It can be a lonely world for the sole practitioner or small practice financial planner. Even if you’ve got some office staff or a business partner to provide water cooler conversation there are times when having that go-to expert a cube or two away makes the old corporate world look less displeasing. I love the connections I make on Twitter who provide reading material and tips to last me a lifetime. But as the ACA Member Resources Coordinator I love that ACA takes that collegial feel and throws in a mixture of family and teamwork so no solo or small firm feels like they are all alone.
You can think of ACA as that corporate backup. Our members are a melting pot of financial planning experience. From former estate planning attorneys, to the college funding expert or CPA, you name it, we’ve got someone with the knowledge or resources for your obscure financial planning questions. No longer to you have to know it all or spend hours researching where to learn it. You turn to ACA and the learning is quick and easy.
We like to think of ourselves as a study group on steroids. You’re never the lonely financial planner with ACA at your back. Our community provides a discussion forum where questions are asked and answered, and the pressing issues of the day are discussed so you can learn the latest from the best like-minded advisors in the business and chime in with your own opinions and wisdom.
Our community libraries are filled with “official” ACA documents to help an advisor with all aspects of their practice, from templates for client meetings and handouts to all manner of marketing materials for our members to us. But what really brings the site to life is the volume of shared content created by our members. Presentations they’ve given to local community groups, blog postings to share with attribution, and tools members have created that they share for collaboration, beta testing and other member input. And the response is comically speedy. The other day I put out a call for a form I would like to update and wanted some examples to gather update ideas. Within an hour I had six different examples from members!
It can be a daunting prospect when you are faced with the selection of software, hardware and other accoutrements of a financial practice. ACA members have formed user groups for a variety of software products. We have developed relationships with a number of vendors to help you wade through the decisions you face. And there are vibrant discussions about member experience with all manner of tools and vendors.
Throughout the year we offer webinars and continuing education opportunities from fellow members or our vendor sponsors. The CE opportunities continue at our annual conference where you will spend several days immersed in financial planning seminars and plenty of time to connect with all the other ACA members you’ve been working with online throughout the year.
I love helping our new members find the vast information within our community and connect with the go-to experts on various topics. It is gratifying to work with a group of willing participants who will share just about anything and live by the philosophy that we are not competing, there are plenty of fish in the fee-only pond for all of us to fish off the same dock.
SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT: I would love to talk to you about where you fit in to the ACA family of advisors. Please give me a call at 910-769-1569 or schedule an appointment so we can talk about how ACA can help you grow the practice you’ve been dreaming about.