A record attendance for the South West Branch (at least under my chairmanship) of 20 members gathered in Exeter in May to hear two excellent, practical sessions, as well as to share stories and best practice with each other, reports chairman Pete Matthew CFP^CM.
Firstly, Richard Allum CFP^CM of The Paraplanners and Moneyscope gave a powerful talk entitled Cashflow Modelling – More than just a fancy chart. This really highlighted the benefits of cashflow modelling and lifestyle Financial Planning, both for our clients, and therefore of course, for our businesses.
Richard talked about the need for agreed assumptions for things like future returns and inflation, so that both client and planner can trust the output of the models. Modelling realistic scenarios also helps clients understand and appreciate the gravity of the financial impact of, say, a long term illness, spurring them to take action.
Even though the room was filled with experienced Financial Planners, the feedback shows that this session was very welcome and pertinent.
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Lawrence Cook of IFP corporate member Thesis Asset Management then gave another very practical session on Breaking Through to Success with professional introducers. This is an area of specialism for Thesis who work with Financial Planning firms to help them establish relationships with solicitors and accountants in their area. These relationships can take various forms, from joint ventures to looser, mutual referral arrangements.
Lawrence had clear action points which everyone present could take away and put into practice the very next day, in order to move forward with their own professional connections. Again, the delegate feedback was superb.
I was really pleased with the turn out, particularly in welcoming quite a few first-time attendees. I'd encourage you to go along to your next branch meeting where you'll get much value out of the speaker sessions, and the networking with like-minded professional Financial Planners and Paraplanners.