I AM NOT A CONFERENCE GUY….And that is said with all due respect. There are exceptional ones. Others are great, but I chose poorly, attending one’s whose content was not relevant to me. But after 30 years in the business, I find myself more aware of value, more cognizant of which ones I should choose or avoid, and drawn to ones where industry leaders run them.
With that said, I find myself more excited about the National Association of Plan Advisors annual 401k Summit this year than any event I have attended in my career. Why do I say that?
1) Individuals like Nevin Adams Corby Dall Renee Scherzer and Alex Assaley, AIF® (and many others through the years) have improved this event annually, with the ones named above providing the biggest leap I’ve seen in quality in recent years.
2) The word “Conference” doesn’t do it justice. This has become a leadership forum and because of it collaboration is growing. Our industry of RIAs has largely functioned as an immature industry (which it is, in that it’s newer than other aspects of the financial industry.) In that I mean, we have done little to actually cross collaborate. You can literally feel that changing because of recent leadership. If no one is paying attention, the big New York firms are noticing our growth and selling services into RIAs. If we were to do business with each other instead, we’d all have stronger, more sustainable and healthier long-term organic growth. I’m excited to see this evolving. And NAPA has been a big piece of that.
3) The industry is changing more rapidly than ever and it WILL NOT slow down. NAPAs agenda is EXCEPTIONAL and on point. TAKE A LOOK: https://lnkd.in/g4_r9Ury
4) Instead of fees, funds and fiduciary - i.e. table steaks- there are new viable plan structures, guaranteed income solutions, CITs evolving, and more changes than I can count. It creates an environment where we must work together, or get left behind, and we must do more to add value to our clients. NAPA has created a proverbial think tank for us to all attend and share these ideas.
In closing, I don’t write this because I think others will attend based on it. Attendance is already insane. I simply have a deep sense of gratitude, as I can honestly say I have selfishly done very little, if anything, to help this group. Meanwhile these individuals selflessly made sacrifices to help our industry, our businesses, and us individually. So THANK YOU! Not all are with NAPA, but are regular participants. For that I thank the leaders above and many more (don’t kill me if I forget you):
Fred Reish Jason Roberts Rob Barnett John Sullivan Brian Graff Matthew Eickman, J.D. AIF® Bonnie Treichel Todd Kading, CFP®, RF™ Yaqub Ahmed Jania Stout, CPFA Joe DeNoyior Matthew Wolniewicz, AIFA Jeffrey Cullen Bruce Ashton Brian Anderson Neil Anderson Kassandra Hendrix Tina Wilson, CFA Richard Luchinsky Cathy Marasco Brendan McCarthy Tyler Neenan, CFP®, C(k)P® Glenn Dial John Geli Ralph Ferraro
Managing Partner, Morecrofts LLP
2moLovely lunch & good interactions as always- great to see other strategic partners & patrons of the Chamber 😀