Report by Nominating Committee Liaison, Susan Cappa Recently the IARFC recruited candidates for 3 open positions on their Board of Directors. The election process permitted any member of the Association to volunteer or a member could nominate another member for service. This year we had an unprecedented number of very high caliber candidates for the 3 positions. Each candidate went through a vetting process and all qualified for nomination based on their qualifications, continuing education and continuous good service to their clients. The current Board of Directors then voted from the slate of candidates. The results: Jon Rogers of Rogers…

From the Accreditation Team The MRFC Certification Board is now in place and ready to start working on accreditation. This governing body – independent of the IARFC Board of Directors is a required component by the NCCA. It is their responsibility to oversee and maintain the accreditation from development to NCCA submission to post acceptance. It was made very clear that they are in charge. Your newly elected board members are: Nicolas Pologeorgis, Louise Fallica, Edward Skelly, Burton Stewart and Julie Friend. On October 30th, the Board had their first meeting with the IARFC accreditation team via GoToMeeting. The initial…

If you have read the Register in the past year or two, you know that the IARFC has been proceeding down the Path to Accreditation. You’ve heard about the behind the scenes work the IARFC is doing in order to reach the goal. The question we keep hearing from members is “WHY?” Why is the IARFC seeking accreditation. Why now, when the IARFC is in its 30th year, after having weathered the storm for so long. These are questions that Amy Primeau, Domestic Membership for IARFC posed in her article in the September/October Register. To understand why the IARFC is…

This Fall brings a new issue of the Journal of Personal Finance. It is the first Journal produced by our new co-editors Wade D. Pfau, Ph.D., CFA, RFC® and Joseph A. Tomlinson, FSA, CFP™, RFC®. This Volume 13 Issue 2 covers a variety of financial planning topics ranging from traditional survey research studies to articles in new groundbreaking areas such a optimization techniques for financial planning and neuroscience applications. According to Dr. Pfau, “The lead article by Gordon Irlam on connecting retirement asset allocation to age and funded status has already drawn the interest from one Nobel laureate interested in…

Update September 2014… Our first invites went out for the 2015 IARFC National Plan Competition. This time we are holding the finals in the Motor Speedway City of Charlotte, NC. We are happy to report that 112 students from 11 different Universities have responded so far and we still have six weeks of registration to go. Great news in that the majority of the Universities interested are new. All in all it is a good showing for the first call for participants. And sponsorship is doing well amongst the membership. If you wish to become a sponsor, please go to…

Exerts from Michelle Blair, RFC “Pearl’s” article in the September Register. If we thought that technology was changing quickly 30 years ago, watch out for the future!  Before, we would measure major change cycles in years, but today there is something new and exciting on a daily basis.  For instance: Everyone maintains their “life” on a phone or tablet these days We use Skype on a daily basis An Outlook calendar sees “where” everyone is CRM maintains our database Financial plans are entered into software Branding yourself on social media is the way to go. NEVER let the personal touch…

Recently a group of subject matter experts (SMEs) convened in Middletown, OH to write the items (questions) for the exam component of the MRFC Proposed Designation. The subject matter was determined through a survey that many of our members responded to earlier in the year. The results of this in-depth questionnaire determined a percentage blueprint of subject matter domains and their weight of exam questions. The final tally ended with 13 topics: Client Engagement Process, Retirement Planning, Insurance Planning, Education Planning, Estate Planning, Professional Conduct, Plan Development, Data Gathering, Ongoing Monitoring, Tax Planning, Investment Planning, Regulations and Compliance, and Practice…

By Jamie Bosse, CFP® RFC® Close your eyes and picture this: A financial planning or investment management firm in 1982. What do you see? Big, thick mahogany desks, classic artwork in gold-plated frames, gigantic file rooms full of tons (literally, tons) of paper, and perhaps some classy statues resting on doilies on every end table. News Flash – if your office still looks like this, you may not be prepared to embrace the next generation of clients. The people who were born in 1982 are now in their 30’s, educated, and potentially on the fast track to becoming what you…

Professionals who love what they do for a living feel fortunate and look for a way to pay it forward – especially to the kids today. For that reason, RFC Ed Skelly of Sterling Financial Partners in Ashburn, Virginia decided to travel to Las Vegas and judge the Finals of the IARFC National Plan Competition held on May 1. As a Diamond Sponsor, Ed is encouraged by what the kids are learning in school.  “Today the presentations by the three teams were absolutely phenomenal,” commented Skelly.  “I think the nine students who presented did a wonderful job. The Final Results:…

Recently the IARFC hosted the semi-finals for the National Plan Competition in Middletown, OH via web conference. Three teams of students and their professors are now making plans for Las Vegas. When asked how worthwhile was the experience so far of competing in the Plan Competition, this is how a number of our finalists responded… “I think this experience has been very worthwhile because I have learned a lot more about what it’s really like interacting with a client. I think the conference and the final presentation will also be a very worthwhile experience.” Jamie Pepin, Shepard University “The experience…