This past August, the Financial Planning Association gave us a glimpse of the future leaders of the profession by hosting its first-ever NexGen 2006 conference.
The conference was formed, the FPA said, to create a "community of practice" for the next generation, primarily younger financial planners. More than 100 attendees (43% of whom were women) turned out for the event in Estes Park, Colorado. The majority, armed with college degrees in personal financial planning, are working at planning firms across the country. Many attended, they said, to learn how they could contribute more to the future of the profession and to the growth of their firms.
Paul Fain of Asset Management Corp. in Knoxville, Tennessee, kicked off the conference with a musical beat in the first keynote speech titled, "A Practice 31 Years in the Making." While he played the guitar, Fain shared a story of loss, relating how he inherited his late father's planning practice, dysfunctions and all. Fain's bottom line message to attendees: employees are an investment in the future vision of a pioneer's company. Whether you're inheriting a practice like Fain did, buying one, or simply employed by one and seeking a partnership track, helping the owners to carry out their company vision is how young or new planners can build for themselves an ideal career.
