Day 2 of #XYPN17 started bright and early (5:45 AM) at the T. Boone Pickens YMCA with 7 other XYPNers for a couple games of pick up. I’ve never been to a conference where an organized game of basketball was a part of the agenda–the XY Planning Network prides itself on the conference being an “unconferencey” conference–meaning it’s not a boring, drawn out conference like most others in the industry. Sticking with the “unconferencey” theme, today was a more relaxed day geared toward learning more about companies to help advisors run their firms more efficiently.
The morning kicked off with a keynote presentation by Farnoosh Torabi (@FARNOOSH) about the increasing number of households with women as the top earners. This morning I tweeted: “in 1960, 6% of women were the top earners in relationships, and today 24% of woman are the top earners in the relationship.” That’s an improvement I’m happy to see, and I’m sure the numbers will continue to rise. With this rise in women leading the household comes a number of behavioral issues advisors will have to address with their clients, and Farnoosh covered a number of topics in her time on stage.
After the Farnoosh’s presentation we had the opportunity to spend time in the expo room; usually this is a room filled with investment company representatives pitching their products for advisors to sell their clients, but at #XYPN17, the expo room was full of some of the best FinTech on the market. We had the opportunity to learn more about these companies and how they can help us run our businesses more efficiently, provide a better experience for our clients, and help us provide better content to educate clients. I typically never visit the expo rooms at conferences, but since it wasn’t full of product pitches, I spent time time learning about new technology and finally meeting some of the people I’ve been working with for the last two years in person.
In addition to the technology in the expo room, there was also a FinTech competition hosted by Bill Winterberg (@BillWinterberg), Mr. Fintech himself! Seven companies made the cut and were awarded the opportunity to pitch their companies to a panel of judges, along with the crowd of advisors. Think Shark Tank on a much smaller scale and no investments to be awarded.
The rest of the day was full of roundtable discussions and impromptu gatherings amongst advisors; the evening was capped off with dinner at the aquarium. It was another great day for the advisors in attendance. Needless to say it’s been a long day, and tomorrow it’s back to business with a half day of breakout sessions and more learning.
It’s time to get some rest.
Disclaimer: Nothing on this blog should be considered advice, or recommendations. If you have questions pertaining your individual situation you should consult your financial advisor. For all of the disclaimers, please see my disclaimers page.