First Report from the FPA Conference

by: Michelle T. Robinson

The annual FPA (Financial Planning Association) Conference was held this last week September 8-11th at the Washington State Convention center in Seattle. As a Certified Financial Planner, I enjoy keeping in touch with current trends and continuing my education. Having the conference in my own back yard was a bonus!

I attended many sessions, but instead of a summary of them all, I’Äôd like to give you just the highlights. So I will be writing a series based on what I found to be the most important to share with you, our clients. To me, the highlights weren't the sessions on Global Markets or Asset Allocation. It was the inter-personal, behavioral issues of a person, as an investor and a client that really intrigued me.

My conference started with a session on Ethics. The speaker was Patrick Kuhse, a former successful stockbroker and entrepreneur, until he was indicted on 32 felony counts, including bribing a public official, money laundering and conspiracy. Dr. Samuel Johnson is given the credit for the quote to "The road to hell is paved with good intentions". This is quite true for the events of Patrick Kuhse's life.

I had this preconceived notion that this man was going to be like Gordon Gekko from the 1987 movie "Wall Street". All about greed and making money no matter what. But actually, he was a nice guy from Iowa, raised by loving parents, who over the years, just ever so slightly, starting making the wrong decisions and sliding down critical errors, all for the "sake of providing for his family". His story is amazing’Ķthe typical American dream. Working his way up through several firms, until finally he found himself running from the law, leaving the country with his family to hide in Costa Rica, until his ultimate surrender. But it wasn't like he planned to be a crook. You can find out more details of his story on his website, http://www.speakingofethics.com/index.htm

He says there are 8 critical thinking errors that led him to his path of destruction. I'd like to share a few with you;

  1. Entitlement: A general belief that the world owes you something. I think we can all be guilty of this one at some point in our lives.
  2. SUDS - Seemingly unimportant/urgent decisions: Those snap decisions often made in perceived urgent situations without regard for consequences.
  3. Situation Ethics - Possessing a different set of ethics for different situations. i.e. Not stealing from a store, but ok to cheat on your taxes because you go to church on Sunday.

It just made me think that everyday, we have choices to make that are rooted with an ethical decision. It's not always easy doing the right thing. In fact, I believe, that doing the right thing in most cases, is the more difficult thing to do. But, like in the case of Patrick Kuhse, a series of what seem like small errors, can add up and change who we are to the core.

Please watch from my next commentary on the conference session titled "Transforming your client's relationship with money" by Richard Kahler, CCIM, CFP, ChFC and Dr. Paul Klontz, PhD, CSAT III.