process in order to increase 1) the client’s level of trust and commitment in the advisor, 2) the client engagement in the financial planning process, and 3) the effectiveness of the overall working relationship.

Saturday, August 13, 2016

8:30am to 10:10am

Life Insurance as an Asset Class?

Speaker: Richard Weber

Dick is an insurance fiduciary. He collects no commissions and his typical client is a trustee for an irrevocable life insurance trust trying to manage their fiduciary responsibilities to the trust beneficiaries. He takes an approach to life insurance that parallels what we do as financial planners (diversification, risk tolerance, Monte Carlo analysis on probability of success). Dick provides us with a different perspective of the life insurance world from the policy “Illustration Beauty Contest” – the attractive impossibility vs. the less attractive probability to understanding the application of Modern Portfolio Theory to life insurance as an asset class depending on its purpose. He will also walk us through the numbers and provide an Efficient Choice Matrix to use with our clients.

10:20am to 12:00pm

Planning for Cross Border Families –The U.S. Doesn’t Always Play Nice!

Speakers: Andrew Fisher

There is a large and growing demographic of cross border professionals who have a financial connection to the United States, including foreign citizens living here, Americans abroad, and foreign residents with assets here. The one thing they all have in common is they have complicated financial affairs and few places to turn for help. In his talk, Andrew will lead the group through an interactive discussion into the most common areas of confusion, including: banking and currencies, real estate, taxes, 401(k) and investing, and retirement planning. But please beware: you just might leave this session with more questions than you had when it started!!

1:30pm to 3:10pm

Financial Planning in the Midst of Divorce

Speaker: Mark Prendergast

We will explore financial planning issues, services, and restrictions during the divorce process. Topics to be discussed include: spousal & child support, calculating various property settlement scenarios, conflicts of interest, post judgment issues and of course the myriad of income tax issues. In the property settlement realm, we will discuss negotiating strategies, “good” and “bad” tax assets, and avoiding financial pitfalls for the “out spouse”. Sometimes the biggest benefit we bring to the table is a financial outlook based on the property settlement, particularly for the lower-earning spouse. Put another way, “Can s/he afford to take the house?”

3:20pm to 5:00pm

 From Personality to Saving Behavior: Bridging the Savings Gap

Speakers: Sarah Asebedo

Are you open, conscientious, extroverted, agreeable, or neurotic? Sarah will provide an interactive overview of these Big Five personality traits and what they mean for savings success. This presentation will also introduce a psychological framework that you can incorporate into practice to better understand your clients psychological makeup and tendencies for behavior. Positive psychological tools and resources will be discussed.

Sunday, August 14, 2016

8:30am to 10:10am

Cultural Intelligence: Different Values & Behaviors in Financial Planning

Speakers: Stephanie Lee

To start our Sunday morning, Stephanie will open with cross-cultural hangover cures. Once we are on a roll, this session will examine cultural dimensions that can affect financial planning and the client relationship. Rather than perpetuating stereotypes and saying, “The Chinese are like this, and the French are like that,” we will cover some dimensions in which values may differ. An example would be how different cultures view eye contact. In the USA, eye contact is considered necessary to build trust. In other cultures, eye contact can be seen as disrespectful or challenging. The goal of the session is to help you improve your client relationships, especially with those who were raised in a different environment from your own.

10:20am to 12:00pm

Wisdom in our Midst (small groups)

Various Speakers

This will be a free-wheeling session composed of a panel of Roundup participants answering questions that have been submitted by the other participants on any planning-related topic.

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