Financial Planning

The FPA Virtual Congress 2020

24 June 2020

Money & Life team

Money & Life contributors draw on their diverse range of experience to present you with insights and guidance that will help you manage your financial wellbeing, achieve your lifestyle goals and plan for your financial future.

With the uncertainty around restrictions for COVID-19 the Financial Planning Association Annual Congress event won’t be going ahead in 2020. Instead we’re offering financial planning professionals our Virtual Congress Master Class series running from July to October.

In the last decade we’ve seen financial advice businesses face significant disruption. In 2020, our profession is now facing the added challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequences this brings for financial planners, clients and for our society as a whole.

In this context, our FPA team have put together a completely new event series. Although we’re calling it the FPA Virtual Congress, in developing the format and content for these events we’ve gone back to the drawing board. We want to offer financial planners an experience that can genuinely make a difference to their effectiveness and outcomes, now and into the future.

“In 2020 we’re seeing financial planners at the forefront of driving economic recovery,” says Michelle Tate-Lovery CFP®, Chair for the FPA Congress in 2018 and 2019. “The events of 2020, first the bushfires and then COVID-19, have brought us to a watershed moment as the role for financial planners in the lives of our clients becomes more important now than it has ever been.”

“We’re very aware that members need support from both peers and subject-matter experts to be at their most effective in this pivotal role. While the decision to cancel our Congress event in November was very tough, we’re really excited that we now have the chance to offer that support starting right now, when it’s needed.”

Whats on offer at the Virtual Congress

The FPA Virtual Congress will run from July to October, offering members access to a weekly Master Class, with a focus on a particular theme each month. That’s a total of 16 x 90 minute sessions over four months. Plus, there will be a virtual keynote event held on 3 September, bringing together financial planners and stakeholders including regulators, media, consumer groups.

At each Master Class event, attendees will hear from industry experts and participate in a facilitated member discussion. Attending all four events in each stream will enable attendees to achieve CPD hours mapped to FASEA required areas of learning. By taking part in the entire event series, financial planning professionals can achieve more than half their CPD hours for the year. This is a simple way to comply with CPD requirements in a format that’s easy to access. As well as participating in the live events, you can access the 16 recorded sessions for 12 months.

Virtual Congress: Program Summary

Your ticket gives access to:

  • Four Master Classes x four streams over four months = 16 Master Classes (90 minutes each)
  • Join the weekly sessions live on the day from July – October 2020
  • Also view on-demand anytime for up to 12 months by accessing the recorded version.
  • One virtual keynote event on 3 September 2020

Cost

  • FPA member $249
  • Non member $449
  • FPA Professional Practice & FPA Professional Partner: $199 (per person)

CPD accredited

Attending all sessions will enable you to achieve over half of your CPD hours for the year. With sessions every week, this is an easy way to build quality in-depth CPD learning into your schedule.

The Reinvention Master Class series in detail

As a key member of the team designing and organising the Virtual Congress, Michelle describes the Master Classes as “a virtual round table discussion where we can get experts and planners together and have quality conversations.” Here she provides a quick description of what attendees can expect from the Master Class series each month:

July: The regulators – understanding your responsibilities

The complex regulatory framework of our profession impacts every financial planner. At these events, we’ll bring together key representatives from each regulatory body to take part in a roundtable discussion. The aim is to share insights from everyone’s perspective, so that financial planners can understand the regulators’ priorities and responsibilities to implement in practice. In this forum we can explore ways of moving forward more collaboratively.

August: Investment markets and portfolio design

These sessions will delve into the technical and strategic detail of how fund managers are managing portfolios for these volatile market conditions. It’s also about supporting planners to have more informative conversations with clients about their investments, so these discussions will also focus on how to take these findings back to clients and unpack them in a way that’s simple and helpful.

September: FASEA Code of Ethics in practice

One of the most important ways for planners to really understand how to apply the FASEA Code of Ethics is to share examples of events happening in their business and get expert ethical guidance. In this event series planners and experts will come together to work through real scenarios and explore the Code of Ethics in practice. These events will also demystify ethics by explaining decision-making models and how to apply these in different situations with clients.

October: Professional wellness and client care

This month is all about making sure planners have the skill set to be better equipped as leaders and the resilience they need to keep going through change and transition. As we constantly respond to new information, new regulations and the challenges of a changed working environment, it can be hard for financial planners to keep their focus on what clients need. In supporting our own wellbeing, planners can be in front of clients in the best state of mind to to guide and deepen their relationships with clients.

Keynote event 3 September 2020

Along with access to all 16 Master Classes, event registration includes our virtual keynote event on 3 September What is the value of financial advice? This conversational forum, facilitated by high profile investigative journalist, will raise greater awareness and appreciation of what financial planning is and the positive impact financial planners have in their clients’ lives. We will also highlight how planners have contributed to the broader community during the recent bushfires and COVID-19 crisis as well as the regulatory burden planners and advice businesses are enduring and the urgent need for advice reform.

“This event will put the spotlight on stories about the difference financial planning can make in people’s lives,” says Michelle. “We are really looking forward to this proud moment of bringing our community together to celebrate what we are achieving, despite all the layers of regulation we manage. This is important for morale in our profession as well as sending a clear message to the media, consumers and regulators that we’re doing a job that is vital for the economy.”

How to register

Master Classes start from 6 July 2020. Visit https://fpa.com.au/fpa-virtual-congress-2020/ to register. At a cost of $249 for members, the price of access to all Virtual Conference events is less than 15% of what a conference ticket would be and without the travel time.

Once you’ve registered, your Master Class events will be a regular fixture in your calendar, taking care of much of the planning for your CPD commitments for the year. These sessions will also enable you to bring your team together, not only to discuss what you have learnt, but to enhance your advice offering. If you skip a week, you’ll always have the recorded version to fall back on. First time attendees to Congress welcome.