San Jose, CA (PRWEB) July 09, 2014
Loring Ward held its 21st annual National Education Conference (NEC) in Monterey, California, June 3-5, hosting almost 90 successful advisors who gathered to hear from an all-star line-up of creative thinkers, stress busters and disruptive business strategists.
“When we plan our National Education Conferences, our objective is to provide our advisors with a TED Talks type of experience, but with actionable ideas,” said Executive Vice President Steve Atkinson, who is head of Advisor Services. “We are very deliberate about creating a learning environment that is quite different from the other conferences they attend.”
Conference presenters included:
• Victor Haghani, Founder of Elm Partners and one of the founders of Long-Term Capital Management. Haghani’s recent research on asset allocation and low-cost wealth management strategies inspired his presentation at the opening dinner “Where Are the Billionaires?”
• Ori Brafman, author and co-author of several books (including The Starfish and the Spider and New York times best-seller Sway) and a renowned organizational expert who has consulted with Fortune 500 corporations, as well as the Chairman of the U.S. Armed Forces Joint Chiefs of Staff. Brafman’s morning program was entitled “The Chaos Imperative: How Chance and Disruption Increase Innovation, Effectiveness and Success.”
• Loring Ward’s Heather Hooper, VP Retirement Strategies, and Erich Reinhardt, VP, Advisor Relations spoke about “The Retirement Plan Conundrum.”
• Sunil Wahul, DFA Consultant and Professor of Finance at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, discussed “Liquidity Extraction – Provision Spreads.”
• Chip Roame, Managing Partner, Tiburon Strategic Partners, delivered his research on “The State of the Financial Services Industry.”
• Dr. Robert Sapolsky, a MacArthur “Genius” Fellow and professor of biology and neurology at Stanford spoke on “Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers: A Lecture on Stress.”
• Tim Fishburne, Founder and Cartoonist of Marketoonist, offered new perspectives on marketing and creativity. The conference also kicked off with a selection of breakout sessions. CONFERENCE INSIGHTS On Day Two, Ori Brafman led the entire morning session, with a powerful presentation about the nature of organizations. Brafman argues that organizations fall into two categories: traditional “spiders,” which have a rigid command and control hierarchy and top-down leadership, and revolutionary “starfish,” which rely on the power of peer relationships and the “network. By embracing chaos and recognizing that innovation is about the flow of ideas and “learning from the edges,” leaders can change the context in their organizations, creating shared values that will drive excellence. The afternoon program focused on specific investment management-focused issues. In “The Retirement Plan Conundrum,” Heather Hooper and Erich Reinhardt described how Loring Ward has shifted to a new model for helping advisors take advantage of the huge opportunity with retirement plans. By retooling the approach, incorporating advisors feedback and fine-tuning the process, they have helped advisors close significant plan business in 2014 and establish a healthy pipeline of additional business. Sunil Wahal, in “Liquidity Extraction – Provision Spreads,” addressed the impact of trading costs on investor portfolios. Drawing on extensive research and data, he stressed that the overall message to investors is this: Using funds with high turnover may cost 2-3% a year on average. On Day Three, attendees heard from Chip Roame who delineated 57 underlying trends that are driving financial services. Among his comments was the fact that the value of advisors remains an essential differentiator, even as the “robo advisor” trend is heavily touted in the media. In fact, “If you feel threatened by the online financial services, you’re probably not a very good advisor and should focus on client relationships.” According to Roame, video conferencing will be big in the future, providing the person-to-person experience without being “in person.” As financial services evolve significantly over the next five years, advisors should be vigilant about providing value and nurturing relationships. Advisors also heard from a leading neuroendocrinologist, and author Dr. Robert Sapolsky, on the physiological aspects of stress and what we can do to lessen its negative effects in our lives. All mammals respond to stressful situations similarly, but while wild animals turn off the stress response system once the source of stress is gone, humans tend to keep the response turned on, which can lead to serious illness. The final session was an entertaining and enlightening presentation by marketer and cartoonist (Marketoonist) Tom Fishburne, who addressed the concept of “meaningfully unique,” and how to integrate it into marketing. His advice included: know your target market (“preach to the choir”); ignore the traditional rules of the category; remember that marketing is too important to simply be left to the marketing department; don’t camouflage your ideas; and remember that “advertising is a tax for unremarkable thinking.” In a follow-up communication to attendees, Loring Ward CEO Alex Potts cited some of the memorable takeaways from the sessions:
• “Information alone does not change behavior. Understand and emulate the ‘starfish’ as a powerful means to capture the minds and hearts of people… and those on the ‘edge’ of your organization.” ~ Ori Brafman
• “10,000 people a day turning 65. Many will need the help of good financial advisors.~ Chip Roame
• “Having a Type A personality puts you more at risk for heart disease than if you smoke, have high cholesterol or are overweight. You can reduce your stress by having outlets for frustration, predictability and control, the perception that your life is improving, and plenty of social support.” ~ Dr. Robert Sapolsky
• “Be significant. At the end of our lives we will be measured by the number of people we touch.” ~ Carl Reinhardt, one of Loring Ward’s founders, who was honored for his many contributions to the firm.
“Our hope is that as our advisors think back on the NEC and review the presentations and books and, that they will continue to find ways to apply what they learned to their businesses and, most importantly, their lives,” said Potts.
ABOUT LORING WARD
Headquartered in San Jose, California, Loring Ward (LWI Financial Inc.) is committed to being a partner like no other to independent financial advisors and their clients
Founded in 1990, Loring Ward believes investments are only where a great wealth advisory practice begins.
That is why the firm is committed to empowering advisors–not just with a distinctive investment approach, but also with resources, tools, materials and education to help advisors grow their businesses and build deeper relationships with clients.
As of July 2014, Loring Ward has $11.8 billion in assets under management. For more information, please visit http://www.loringward.com.
All named third party companies are unaffiliated with LWI Financial Inc.
Charles (“Chip”) Roame is an independent trustee of the SA Funds Investment Trust, an investment company. The SA Funds are sponsored by LWI Financial Inc and distributed by Loring Ward Securities Inc.
LWI Financial Inc. (“Loring Ward”) is an investment adviser registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Securities transactions are offered through its affiliate, Loring Ward Securities Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. IRN R 14-303 (Exp. 7/16)
Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/07/prweb12006217.htm
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