Dear FPA of Miami-Dade Members:

As we enter the time of year for reflection and making new resolutions I want to share some parting thoughts with you.

First of all, I want to say “thank you” for allowing me the privilege to serve as your Chapter President for the past two years. Although our leadership service is purely voluntary and can eat up big chunks of our personal and professional life, I wouldn’t exchange it for anything. You have allowed me to preside over a very exciting and challenging time where we experienced great success and personal fulfillment. We have taken huge leaps forward in our mission to create a world class leadership and community service organization, and I want to take a minute to personally thank my Board of Directors individually for their efforts. Their leadership allowed us to receive national recognition as a leading Gold-level chapter for the third year in a row.

Our initiatives in Community Outreach and Public Awareness, led by Debbie Gauthier and Elaine King, have been singled out by FPA National as the gold standard other chapters should aspire to. Our success in this initiative has created a renewed passion to serve those who truly need what we do, and I am grateful for the work Deb and Elaine have done. Because of the efforts of our Membership Director, Jason Whitby, we are able to brag about substantial membership growth and member involvement (in a time of decreasing or flat national numbers). Jason has elevated our game to a new level, and for that I am thankful. Our product partners have continually renewed their financial support of our Chapter and consistently line up early to participate in our education meetings because of the relationships that Scott Wells has developed and nurtured over the years. Scott continually takes time from his very successful business and ridiculously busy family life to source and maintain these relationships, and we couldn’t provide the level of service you expect without him, so for that I am thankful. While the regulatory environment continues to challenge us all we can thank Ellen Siegel for her unending commitment to sharing insight into the world of Washington in her role as Director of Government Relations. In addition to that, Ellen’s passion to drive our business to the level of “profession” is contagious and is evident in all of her efforts.

Someone who doesn’t get a lot of “face time” with our members, but proves her dedication to our organization and the profession in general, is Samantha Kell. Samantha lives in Chicago and plans her business trips around our meetings so that she can attend. In a time when it’s easier to “mail it in” we thank her for her dedication, and look forward to even greater participation next year. In the same manner we have two long-serving Board members who, by their very presence, bring instant credibility to our organization and have had their fingerprints on every successful effort we can claim over the years. Both Chairman Matt McGrath and Director Helen Salazar-Realini have done more for our profession in the past few years than most of us can accomplish over a decade. Their mentorship has meant so much to me over these past two years.

The last two members of our team who deserve platitudes greater than words can convey are Randy Lee and Amy Miller. It’s fitting that I mention them together because they are truly a team when it comes to working together to improve our organization. Randy’s role is the keeper of the money, but in reality he is the keeper of humility and courage. By example, Randy teaches us everyday to be better people, to live life to its fullest, and to smile no matter how much you don’t really want to. Amy’s role is Executive Director which is really code for chief, cook and bottle washer. Amy is not a financial planner by training but is more passionate about our profession than most. Her dedication to our group cannot be measured by the measly salary we pay her, but by her role as the best damn Executive Director on the planet. As I proclaimed to a group of leaders at a recent conference in Denver, if it weren’t for her and the cast of characters that make up your Board of Directors “I would have been toast” during my time as Chapter president.

In looking forward, our organization is poised for even more success in 2009. Under the leadership of president-elect Jay Pelham, we will be expanding our volunteer opportunities and fine tuning our educational meetings to reach out to even more of our constituents. I hope you will take a minute to introduce yourself to Jay at our January 29th meeting and ask how you can help him make our FPA of Miami-Dade an even more vibrant organization that continues to be the community for those who need, support and deliver financial planning services.

Thank you again for allowing me the privilege to serve.

All the best,

Dave Moran, CFP®

July, 2007

Letter from the President
David Moran, CFP®

Dear FPA of Miami-Dade Members:

Great Summer Reading!

As we close out a very busy and successful quarter at the offices of the FPA of Miami-Dade, I wanted to take a minute to share three great book titles you may want to have with you during your summer vacation. Not only are these books easy and enjoyable to read, they will also help you build your business!

The E-Myth Revisited, by Michael Gerber
In my opinion (as well as in my experience), most financial planners are, at heart, very entrepreneurial. Whether your paycheck is written by someone else or you collect fees from your clients, most of us are running our own business. The E-Myth Revisited shows how to work on your business even though you are so busy working in your business. By developing systems and then finding people to run the systems allows the business owner to work at their highest and best use. Gerber describes a situation where most people who start their own business are great “technicians” who spend most of their time doing the work they love, while at the same time ignoring the work they aren’t as skilled at – like running a business. Learn how to spot your “personality” and find those who will help complement your strengths and build a business rather than a job.

Endless Referrals, by Bob Burg
Most planners know how important it is to be involved in their local business community, but dread the thought of attending networking events. The reason?—because they’ve never learned the most effective techniques that turn conversations into relationships. Burg will teach you how to use “feel good questions” that will put the spotlight on the person you’re chatting with, and then the one question that will leave that person thinking what a great conversationalist you are! It has been said that each of us has a “sphere of influence” of 250 people. By adapting a technique that will increase the number of people who know you, like you, and trust you, your list of potential prospects will increase immensely!

Basic Economics, by Thomas Sowell
Not interested in charts, graphs and formulas, but want a better understanding of how the economy really works? Would you like a clearer working knowledge of how the U.S. economy is influenced by the global economy and vice versa? When your client asks how certain economies will impact their financial plan, you’ll have a well thought-out response – based on your own conclusion – after reading this book written in every day language.

Have a wonderful and safe summer and we hope to see you on July 31st at our next Chapter meeting.

Cordially,

David Moran, CFP®
President
Financial Planning Association of Miami-Dade

April, 2007

Letter from the President
David Moran, CFP®

Dear FPA of Miami-Dade Members:

One of my favorite sayings is attributed to Louis Pasteur who said, “Chance favors the prepared mind.” As the president of the Miami-Dade Chapter of the FPA I want to assure you that your Board of Directors is made up of “prepared minds” that continue to look for opportunities to serve you better. Let me take a minute to highlight three initiatives and programs that we are very proud of and invite you to become involved in.

Symposium
We have just completed our second annual symposium, “Boomers: What about Mom & Dad?” and the reviews were fantastic. The feedback we received reinforces our belief that if we bring top-notch experts together to talk about the issues that concern you, then we have a winning formula. That’s just what we did – from the Chair of the CFP Board and CEO of the FPA, to the CEO of the United Way of Miami-Dade, each one of our speakers brought interesting ideas and unique insight on how to more effectively work with the approximately 78 million Baby Boomers rolling into retirement over the next decade. Nationally-recognized experts in the field of geriatric care management and long-term care insurance outlined best practices to help planning professionals have the difficult conversations we face with our aging client base. And of course none of this would have been possible without the financial support of our program partners. including our Platinum Partner, Schwab Institutional Services. So, if you did not get the chance to be with us please don’t miss next year’s event as we have already begun the process of putting together another outstanding program that will focus on investment issues for the Boomer client.

Community Outreach
I’m probably more excited about this initiative than just about anything else we have going on. We’ve always felt that as leaders in our industry and in our communities it is our responsibility to develop programs and opportunities for those less fortunate than ourselves. With the help of FPA National we have created a program to reach out to the underserved population in Miami-Dade with basic personal financial education through organizations such as the United Way, Habitat for Humanity, and CHARLEE of Dade. Since the inception of the program late last fall, we have run several successful seminars which in turn have generated increased interest from other service-based non-profit organizations in the community. Currently we have a number of passionate volunteer presenters from the Chapter to help but we could always use more. The Chapter will provide speaker training, presentation material (including a script), handouts, as well as the audio visual equipment needed. All you need is a desire to help make a difference in someone’s life. Please contact us if you’d like to learn more; we’d love to hear from you.

Scholarship Program
At Symposium we announced the creation of a merit-based scholarship program named in honor of our late friend Martin Hughes, CFP®. The funds from the scholarship are designed to help defray the cost of acquiring the CFP® designation. We’ll be rolling out the details of the program, including application criteria, on our website so be sure to check back soon. In the meantime, if you’d like to learn more or get involved in our Scholarship Committee feel free to contact us.

It’s our belief that our organization is full of current and future leaders in this wonderful profession we call Financial Planning. Whether your specialty within the profession is investment management or insurance planning, we believe you are the future. Our organization is more than a membership organization – we are a service organization. We provide service to not only those who have the resources to pay for our advice, but to those who don’t. By involving yourself with your Miami-Dade chapter you’ll have continued opportunities to learn the technical skills required of being a great planner, but you’ll also have opportunities to serve your community in unique and interesting ways. Please take the time to call any one of us if you have ideas or opportunities you think will help us continue to be the voice of the community for those who need, support and deliver financial planning services.

Cordially,

David Moran, CFP®
President
Financial Planning Association of Miami-Dade