FPA of MN Newsletter – June 2016

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FPA of MN Member Wins BestPrep’s 2016 Bunzel Volunteer of the Year Award

FPA of Minnesota member Jason Kley was recently honored with BestPrep’s 2016 Bunzel Volunteer of the Year Award for providing educational opportunities for students. Jason’s involvement with BestPrep goes back nearly 25 years, beginning with his attendance of Minnesota Business Venture (MBV) summer camp, learning business principles and teamwork. Jason would later return to MBV as a Resident Business Leader, mentoring a team of students through their week. He now speaks in classrooms on financial and career topics and serves on the Financial Matters Ambassador Committee.

“I volunteer my time because I believe in BestPrep and am passionate about education youth about business, careers, and finances,” Jason shared. “These programs allow me to give back to an organization that has given me so much, and has allowed me to make a further impact by providing financial education to our students.”

The Bunzel Volunteer of the year award commemorates the efforts of Eric Bunzel, retired President of Cargill Ferrous International. Since its inception, the award has been presented to more than 20 individuals whose volunteer efforts and commitment to the students of Minnesota have been exemplary. Jason was selected to receive this award from a group of over 4,000 volunteers.


SYMPOSIUM SPEAKER - October 10, Deirdre Van Nest

REGISTER NOW and save $100

How to Get More Warm Leads in One Hour Than Most Business Owners Get In One Month
Presentation Scheduled for Monday, 11:10-12:10 pm
Anticipated CE: 1 NASBA/CPE, 1 CLE Prof Dev
NO CE: 1 CFP, 1 MN insurance, 1 WI insurance, 1 CIMA

Are you that advisor who is tired of building your business one client at a time? There is another way. The secret is to leverage your marketing time. When you know how to put together a Crazy Good Money-Making Talk™, it becomes your most powerful and consistent lead-generating tool. A tool that enables you to stop chasing clients and instead bring in multiple clients from a single presentation.

In this interactive talk, you will learn:

  • How one Advisor brought in 7 new clients from a 60-minute community education talk.
  • The mistake most Advisors make at the open and close of their presentation that kill their sales - and what to do instead.
  • How to immediately command the attention of any audience. Do this and you’ll stand out from the crowd and increase your conversion rate.
  • What you must say in your close to have people lining up to get on your calendar after a talk.

Deirdre is a powerful, passionate and persuasive speaker; her ability to ignite any audience into action is remarkable, which makes her one of the most exciting, relevant and memorable speakers we’ve had to date.”

~ Jill Dawson, Manager, American Family Insurance

Deirdre was amazing. If you are looking for a speaker to "WOW" the audience, look no further .... Deirdre is it.”

~ Jim Bear, Registered Investment Advisor


SYMPOSIUM BREAKOUT - Retirement Living: A New Perspective on Retirement Income Planning

REGISTER NOW and save $100

Presentation Scheduled for Tuesday, 1:50-2:40 pm
Pending CE Approval: 1 CIMA, .75 CLE Stnd
Approved CE: 1 CFP, 1 NASBA/CPE, 1 MN insurance, 1 WI insurance

Predicting the future is fraught with many assumptions; retirement planning involves a unique set of challenges for advisers including an unknown planning period, investment returns, lifestyle, and physical and cognitive decline. This session will include a discussion of trends in longevity, new research on the stages in retirement, spending and time use patterns, and life satisfaction. A comprehensive retirement plan incorporates both financial and lifestyle goals, and this session will provide insight into how an advisor can help clients get the most out of this life cycle stage.

Advisors often view retirement income planning through the lens of the 4% rule, but changes in longevity and a lower-return environment challenge conventional wisdom about safe withdrawal rates. This presentation presents a new perspective on Retirement Income Planning. It will discuss what it means to take risk with an investment portfolio in retirement, how high prices for bonds and stocks will impact withdrawal rate projection, and the actual risk of health care expenses. It will conclude with strategies to deal with a new retirement reality including a discussion of qualified longevity annuity contracts.

Michael Finke, Ph.D., CFP® is the Dean and Chief Academic Officer at The American College of Financial Services.Dr. Finke served as the editor of the Journal of Personal Finance and is a contributing editor to Research Magazine. He received a doctorate in consumer economics from the Ohio State University in 1998 and in finance from the University of Missouri in 2011.He was named to the 2013 and 2014 Investment Advisor IA25 list and the 2012 Investment News Power 20, and received the Montgomery Warschauer best paper award from the Journal of Financial Planning in 2013 and 2014.


SYMPOSIUM BREAKOUT - Bringing Clarity to the Long Term Care Discussion

REGISTER NOW and save $100

Presentation Scheduled for Tuesday, 1:50-2:40 pm
Pending CE Approval: 1 CIMA, .75 CLE Stnd
Approved CE: 1 CFP, 1 NASBA/CPE, 1 MN insurance, 1 WI insurance

The only constant in long term care insurance seems to be change.

Traditional LTCI carriers have priced and re-priced their products, so are we finally at the right actuarial pricing? Are the companies offering traditional policies here to stay? Once the new kid on the block, the linked benefit and LTCI rider solutions have seen great market growth, now accounting for half of all LTCI policies sold, but at the same time creating much confusion with both consumers and producers on where they best fit.

Amidst all this change, one thing has not – the need for families to proactively plan for their future long term care.

What’s going on with long term care insurance?

  • There have never been more options available, so why have combined sales of all LTCI solutions stalled?
  • What has happened in the industry to get us to this point?
  • Is pricing stable for traditional LTCI?
  • What are consumers looking for in a solution, and why aren’t we listening to them?
  • How best can we move forward?

In this FPA Symposium presentation, Presenter Deb Newman will discuss the past, present and future of long term care planning. She will discuss the range of products available to the modern advisor – from the changing traditional LTCI market to linked benefits, and LTCI riders. You will learn the pros and cons of the various solutions, and experience case studies that illustrate how different options might play out for the same clients.

Most importantly, we will study the impact long term care has on your client’s families’ financial, emotional and physical health, and why creating a solution with any of these options should be a critical part of your client’s plan.


Save $25 on FPA Annual Conference - BE Baltimore 2016

Use Promo Code CHBE16 to give yourself a $25 discount to attend the BE conference AND earn $25 for the FPA of Minnesota in the form of a rebate!

Download the schedule-at-a-glance for FPABE to start planning your time
What You Will Learn at the FPA Annual Conference featuring Carolyn McClanahan, M.D., CFP®


Is Suze Orman a Fiduciary?

Just prior to drafting this paper, I did a quick search in my Outlook Inbox for “DOL Fiduciary”- 192 results….and that doesn’t include the ones I’ve already sent to the Deleted box. So if you’re a financial advisor and you’ve not been inundated with like emails, you’re either a master at Outlook’s incoming mail rules or your internet connection is dead.

As you know by now, the Dept. of Labor (DOL) has issued their final issues on a Fiduciary Rule; simply put, advisors who “receive compensation for making investment recommendations that are individualized or specifically directed to a particular plan sponsor running a retirement plan, plan participant, or IRA owner is a fiduciary”. [note- we’re drawing the distinction between fiduciary and suitability standard]

For years now, I – like many others - have listened to the likes of Suze Orman, Dave Ramsey, Jim Cramer, etc. And like many of you I suspect, I have gasped at some of the advice I’ve heard dispensed thinking, “They can’t say that! They don’t know anything about the client!”. So when the Fiduciary Rule was in its infancy and there was discussion of restrictions on radio and TV personalities, I thought – good, about time. Not so fast…..

But - according to the ruling - Are the personalities mentioned above providing advice “specifically directed” to an individual or to a general audience? The DOL has expressed that the intent of the ruling is not to regulate journalism or the entertainment industry, but rather to ensure paid investment professionals are making recommendations that are in the best interest of the investor. One point for Suze. [Is Suze a Fiduciary: No 1, Yes 0]

Tim Hauser –DOL deputy assistant secretary- said “If you’re not getting a fee for a recommendation you are not a fiduciary…”. What about Dave Ramsey? He receives fees from advisors that have paid subscriptions as being an ‘endorsed local provider’. Does that qualify as being “paid”? Not according to the DOL. Another point for Suze. [Is Suze a Fiduciary: No 2, Yes 0]

But wait Suze, I caught you here: Under the Regulation, you are providing investment advice if you: ….provide to an IRA owner a recommendation regarding: (among other things) the management of securities or other investment property, including:- investment policies or strategies;- portfolio composition;
Gottcha! How many times have I heard you discuss portfolio strategy and allocation (read: composition)? And I have you on this too: the DOL defines a recommendation to be: "A communication that, based on its content, context, and presentation would reasonably be viewed as a suggestion that the advice recipient engage in or refrain from taking a particular course of action." Or one that, “appears that a recommendation is one that would reasonably be an encouragement to act.” One point for me! [Is Suze a Fiduciary: No 2, Yes 1]

The DOL goes on to clarify: generalized suggestions to the public that are not targeted to a given individual are not recommendations. Wait. What? I am penalized a point [Is Suze a Fiduciary: No 2, Yes 0]

At the risk of going into extra innings, the DOL has concluded that Suze (Jim, Dave, etc.) is not a fiduciary, hence not held to fiduciary standards. However, in closing my thought is - If you don’t want to be a fiduciary and you don’t want to be responsible for your investment advice, don’t give investment advice.

From The Federal Register, Vol. 81, No. 68: Thus, the final rule includes a new ‘‘general communications’’ paragraph (b)(2)(iii) as an example of communications that are not considered recommendations under the definition. This paragraph affirmatively excludes from investment advice the furnishing of general communications that a reasonable person would not view as an investment recommendation, including general circulation newsletters; television, radio, and public media talk show commentary; remarks in widely attended speeches and conferences; research reports prepared for general distribution; general marketing materials; general market data, including data on market performance, market indices, or trading volumes; price quotes; performance reports; or prospectuses.


Join the Discussion on the DOL Fiduciary Rule and Other Public Policy Matters

Join the Public Policy and Regulation Knowledge Circle and join your peers who share an interest on the public policy and regulatory issues that impact the practice of financial planning. Are you interested in discussing the re-proposed DOL fiduciary rule? While this is the community that will tackle the issue head-on, it is also the home for other areas of public policy and regulation discussion and learning. Take part today!


The All-New FPA PlannerSearch® is Now LIVE and Making You More Visible!

BIG NEWS! The newly redesigned, re-engineered FPA PlannerSearch® is now LIVE and better meets the needs of our CFP® members and the public. The significant overhaul of the site and search functionality was to shift the primary focus of the platform to driving member visibility online, which will lead to new business opportunities. If you are a CFP® professional member on the site, please be sure to update your profile. Keeping it fresh will help in driving relevance in Google searches. Check out the new site at www.PlannerSearch.org!


Get Your Member-Exclusive Whitepaper on Operationalizing Your Value

If you downloaded the exclusive FPA whitepaper on defining your value, now take the next step to learn what you can do to operationalize that value! Download your copy of Operationalizing the Delivery of Your Value – the second of three exclusive whitepapers based on recent research by the FPA Research and Practice Institute™. FPA members…download your copy today!


FPA Professional Services Directory Now Available…and Expanded!

FPA has launched a new member benefit – the FPA Professional Services Directory – to provide members with even more resources and tools to support their professional and business success. The Directory, accessible on FPA Connect, lists all Allied Professional and CFP® Professional members of FPA and serves as a resource to connect members who seek support in the financial planning process.