Publications Study Groups

Monthly study guides to help foster discussion with your peers

Hosting a Study Group?
 

Use the Journal of Financial Planning and Next Generation Planner to start conversations with your peers about financial planning strategies, clients’ attitudes and behaviors, and best practices. Download guides with suggested questions to help your group think about how you approach planning and communication challenges, and what you can do to improve. If your group includes nonmembers, contact Colin Erickson, senior manager of circulation and digital engagement, for information about accessing content. Please include the titles, dates, and authors of the specific articles you need.

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Suggested Study Group topics, articles, and resources: 

 

October 2023: Tax Planning

 

1. NGP LEAD ARTICLE: Kothakota and Lutter note that auditory communication, more than visual or written, is key to seeming capable to clients and building connections. How does that impact the frequency or style of communication you use with clients?  
2. COVER STORY: Kirk details tax planning considerations for clients who are U.S. citizens living in other countries. What other factors do these types of clients need to consider when deciding whether to move abroad? 
3. PRACTICE MANAGEMENT: Opitz describes several sources where firm leaders can get inspiration for business ideas to use in their practice. Where have you found ideas that you’ve implemented successfully in your practice? Where else can you look for new strategies and tools? 
4. COLUMN: Fedusenko describes five types of drip campaigns planners can use to connect with prospects. Have you implemented any of these strategies in your marketing campaign? What have you learned from these campaigns about what works and what doesn’t? 
5. COLUMN: Herzberg and Schwartz explain why young people shouldn’t put off estate planning as a task for when they’re older. How do you help clients get comfortable talking about difficult subjects? 

 

September 2023: Regulatory/Fiduciary Update

 

1. NGP LEAD ARTICLE: Demers warned planners against measuring their success against other advisers. What are your personal metrics for success? What goals have you set, and how are you tracking your progress? 
2. NGP SKILL BUILDER: McManus described a method for improving sales skills that incorporates a point system for specific tasks. What activities can you start tracking in your current workflows? What activities do you need to add to develop your skills?   
3. COVER STORY: Coughlin and Turiano describe how cryptocurrencies sometimes function as commodities or securities, potentially making them the purview of different regulators depending on how specific investment products are designed. How would classification affect your use of cryptocurrency products in client portfolios?  
4. COLUMN: How would an instant payment service like FedNow impact your clients? How will it impact banking and the broader financial services industry? 
5. RESEARCH: Reiter, Qing, and Nations found that social media users were far more likely to view investing as a source of entertainment or excitement. Have you seen this effect among your own clients? How does it impact the way you discuss investments?  
    

August 2023: Marketing

 

1. NGP LEAD ARTICLE: Hollers described 3 client profiles who would benefit from a subscription model. Do you have existing clients in these profiles who would benefit from a change in your fee structure? Are there other client profiles that would be a good fit for regular automatic payments for advisory services?
2. COVER STORY: Among the attributes Phillips lists as key to organic growth for firm owners is the understanding that they can't do everything in their firms. If you're a firm leader, what tasks are you currently responsible for that could be delegated to someone else? Would doing so require you to hire a new position or train a current member of staff?
3. PRACTICE MANAGEMENT: Peller offers ways to cultivate a personal brand as part of your professional persona. How would you describe your personal brand today? Is that how others see you? If not, how would you go about changing that?
4. COLUMN: DeVoe offered 5 practices firm leaders should undertake to ensure there are candidates for a successor within their firm. How would you rate your readiness in each of these practices? Are there steps you can take today to improve your performance in any of these categories?
5. RESEARCH: Anderson and Lawson found that high achievers were more likely to accept greater risk in their investments. Have you seen this play out among your current clients? How does this finding affect the way you have discussions about risk with your clients? 
   
   

July 2023: Retirement

 

1. COVER STORY: Haas and Mahaney pointed out the difficulty that many clients have transitioning from saving to spending when they retire. Haas suggested helping clients do a “test drive” before they stop working. What would a test drive look for your current clientele? What are some other things you can do to help clients prepare emotionally for transitioning from a saving to a spending mindset?
2. PRACTICE MANAGEMENT: Breitenbach suggests planners who are uncomfortable asking for referrals come up with a new internal language that redefines what they do as personal connection. What is your internal language when describing what you do?
3. FEATURE: Martin and Fortin explain that a register is the collection of norms, values, systems, and language used by a society. How do you view the register of the United States? Where does financial planning sit in that register? Are there other communities you’re a part of that have their own unique register?
4. COLUMN: Kay explains how forecasting error and comfort drive prevent clients from acting in their best interests, and offers tips for helping overly anxious or overly indulgent clients rebalance their perspectives. Have you used any of these strategies with clients? How did they respond? How might you adjust these strategies to work with your current clientele?
5. SPECIAL REPORT: The authors argue that planners have a fiduciary responsibility to advise their clients on disability insurance but acknowledge that it might not be appropriate for some clients. How have you broached the subject with your clients? Are there other strategies that can help protect against loss of income during disability that may be more affordable or easier to implement?
6. RESEARCH: Although more complex, Estrada argues that considering the distribution of successful coverage ratios for optimal withdrawal strategies is more beneficial than trying to maximize or minimize one target variable. How would you implement coverage ratios in as defined by Estrada and your assessment of clients’ retirement withdrawal strategies?

 

June 2023: Trends in Investing

1. NGP FEATURE ARTICLE: Jordan told a story of how to use narrative to explain financial concepts or guide client behavior. How have you used storytelling to illustrate ideas for your clients? Are there other areas of financial planning where you can use narrative effectively?  
2. COVER STORY: Hodari contested private debt’s categorization as an “alternative” investment. Do you agree with his assessment? Are there other asset classes that are collectively seen as being more traditional or alternative that you feel are misclassed?  
3. FEATURE: Martin challenged financial planners to envision how climate change will potentially impact client portfolios or financial well-being. StateFarm announced in May that it will no longer accept homeowners insurance applications for California properties. Are there other examples of climate change having a near-term impact on clients’ financial well-being? How are you preparing your firm or your clients to address potential future impacts?  
4. FEATURE: Ludwig and Bennetts outlined some of the benefits and limitations of using ChatGPT for first drafts on some client communications. Have you adopted this technology in your practice? How is it different from or similar to using templates?  
5. RESEARCH: Young illustrated how a client’s heirs’ financial situations can complicate equitable divisions of bequests. How have you addressed the topic of fairness with your clients? How do their perspectives differ from each other’s or your own? 

 

May 2023: Serving Business Owners

1. NGP LEAD ARTICLE: Haughton reminds planners that they can educate their clients as much as they can but ultimately their clients’ priorities and goals are what matters. If you had a client who didn't want to take advice that made financial sense because it competed with an emotional goal, how would you handle it?
2. COVER STORY: Gardner and Welch outlined many of the changes that the SECURE 2.0 Act made that impact small businesses’ tax strategies and retirement planning. Which of these changes have the biggest impact on your clients? How are you educating them about changes they should consider in the financial plans?
3. PRACTICE MANAGEMENT: Rose suggests job shadowing and role play as a way for planners to develop client relationship skills. What are some ways you could incorporate these strategies into your practice? If you're a new planner, how would you approach a more experienced adviser with these requests?
4. FEATURE ARTICLE: Rule changes around how amateur athletes are compensated when their name, image, and likeness are used for profit represent an opportunity for planners who serve clients with student athletes in their families. How many of your clients are parents of college-bound athletes? How do these changes impact clients’ children's financial situation? Can you expand service to the parents or begin serving the children more directly?
5. RESEARCH: McQuarrie and DiLellio refute the conventional wisdom that future tax rates must be higher for a Roth conversion to pay off. How do the equations in the paper affect the way you approach conversions with requirements?

 

April 2023: Ethics

1. Q&A: Kemp argues that a lot of conversations about professional ethics focus on the minimum acceptable standards without imagining how individuals can do more than the minimum. Do you have your own personal code of ethics? How do you communicate it to clients and peers?
2. NGP FEATURED ARTICLE: Terpstra gave seven ideas for new planners to develop skills and communicate their desire for a leadership role with lead advisers. Is there anything you
3. COVER STORY: Bearden illustrated examples of conflicts of interests that financial planners might face in their careers. What conflicts have you had to deal with as a planner, and how did you handle them? Looking back, is there something you would you have done differently?
4. COLUMN: Experience contributes to ethical decision making, according to Kay. How can lead advisers model ethical behavior for others in their firms?
5. SPECIAL REPORT: Planners bring their own biases to client relationships, which can lead to stereotypes about a particular client’s facility with money, according to Gillo, Varani, Pearson, and McCoy. What steps can you take to adjust your expectations when helping a client with negative self-perception?
6. RESEARCH: Cheng, Guo, Gibson, and Sam found that frequent social media communication during the 2020 COVID-19 market crisis helped RIA's keep their clients invested. How does your client communication plan accommodate different client segments’ preferred methods of communicating?

 

March 2023: College Planning

Journal of Financial Planning and Next Generation Planner (NGP)

1. Q&A: Adam Minsky encourages financial planners to be careful about weighing the tradeoffs between refinancing student loans for a better interest rate and losing access to debt forgiveness programs and initiatives associated with federal student loans. What factors would you consider when evaluating that tradeoff? 
2. NGP FEATURED ARTICLE: Networking is about community and mutually shared benefits, according to Gretchen Halpin. What communities are you a part of where you can give and receive referrals that provide value for your peers? How might that value look different in different communities you're a part of? 
3. COVER STORY: Clients who value higher education could accumulate significant assets in five to nine plans. David Oh describes how these types of plans can be leveraged into wealth transfer tools. Do you have clients who would benefit from these strategies? Would this change your recommendation of how to fund these accounts for qualified educational expenses? 
4. FEATURE: Randy Gardner and Julie Welch break down the SECURE 2.0 Act’s changes into a bulleted list. How are you prioritizing these changes and how they impact each of your clients?  
5. RESEARCH: David Hulse found a tradeoff between a higher expected value and lower uncertainty of after-tax accumulation of a Roth account. How does this affect your discussions with clients about contribution decisions? How would you mitigate the higher uncertainty or lower expected accumulation of the decision?  

February 2023: Divorce Planning

Journal of Financial Planning 

1. COVER STORY: Locus notes that divorce is “often a series of least-worst decisions.” What tools can you use to help divorcing clients stay focused when they may be inclined to act emotionally? Are there other ways you can support clients who are trying to decide between undesirable options? 
2. FEATURE: Fortin and Martin describe how to do a “sound check” to check in with yourself. What practices do you have to assess your well-being and address problems? Is there a way to integrate those practices into your operations to benefit employees and clients?  
3. COLUMN: Heye outlines a model to help design a response plan for when clients suffer a health event. How many of these elements have you already discussed with your clients? Are there other aspects of a client’s well-being that should be addressed as part of this plan?  
4. COLUMN: Lim and Sommer offer suggestions for financial planners to evaluate their need for errors and omissions insurance. Have you conducted a risk assessment of your own practice to determine your needs? How might an incident impact the various stakeholders in your practice, including employees and clients?  
5. RESEARCH: Ludwig, Heckman, and McCoy found that Black respondents were more likely than White respondents to use nonprofessional sources for financial information. How might this impact the way you communicate with prospective clients? Are there opportunities to reach out to new communities for your practice?  

Next Generation Planner 

1. FEATURED ARTICLE: Sloan explains how planners need to combine rational and emotional aspects of planning to best serve clients. With that in mind, what functions does your technology need to offer to provide a level of service that meets your ideal client’s specific needs?  
2. MY CAREER PATH: Miura changed her ideal client profile when she became a caregiver and realized it was a niche that was underserved. How are you defining your target client? What relationships do you have to connect with that community?   

 

January 2023: Behavioral Finance

Journal of Financial Planning

1. COVER STORY: Klontz states that behavioral finance research is often undertaken by economists and academics rather than practitioners. How have you seen behavioral finance principles at work in your interactions with clients?
2. PRACTICE MANAGEMENT: Herbison notes that the most effective leaders focus on results as well as employee engagement. Among your team members, what do your most productive and your most engaged employees or coworkers have in common? How can you encourage those traits or practices in other groups?
3. COLUMN: Emotional contagion is when negative emotions trigger equally negative responses, Kay writes. What steps do you take to mitigate emotional contagion?
4. COLUMN: Fedusenko suggests ways to use content marketing to address specific concerns for different client segments. What practices are you using to determine those client segments? How would you design campaign to meet those segments’ needs?
5. RESEARCH: Pfau and Parrish found that although it’s possible that claiming Social Security benefits early might lead to a better outcome, it’s not likely. If you have clients dead set on filing for benefits early, what tools can you use to understand their motivation? How would you address those motivations to help the client understand the implications of their decision?

Next Generation Planner

1. FEATURE ARTICLE: Rosa notes that tax preparation is an opportunity to offer additional value to clients but that planners need to be realistic about the relative value to their practice. What new services (tax prep or otherwise) could you offer to increase your perceived value to clients? What impact would it have on your work-life balance?
2. CASE STUDY: Staples and Rollins-Coons laid out a case study of a young client couple and suggested a NOISE analysis as a way to breakdown the clients’ planning needs. What strategies would you use begin analyzing this couple’s situation? How would you advise this couple?
3. MY CAREER PATH: Gaudiano notes that for career changers, the job-hunting process can make new planners feel vulnerable because they may feel like they’re starting over and mistakes will be made. How have you handled mistakes in the past? What actions did your boss/mentor take to help you learn from those mistakes?