← AICPA Personal Financial Planning (PFP)
AICPA Personal Financial Planning (PFP)
Deeper CPA Financial Planner Connections, Lyle Benson {PFP Section}
Loading summary
Transcript33 lines
- [00:01]
A
Welcome to the AICPA's Personal Financial Planning Podcast. This is Andrea Miller. On behalf of the AICPA Personal Financial Planning Division, the home for professional personal financial planners, we're happy to bring you insights from experts in tax, retirement estate investment, risk management, practice management and client relationships. We'll be releasing episodes the second and fourth Friday of each month beginning in February. Be sure to Visit us@aicpa.org Pfp for more resources and tools designed to help you guide your clients. And now, over to our guest.
- [00:39]
B
Hi, this is Lyle Benson. Welcome to another episode of Deeper CPA Financial Planner Connections. For today's session, I thought we'd talk about the upcoming AICPA Personal Financial Planning Summit, which is coming up in January in Charlotte, North Carolina. And this will be our ninth year of putting on the PFP Summit. And I thought the best way to talk about this would be and the best way to help people understand what Summit's all about is really talk to people that have been deeply involved from the start of Summit. I'm joined today by three of our committee members. Michael Goodman, co founder of Summit, with me as well, Brook Salvini, who's current chair of the PFP Executive Committee and has been on the Summit Planning Committee for a number of years, and Cheryl Holland, who is our non CPA voice, the voice of the broader profession, if you will, on Summit and helping us move it forward. Summit's a really unique program and I think it's best communicated by hearing about it from people who have experienced it. And this group is probably the best group out there to have that conversation. So I wanted to talk a little bit about what Summit is. Michael, you and I came up with the idea for Summit that kind of grew out of a study group that we were both part of. Tell me, tell us a little bit about what Summit is and what makes it different and unique from the rest of the profession.
- [01:52]
C
Yes, Summit grew out of community, the community that was built at the Advanced PFP Conference as well, as you say, Lyle, the community that's built out of the study groups that exist within our profession. And as you and I were chatting, we thought, how powerful would it be if we could get these same community oriented practitioners in a room to discuss really meaty, deeper dive topics. And the idea here we get a leading authority or expert to kick it off and teach us things and delve into a topic in a special way, but recognize and acknowledge that the knowledge in the room itself was probably, if you accumulated all together, probably even bigger than the speaker itself. As well. And that we could actually have a dialog because we joke the study group on steroids, a dialog of the people in the room along with the expert knowledgeable speaker to create even more from a typical session that you would get at a conference.
- [03:05]
B
I think a lot of times you're absolutely right. Those are great points. I think often we get more out of the session from the discussion among the audience as part of that presentation, as we do from the speaker and the speakers that have really connected well with us. I think recognize that. And they bring the audience into those discussions in a way that really does make it pretty unique, I think.
- [03:25]
C
Yes. To this day, when we're talking to speakers to come and speak at our event, regardless of how technical or non technical, which is usually the case for our topics, we emphasize to the speakers that we want to have a session that's roughly 60% the speaker speaking and 40% having audience feedback and interaction. There have been sessions we've had where for several minutes there'll be a dialogue amongst the members of the audience, the practitioners themselves, helping each other, talking to each other, and taking the content that we're hearing to another level that we normally wouldn't get.
- [04:06]
B
Yeah, normally you get that in the hallways between sessions at conferences. And we have a lot of that and a lot of opportunities for that at Summit, which we'll talk about in a little bit. But here it really becomes part of the presentation itself, which I think is a very unique aspect of Summit.
- [04:20]
C
That's right. And that's the reason why we've also tried to build an agenda that instead of multi track or so many sessions, we'll go with more quality over quantity. The idea of having a longer sessions that are stretched out where it gives the audience the room to listen and interact with each other and not have to drink from a fire hose, if you will. Which is more typical at the advanced PFP conference.
- [04:49]
B
Absolutely. Great, great points. And I think another thing we do that we've started doing in the last couple of years is having a session after the first full day of the conference, having a session that sort of wraps in the evening over cocktails, that wraps up the day, but also gives people a chance, really, in a very different format than a classroom, to talk about what was talked about and take the discussion to the next level.
- [05:11]
C
That's right. Tugging on those threads that come out of the different sessions and allowing us in, not only in a formal environment, but even in an informal environment to continue to chat by the fireside, if you will. And keep talking and really sharing experiences with each other about how we've used or learned or tried to implement different strategies into our practice.
- [05:37]
B
Exactly. I mean, that's how we all improve. This whole community sort of brings everybody together and raises us all up. The rising tide raises all boats, I guess, is the idea that comes to mind when I think of that. That community has become so important. Brooke, I know you've been involved with Summit almost from the start and been on the committee almost from the start. That community has really grown and has really evolved. And we've got Summit Presents as well. Give me some thoughts, Brooke, on what that community means to the cpa, to the financial planning profession as a whole.
- [06:07]
D
I think we've come to rely on each other as support group. Another, while we might not be a formal study group, we have developed relationships and feel comfortable with each other. And in between our annual meeting and the different PfP presents, we are in contact. And I'm very comfortable with many members that I've met at Summit that I could reach out and ask questions to bounce ideas off of. One thing that Michael didn't mention, but I think is really important to why we've been able to develop community. It's the facility itself. We are in one larger room. The group generally is limited to about 120. Attendees could possibly go up to 150, but we've usually kept it at about 120. And we are returning again and again to the same large conference room. And so we. We just become more comfortable with each other. We know each other better then we, of course, have lunch together and breaks together. So it's been an opportunity to know each other better than just, you know, a quick hello passing in the hallway. So definitely the community has become very important to me. And a group of people that I'm comfortable with and can rely upon.
- [07:37]
B
It is. And very much taking that study group concept and taking it in a broader scale where we've got more people that are in this kind of a study group setting. I think that's absolutely right. And the Summit Presents that you mentioned, Brooke, tell me about that. And what do we explain a little bit about what we do with Summit Presents?
- [07:53]
D
I believe we started Summit Presents during COVID when we had a virtual meeting and then felt a little bit unsatisfied with just one virtual connection and thought, okay, let's try this. We've got some very meaty topics. Let's try getting back together virtually two or three additional times throughout the year to keep the connection going. Worked well. During COVID So we've decided to continue. And for example, we just had a PFP Presents in June. And at that time, one of our speakers, Dr. Joel Rothman, who an expert on longevity, and he is the director of the Longevity Studies at UC Santa Barbara, he had a great Fireside chat when we were all in Austin in January, everybody was interested in learning more. So we invited him back to a virtual webcast and just to continue the conversation and to introduce some new members who maybe weren't able to be there in January. And. And then we also use PFP Presents as a way to introduce an upcoming speaker and give a sneak preview of what might be a topic. So I believe that we will be having an additional PFP present in October or November, I believe it is. And more than likely we are going to have one of our upcoming speakers there to talk a little bit about what's coming up.
- [09:23]
B
So it really gives us a chance to either go deeper into a topic from the prior Summit or Summit program, or set the stage for another one that's upcoming with the upcoming Summit. You know, when I think about the profession overall, as Michael mentioned, he and I came up with this idea for Summit that came out of a study group and came in out of a little bit of our concern about conferences that are too big, too much information, can't really make the connections we wanted to make anymore. And that's part of why we created Summit. I think our profession as a whole really needs that. And Cheryl, I think you're one of the best people out there in the country, really. To comment on what the professional landscape looks like from an education standpoint, can you give us some of your thoughts from the broader perspective?
- [10:07]
E
I think you're exactly right. I think the real need that Summit fills for all of us and everyone who comes is that we're at the tip of the spear. If you think about the knowledge sphere for our profession, there's got to be a few people willing to experiment, to think differently about what we need as advisors for our client and to go out and seek that information, that knowledge, and bring it into the methodology that the rest of us use every day. And SANA delivers on that every year. Whether it's how to create your office space or artificial intelligence, or how to market in a way that works for knowledge based sellers. Those are all things that all of us are seeking and we deliver. As you all mentioned earlier, maybe the topic and the speaker, but it's the group talking together about how do we adapt this to what we are Doing as advisors, we just do that extraordinarily well for the profession. I think the second big theme that we've been talking about here, this profession, the feeling, well, the financial planning, financial advisory profession was founded on people sharing. If you look all the way back 20, 30 years plus, it was people who are willing to learn and then come and share. And this group is so inclusive. I never feel uncomfortable sending a team member or inviting someone to come because I know they'll just sit down the first table they walk to have a group who will say sit with me and start talking about something that's a problem or a challenge or they've learned. And that inclusiveness and sharing you just don't get as easily anywhere else. I don't think probably in size. Brooke, as you said, partly it's where our venues and partly it's the people that we attract. It's all of those together. And I think the third point, just to reinforce it, is a study group on steroids. So if you like your study group and you want to mix it up or expand what you're learning, summit is just a. Or find a new study group member. I don't think you can find a better place to summit because at the end of this day, we are a knowledge and expertise profession and we have to constantly learn. We have to learn from each other. We have to learn together. Hey, I heard this. Did you hear it? The same way that goes on all day long at some you're never bored, you're never unengaged and we're all learning the same thing. I love that we're on the same track so that we're not going into our little niche specialties. We're thinking together and at the end of the day, we're a profession of journalists. And so I do think leap the summit offers a unique opportunity to remain true to the profession's general's core. So I think those are three tip of the sphere Study group on steroid and that learning, sharing, inclusive environment that is in our DNA as a profession, I think are all a part of what we're carrying forward.
- [12:45]
B
Very well said, Cheryl. Very well captured. And I think that really describes a lot of what Summon is all about and why it's so important for the profession and us as professionals as we move forward.
- [12:54]
E
We owe it to each other and we owe it to the young men and women who are coming up behind us to keep creating that atmosphere, sharing, learning, experimenting, failing. You know, what's out there that has nothing to do with our profession. That we need to be adopting. Brooke's a genius at thinking about things that way, finding speakers for us.
- [13:11]
B
She's always outside the box, and I like that. That's why she's on the committee. And I think that Next Generation is a really good comment as well. Cheryl Summit has done a good job of attracting a lot of the Next Generation leaders to the program, and I think they add so much to it because we're not just getting the perspective of us as First Generation founders of our firm, we're getting that perspective from that Next generation that's coming along and maybe looking at things differently and various aspects of how to run the firm and serve our clients. I want to jump over to talk about it was mentioned earlier that the format and the location, the physical location, the classroom we're in, is a perfect setting for that. Dimensional Fund Advisors has been where we've held Summit for the last three years, and it's worked out really well. Michael, we're getting ready to make a change in that this year, but still be at a DFA facility. Tell us a little bit about that, what that transition looks like and your perspective on it.
- [14:03]
C
Yes, we're really excited to bring Summit to the East Coast. It's started out on the West Coast. We've had the last three years in Austin, Texas, and now we're super excited to bring it to the east coast in Charlotte, North Carolina. And what's exciting about that is gives the chance for Dimensional not only to continue to support and host the conference in a super special setting, but really they're that's their newest office and they have a really special classroom layout that will really help Summit go to the next level in a sense of community. The classroom is set up in a way that will foster more communication and perhaps even more importantly, allow us to get a couple of more seats in the room for people that want to come and enjoy the Summit. So we're pretty excited about that. In 2025 of January of 2025, we'll be in Charlotte, North Carolina.
- [14:59]
B
Great. Yeah, we're excited about making that transition and maybe tapping into, as you said, a slightly different audience, drawing more of the east coast folks to Summit as well. Where the conference committee is, as you all certainly know, by being part of it for so many years, is constantly thinking about topics, and it's a real evolution throughout the course of many months to develop an agenda that really fits our audience. We're pretty far along in that process so far. We don't have a set agenda yet. We've Got a number of speakers that are lined up or in the process of being lined up. Brooke, talk to us a little bit about. Sometimes the themes evolve from our discussions. We don't typically come into it saying, this is what our theme is. Let's go find speakers. We typically let the theme evolve from talking about what's on our minds, what our concerns are, what we're facing in our practices with our clients, and how is that playing out this year as we develop the agenda?
- [15:52]
D
Every year is a challenge because as we wrapped up in January, we felt we had put on the best summit. And so here we are again trying to put together an agenda for January 2025. And I think it is really coming together nicely and some themes that we always try to hit on in one fashion or other because there are themes that are relevant to all of our businesses we're all dealing with. And I'm not sure anybody said this yet, but Summit is typically not a technical. We're generally not talking About Secure Act 2.0 or whatever technical issue, but we're talking about running our businesses, helping our employees, all of the issues of being successful and the thought leaders of the industry. Typically, we've issues like transitions, succession, leadership. This coming up in 2025 for the third year, really a very important topic, of course, is going to be artificial intelligence. So we will be talking about that, and now we'll have some more feedback, and I think we'll be able to have deeper conversations as attendee to attendee, because many people have been starting to implement and use it, and so that's going to be pretty fascinating. We also know that many of the businesses are. And our client base are aging, so there are various types of transitions. And we are talking about having an expert there to help us talk about some of the more difficult transitions. Death, divorce, when there are difficult emotions in helping us help our clients with those issues. And maybe one idea, it's not necessarily the theme yet, but maybe something that we've kicked around is this concept of storytelling. And one of the things as advisors that we are always trying to do is we're trying to help our clients understand their story. There's. It's all about connecting and taking those pieces. The finances, the numbers are. We're accountants, so the numbers are interesting to us. But it's not about the numbers. It's about life, and it's about living the best life, and it's about what's important. And that is really a story. And so that is maybe a theme that's rising to the top for 2025.
- [18:24]
B
Great. Thank you, Brooke. Yeah, I think it's always an interesting process to see how the ideas and the speakers and the thoughts for the sessions come together. And we always seem to pull together because we're all drawing from what we're seeing in our practices, what we're hearing from others, our colleagues, in terms of what their needs are, what they're focused on, what their issues are. So that's a way. That's how we build Summit, essentially, from that kind of a discussion. We also try to make sure at Summit that we have the opportunities outside of the classroom to really interact with each other. And we've always done a great job of that with Dimensional Fund Advisors. They've given us a great facility. We try to pick a hotel that works from a logistics standpoint to do some evening receptions and add on some other activities, too, that are fun. Cheryl, I know you're focused on that a little bit since you're geographically closest to Charlotte for us. Any thoughts on how we want to integrate that in with Summit this year?
- [19:17]
E
I am so honored to be Chief Entertainment Officer this year. Lyle. Very excited about that. But I think one of the nice aspects, the very first time I went to Summit was the food was extraordinarily good and healthy. And that's been true every time there's time for, well, being, taking a walk somewhere beautiful. And we've always tried to build in ways to build camaraderie, whether that's the Electric Slide or golfing or painting. I know I won the salsa competition one year. So lots of ways to have a good time together that we all know it's important to, no matter what we do, to experience awe and delight and joy and to just have time to let our hair down. It's a long day. So we'll be in Charlotte this year, and it'll be, I think, good weather for most of us. You're coming from different parts of the country, and we'll definitely be doing something outside that takes advantage of the unique aspect of Charlotte. We're thinking maybe an architecture tour. It's a modern city. Maybe something to do with some of the. A couple of the very interesting museums they have in town where we would just walk and explore and learn in a different way. And of course, it's always important to have a beer around the virtual fireplace, virtual lobby. We'll have a lot of that, I'm sure. So if you come know that we will be having some fun along with our learning. And we know from brain science that helps us solidify what we learn.
- [20:37]
B
And it really helps build those relationships, too. Past Summits, just the walking, conversations with people that were as deep and meaningful as anything I heard in a classroom.
- [20:47]
E
For sure. Just ride the bus sometimes back and forth from the hotels, who you sit next to. So we're going to have. We're going to have fun, but we're going to play hard and work hard. That's what we do at Summit. We're going to a bunch of nerds.
- [20:58]
D
I have great memories of Summit, and I think the first or second year I chose to do the painting and wine tasting. And so we were painting pictures that were going to be hung up in the children's hospital. And it was just a peaceful, delightful activity. And connecting with about six of us were really able to paint and drink wine and talk and get to know each other. And a great memory. And I want to say from a younger person's point of view. One of my staff members came to Summit last year and I wasn't quite sure if it was going to be relevant. I was so interested to receive the feedback that he found it to be the best conference he had been to. Interesting because he's not exactly in an executive position. But those issues, wherever you are in your career development, developing your leadership skills are important. Thinking about these issues are important. So that was great feedback. And he was also more comfortable getting to spend time, more time with and connecting with other attendees that were at a similar place in their career as he was. So I was very pleased.
- [22:18]
B
Yeah, I think it's really great when I see the young, the next generation folks really connecting at Summit and having that interaction among themselves as well as among the senior ones of us who are the founders of our firms. So, yeah, that's great. Michael, any other comments before we close our discussion today?
- [22:34]
C
I think there's an overall theme as what we started with and that is community. And we thought carefully about that as we started to build out Summit. Of course, it's had some iterations and evolved to be even better than when we started. But I think the comments that were just made about the room to get to know people. We specifically have longer breaks. We specifically emphasize having the conference end earlier in the day rather than late. So there's some buffer time to go on a walk or do an activity that we schedule or you do on your own to meet with other advisors. And I've seen the relationships build from year after year of the people that attend Summit. And I think one of the most rewarding things for me is the fact that we have so many people that come back year after year to Summit, that you've seen those faces for coming up on nine or so years now and the same people. And it's almost like we look forward to getting back together again each year to share and learn.
- [23:40]
B
Yeah. The interesting thing too is I know I've heard a number of stories from people who I didn't know before they came to Summit, who've talked about the fact that Summit really changed their career trajectory. It gave them the ability to move things to the next stage and they felt like they were welcomed into this community, even though they weren't the people that I had seen before at conferences or within the CPA financial planning world.
- [24:02]
C
The fact that so many people register for the event before the agenda is even put out is an indication of the fact that not only is the agenda going to be great, but that people are so enthusiastic about being back in the room to establish those relations, re establish those relationships and build on that community is really indicative of what Summit's all about.
- [24:27]
B
I think it absolutely is Absolutely right. So let me close by just giving to people the details. So January 26th as a Sunday evening. We'll start with some with a small reception, a welcoming reception. The program is the 27th, 28th and a half day on the 29th. We typically try to finish up by midday noon or so on Wednesday to get people to be able to get back home to either coast during the same day. It's limited to between 100 and 120 people, as you've heard earlier. Please sign up early. We've got a number of signups early on when we first announced it a few months ago, and more details will be coming together as the committee continues to work on pulling the agenda together and the topics of the speakers as well. Thank you all for sharing your thoughts on Summit. I really appreciate that you all are just a great perspective on what we've created here and we're looking forward to continuing it in 2025. Thank you all very much. If you have any questions, you can always go to the ASCPA PFP website where there's a page devoted to Summit that has the details.
- [25:25]
A
Thank you and thank you for sharing with our community of listeners. Our hope is that you got a valuable takeaway. Check out the Show Notes to find resources related to this episode. To learn more, visit the AICPA pfp section@aicpa.org pfp if you get value from this podcast, we would love your support by subscribing to the podcast and your favorite podcast app. Thank you so much for listening and I look forward to next time.
- [25:57]
F
This content is designed to provide illustrative information with respect to the subject matter covered and does not represent an official opinion or position of the aicpa, the association, or cima. It is provided with the understanding that they are not engaged in offering legal, accounting or other professional services. If such advice or expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. The aicpa, the association and CEMA make no representations, warranties or guarantees as to, and assume no responsibility for the content or application of the material contained herein, and especially disclaim all liability for any damages arising out of the use of, reference to, or reliance on such material.