If you have not lined up tools and talking points for discussing Roth IRA conversions with your clients, some other advisor could seize the opportunity. That's the warning given by Ben Norquist of president of Convergent Retirement Plan Solutions LLC, at today's session of the Financial Advisor Webinar Series.

Norquist, whose company helps many of the nation’s leading financial organizations with retirement plan training, compliance, and business development, explained how advisors can best assist clients and prospects in converting their traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs once the income ceiling on the conversions is lifted in 2010. Attendees at this webinar learned about:

• Three key factors to focus on to make it easier for clients to decide if conversion makes sense for them
• A web-based tool for illustrating different conversion scenarios
• Why partial conversions make sense in many situations
• Why conversion makes the most sense for ultra-high net worth individuals 
• How to differentiate your analysis from salesmanship

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Best Practices In Outsourcing Portfolio Reporting
In next week's webinar, the last one of 2009, Mike Lobosco of Advent Software will speak about outsourcing portfolio reporting responsibilities to save you time to focus on your clients.

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While we normally try to avoid product pitches at the Financial Advisor Webinar Series, presenters at today's session on secure hardware for financial advisors were asked to talk about their products because that was the best way to tackle a topic so far afield from wealth management. And since last week's session explained the new liabilities that advisors now face if they don't keep their client's personal information secure, we needed to show advisors where they can find systems to help them improve security. Judging from the attendee comments, the change of approach worked just fine. The three presenters each had a different security solution for advisors, but advisory firms probably need all three to begin to create a secure environment for client data.

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New privacy laws enacted in Massachusetts and Nevada are part of a national trend imposing additional responsibilities on advisors. If your firm's computers, PDAs, or servers store Social Security numbers and other personally identifiable information (PII) about your clients, you must assure the security of that data. In today's session of the Financial Advisor Webinar Series, Brendon Tavelli, an an associate in the Privacy and Data Security Practice Group of Proskauer Rose LLP, explained what you need to know about privacy and data security laws. Including:

• When you must comply with privacy laws enacted by states other than your home state
• Policies to document to mitigate your risk
• Measures you must take to protect PII
• Required notifications in the event of a breach

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Taking your firm's procedures online can improve efficiency and client service. Yet many firms struggle in going paperless because they do it piecemeal instead of embracing a systematic process. In today's webinar, Jo Day, managing partner of Trumpet Inc., taught attendees the right way to integrate their firm's documents, workflow processes, and software platforms. If you missed the session, view the replay to learn to:

• Retrieve information based on how you naturally think and your role in the firm
• Achieve filing nirvana—speed and consistency
• Transform your client-meeting experience
• Cut quarterly report preparation time from days to hours

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Advisory firms that embed key business processes in their CRM software are more scalable, profitable, and competitive. In today's session of the Financial Advisor Webinar Series, Blane Warrene, a technology and operations consultant to financial advisors explained how advisors should document their workflows and integrate them to their CRM system and other key business tools.

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Going Paperless 2.0
Taking your firm's procedures online can improve efficiency and client service. Yet many firms struggle in going paperless because they do it piecemeal instead of embracing a systematic process. In our next webinar, Jo Day, managing partner of Trumpet Inc., will teach you the right way to integrate your firm’s documents, workflow processes, and software platforms. You'll learn to:

• Retrieve information based on how you naturally think and your role in the firm
• Achieve filing nirvana—speed and consistency
• Transform your client-meeting experience
• Cut quarterly report preparation time from days to hours

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With 2009 coming to a close, now is a good time to improve your compliance procedures for 2010. In today's session of the Financial Advisor Webinar Series, attendees learned how to integrate compliance into their firm's day-to-day tasks.
Chris Winn, co-founder and managing principal of AdvisorAssist™, a compliance consulting firm, provided attendees with 25 crucial tasks for their 2010 compliance calendar and a proactive strategic plan to minimize compliance risks before something goes wrong.
If you missed this valuable session, you can view a replay free-of-charge.

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Knowing what clients want is the key to increasing referrals. In today's session of the Financial Advisor Webinar Series, Julie Littlechild, founder and CEO of Advisor Impact, showed attendees a step-by-step process to gather feedback from clients and how to utilize that feedback to improve client relationships. By viewing our webinar replay, you'll learn a systematic approach to:

• Gathering, collating, and analyzing client feedback
• Determining which clients will give you referrals
• Knowing which services each client values most
• Uncovering client dissatisfaction early

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In Friday's session of the Financial Advisor Webinar Series, Scott Cohen, managing director of Focus Partners LLC, explained what you need to do to effectively grow your business in 2010. He discussed:
• How business planning and goal setting can have a dramatic impact on performance
• Common components of the business plan
• Specific areas of focus that will provide the greatest impact on results

Focus Partners provides practice management program design services that help individuals and teams of financial advisors take their businesses to the next level. Through their "Practice Optimization Approach," Focus Partners leverages existing strengths to build and implement a personalized transformation plan for your business.

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Using Client Feedback To Drive Referrals
Knowing what clients need, want, and expect is the key to increasing referrals. But you must have a clear process in place for gathering their feedback. In this webinar, Julie Littlechild, president and founder of Advisor Impact, will present a step-by-step process that you can implement immediately to help you gather and maximize feedback from your clients.

Founded in 1998, Advisor Impact is a leading provider of research, training, and tools for financial advisors across North America and the United Kingdom. Advisor Impact's flagship program, "the Client Audit," helps advisors gather client feedback and then translate that information into meaningful insights, ideas, and actions to increase both loyalty and revenue among existing clients.

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One year ago, the global financial crisis brought panic to investors and businesses, as stock prices were cut in half and bank lending dried up. Now, the crisis has calmed and the market has bounced back, but concerns remain. Unemployment is at its highest in decades, the commercial and residential real estate markets remain strained, and global trade is stagnant.

Is this the new normal? Are we at the beginning of a new bull market? Or are we about to face another wave of bad news? These questions were addressed at this week's session of the Financial Advisor Webinar Series. Don Phillips, managing director of Morningstar, and Fran Kinniry, principal of Vanguard, reflected on the past year and discussed their expectations for the future. They identified areas of concern and highlighted sectors primed for strong performance.

Phillips is president of Fund Research at Morningstar, while Kinniry is a senior member of Vanguard's Investment Strategy Group. Both Phillips and Kinniry presented at the Financial Advisor Webinar Series during the height of the credit crisis. Their sessions were two of the highest rated of the past year.

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Life planning increases client trust, commitment, satisfaction, cooperation, retention, and referrals, according to research published by the Financial Planning Association. In Friday's session of the Financial Advisor Webinar Series, Carol Anderson, CEO of Money Quotient® explained how firms can offer this holistic, client-centered approach to financial planning.

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Knowing the right information about your clients and prospects can help you better connect and identify with them, and lead to stronger relationships. In our September 25 session of the Financial Advisor Webinar Series, Sam Richter, award-winning and top-selling author and SVP/Chief Marketing Officer at Actifi, shared his best tips for searching the web to find information on your clients on prospects. Attendees gave the session rave reviews, as they picked up tips that only the best marketing pros know.
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A New Model For Life Planning
Life planning increases client trust, commitment, satisfaction, cooperation, retention, and referrals, according to research published by the Financial Planning Association.
But how can your firm offer this holistic, client-centered approach to financial planning?
This presentation shows you how. You'll also learn how life planning aligns your firm with the Practice Standards established by the CFP Board of Standards.
For 15 years Carol Anderson has specialized in retirement preparation, productive aging, financial education, and life planning. As president and CEO of Money Quotient®, she has trained advisors in a values-based, life-centered approach to financial planning.

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Congress and the Obama administration have made it clear that regulatory reform is coming for financial advisors. Whether you are currently a fiduciary or not, this will have major implications on your business. In today's session of the Financial Advisor Webinar Series, Blaine Aikin, president and CEO of fi360, discussed ideas that are being proposed and what they would mean for RIA, brokers, registered reps, and your clients.

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Using Relationship Intelligence To Grow Your Business
Relationship Intelligence is the key to a successful prospect call, and an exceptional way to provide value to existing clients. When you know more about the other person, you're better able to relate on a personal level, build more meaningful connections, tailor your offerings, and ensure relevancy. In this webinar, you'll discover Web search secrets even the pros don't know. From Google search tricks to free premium databases; from the "Invisible Web" to leveraging social media as an "intelligence agent," you'll learn how to quickly find the information you need to make a big-time impression with any prospect, and build deeper relationships with any client.

Sam Richter, SVP/Chief Marketing Officer at ActiFi, is an award-winning and top selling author, and as creator of the Know More! sales training program, an internationally sought-after speaker. Sam has won numerous marketing awards including Best of Show and Gold awards from various advertising/public relations/and online marketing associations, multiple WEBBY Awards for best Web site development, and a Codie Award—the "Oscars" of the software industry. Sam was formerly president of a national business research firm, is a member of the Business Journal's Forty Under 40, and he was a finalist for Inc. Magazine's Entrepreneur of the Year.

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The number of Exchange-Traded Products (ETPs) continues to expand, with more than 600 trading on U.S. exchanges and 500 more in SEC registration. In today's webinar, Richard Ferri, CFA, of Portfolio Solutions LLC, an investment management firm based in Troy, MI., explained all things ETPs. He discussed what's new in ETPs and ETFs, how actively managed ETPs differ from index-based products, and how certain products can leave you short. This session was widely acclaimed by attendees and covered both beginning and advanced material.
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Regulatory Reform: Will You Be A Fiduciary?
Regulatory reform is coming for financial advisors. SEC Chair Mary Shapiro has said the agency anticipates "harmonizing investment advisor and broker dealer obligations." And in a June 17, 2009 white paper, the Obama Administration proposed requiring a fiduciary standard of care for brokers, a move initially applauded by the Financial Planning Coalition, but which risks "watering down" the fiduciary standard.
What can you expect in coming years? Will your regulatory compliance costs go up? Will being a fiduciary mean less than before? How will fee-only RIA's be able to differentiate themselves from fiduciary brokers who also accept commissions? If you are a broker, will you even be able to accept commissions? How will this affect your fiduciary responsibility?
Blaine Aikin, president and CEO of fi360, which provides training, tools, and resources to promote fiduciary responsibility and improve the decision making processes of investment fiduciaries, will answer these questions and more.

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The volatility of the stock market has put financial advisors and their clients in a state of "chronic crisis." But, as an advisor, part of your role is to calm your clients and take the emotions out of investing. In today's session of the Financial Advisor Webinar Series, Ed Jacobson, phychologist and consultant to advisors, presented eight strategies for optimal functioning, and guided advisors in how they can be sure to follow the regimen.
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Navigating The Maze Of Exchange-Traded Products
The number of Exchange-traded products (ETPs) continues to expand as do their use in portfolio management. Today, over 600 ETPs trade on U.S. exchanges and more than 500 are in SEC registration. To effectively manage your clients' assets, you need to understand the differences between ETP types and the potential tax consequences. In this session, Richard Ferri, CEO of Portfolio Solutions LLC, an investment management firm based Troy, MI., will clarify this often complex investment sector. He'll also talk about why leveraged and inverse index products typically leave you short, and how actively managed ETPs differ from index-based products.
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With revenue from advice fees slashed, it's critical to focus time and effort on your best clients. In today's session of the Financial Advisor Webinar Series, Scott Cohen, managing director of Focus Partners LLC, and Eric Sheikowitz, senior managing partner, showed advisors how they can segment their clients and align service levels to keep top clients happy. They explained how you can treat all clients fairly, without treating them equally.

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Advisor Self-Care: A Primer and Check-Up
Last September, as the global economic order began to unwind, you went into crisis mode and served your clients admirably. Eleven months later, we're in a state of "chronic crisis." Are you taking care of yourself, so you can be there for your employees and partners, clients, and family?

Join us on August 28 and find out, as psychologist Ed Jacobson, Ph.D. leads us through "Advisor Self-Care: a Primer and Check-up." Ed, a coach, consultant, and advisor to financial advisors, will review six sources of planner distress, present eight strategies for optimal functioning, and guide us in making sure we're following the regimen. The ROI for your one-hour investment? Higher (and more consistent) performance, and a framework for having "the Self-care Conversation" with your colleagues, clients, and family!

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Middle income clients need your help more than ever. And creating a plan for serving them can help you grow your business and as you play an important role in our nation's economic recovery. In today's webinar, Kevin Condon, executive vice president of Advisor Services for MyFinancialAdvice Inc., explained why you should serve middle income clients and what changes you'll need to make in your business to best serve this lower-margin market segment.

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Segment Your Clients To Become More Profitable
To better serve the differing needs of your clients and effectively manage your time, you need to segment your clients. You shouldn't be spending 80% of your time on 20% of our lowest-margin clients. If you want to advance your business, you need to recognize this and develop a plan to best manage your time and adapt your client service model accordingly.

In this webinar, Scott Cohen of Focus Partners will show you how to best do that. Focus Partners provides practice management program design services that help individuals and teams of financial advisors take their businesses to the next level. Through their coaching process, the firm leverages existing strengths to build and implement a personalized transformation plan for your business.

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In today's session of the Financial Advisor Webinar Series, Rob Stein, managing partner and senior portfolio manager of Astor Asset Management, showed advisors how to interpret employment trends and other macroeconomic indicators to manage ETF portfolios actively. Stein, a well-renowned economist and author of The Bull Inside The Bear (Wiley, 2009), explained his fundamental approach to investing and how it can be used to spot another downturn before it begins.

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Serving Middle Income Clients
Financial planning is not only for the super wealthy. Middle income clients need your help more than ever. And creating a plan for serving them can help your business survive and even thrive in this recession.
In this webinar, Kevin Condon, Ph.D., will explain why you should serve middle income clients and changes that you'll need to make to better serve this segment of clients. Condon is executive vice president of Advisor Services for MyFinancialAdvice Inc and a Certified Financial Planner licensee since 1987. He is a recognized leader in the financial advisory industry and was named one of Worth Magazine's 250 best financial advisors five times. Established in 2001, MyFinancialAdvice.com uses the Internet to make financial advice affordable and convenient to more people.

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Actively Managing An ETF Portfolio
At a crucial time for financial markets, Rob Stein, managing partner and senior portfolio manager of Astor Asset Management, will show you how to interpret employment trends and other macroeconomic indicators to manage ETF portfolios actively.

Stein, who began his career as an economist at the Federal Reserve, will explain his unique fundamental approach to investing and show you how to profit from economic cycles.

He'll explain the role of inflation in the economy, the potential for a double-dip recession, and how you can spot another downturn before it begins.

Author of The Bull Inside The Bear (Wiley, 2009), Stein in 1994 founded Astor Financial Inc, which specializes in ETF investing. In 2008, he started ETFPort.com, a portal for the exchange traded fund community.

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With revenue slashed by the financial crisis, it's more important than ever for advisors to use technology to scale their businesses and operate more efficiently. In today's session of the Financial Advisor Webinar Series, advisors learned how to evaluate and implement practice management systems from one of the industry's leading experts, Dan Skiles, executive vice president of Shareholders Service Group.

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Actively Managing An ETF Portfolio In All Market Cycles
One major benefit of investing in ETFs is that you can participate in a sector's upside without the company-specific risk of individual stocks. While "a rising tide lifts all boats," if you get stuck investing near a market peak, your portfolio will undoubtably suffer.

In our next webinar, you'll learn how you can identify and profit from economic cycles. Robert Stein, who is managing partner of Astor Financial LLC and this week's presenter, specializes in economics-based investing. He uses economic indicators, namely unemployment, GDP, and money flows into and out of the stock market to identify changing economic cycles. In this session, he'll share his research and discuss the potential for double-dip recession. He'll also help you identify appropriate ETFs that would be poised to benefit.

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What's the best place on the Web to learn about ETFs? What sites can you depend on for the latest on tax issues? Which economists' blogs should follow regularly? In today's session of the Financial Crisis Webinar Series, attendees learned the answers to these questions and got a sneak peak of a new practice management website for advisors called advisors4advisors.com.

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Practice Management Tips For Advisors
Times are tough for independent financial advisors. Client retention and assets under management are down, and while you want to differentiate your firm to gain the many clients being lost by other firms, you also need to keep your expenses low. You can excel in this environment while keeping expenses low by better managing your firm and embracing the right technology solutions.

In this session of the Financial Crisis Webinar Series, Dan Skiles, executive vice president of Shareholders Service Group (SSG) will explain how you can use technology to steamline your firm's processes and better serve clients while using less resources. Skiles joined SSG this year after spending eight years at Charles Schwab & Co. where he was vice president of adviser technology. Formed in 2002, Shareholders Service Group serves nearly 500 independent registered investment advisers and advisory firms around the country with brokerage services and back office support.

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