I was recently out of the St. Louis area for a bit while I attended The Garrett Planning Network 17th Annual Retreat which was held in Denver, Colorado. I am a member of the Garrett Planning Network which is an international group of financial planners / investment advisors. Each member of the network owns their own firm. I have written about the Garrett Planning Network before. This was the ninth year I have gone.
I attended the conference and earned continuing education credits by going to various educational programs, which I need so that I can keep my designations and licenses such as:
- CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™
- NAPFA Registered Financial Advisor
- CHARTERED RETIREMENT PLANNING COUNSELOR℠
For example, I have to have 60 hours of continuing education every two years as a NAPFA Registered Financial Advisor.
During the four day conference, I attended various educational programs such as:
- What Goes into a Plan for the Later Years of Life?
- Retirement Income Showdown: Risk Premium vs. Risk Pooling
- How You Can Help Your Clients Cut Their College Costs
- Why All the Buzz about Reverse Mortgages
- The State of Fiduciary Rules for Fee-Only Investment Advisors
- Big Insurance Theories
- How to Use Reverse Mortgages to Secure Yur Retirement
- Long Term Care Planning: Leveraging Your Client’s Risks
- And others
You can see some of the live tweeting that I did at the conference under my Twitter handle @HourlyPlanner. You do not need a Twitter account.
The Garrett Planning Network has several educational conference calls each month, and the members interact on an internal forum to help each other with more complex planning cases on a daily basis. One of the most beneficial outcomes of my annual trip to this retreat is getting together with this group, sharing ideas, and getting updates from these amazing colleagues in person. It is something I look forward to all year!