The Future of Financial Planning

On July 20-22, the NexGen community and the Financial Planning Association co-hosted the second annual NexGen Conference for the future leaders of the profession. More than 100 attendees turned out for the event at Saint John's University in St. Cloud, Minnesota. These young planners, working at firms across the country, attended to learn how they could contribute more to the future of the profession by fostering a community in which they could gain support, encouragement, and insight from their while learning skills to help them grow their firms.

Besides three general sessions, there were two simultaneous program tracks–technical and career development–for attendees. The technical track addressed detailed topics such as alternative investments, retirement income, and global investing. The career development trakc remained on a more personal level, addressing options when it comes to job changes and career tracks, communication within a business, and ownership considerations. Additionally, some of the sessions were designed to overlap with FPA Reunion 2007–an inaugural meeting that brought together some of the pioneers of the profession who were at the first FPA Retreat on the same Saint John's campus in 1981.