Investing

Inside ETFs 2019 Recap

It’s Friday night, and I’m finally sitting down to write a recap of my time at the Inside ETFs Conference–it’s been a busy couple of days catching up. Earlier this week I spent a few days in Hollywood, Florida with some of the best and brightest in the business. It never ceases to amaze me the quality of people in our profession; I’ve written about my optimism for my profession in the past, you can revisit those here and hereand I left this conference with nothing but excitement for the future of financial services.

It’s only been the last few years that I’ve been going to conferences, and let me tell you…from my experience, Inside ETFs knows how to put on a conference. The resort was top notch. The speakers were can’t miss. And the networking was worth the price of admission. If I’m being honest, I only attended breakout sessions where friends were presenting and attended the main sessions with the headline speakers. The rest of my time was spent talking with other advisors and investment professionals, recording the third installment of Project One Question, and filming a couple of videos with my friends Brendan Mullooly and Tyrone Ross. Having the opportunity to catch up with friends, meet new people, and finally connect with people I feel like I know from Twitter is PRICELESS.

One of the highlights of the trip was having the opportunity to participate on a panel about preparing for effective wealth transfer; in the coming years there will be a transfer of $30 trillion dollars, and our panel shared how we are preparing our firms to help clients and future clients manage that wealth. I was fortunate to be joined on the stage by some amazing financial advisors: Jennifer Wappaus, Brendan Mullooly, and Malik Sarwar; I was taking mental notes while listening to what they had to say. And, I would be remiss not to mention our moderator, Rick Ferri, who is well-respected in our profession. It was a pleasure getting to meet an advisor who has had the success he has in his career.

I love getting the chance to share what I’m doing and my excitement for the future of financial advice, and I hope to continue to have the opportunity to get out and speak.

Another highlight of the conference was dinner Monday evening with the Who’s Who of FinTwit; Monday happened to be my 37th birthday, and if I couldn’t be at home with Ang and the boys, I can’t think of a better group of people to spend it with. I don’t usually get excited about birthdays–by now it’s just another day, but this group surprised me with a personalized cake and sang Happy Birthday to me–it was totally unexpected. If you are a financial advisor or investment professional and are not participating, or even just following along, on Twitter you are missing out. Some of my closest friends in the business are people I’ve met through Twitter, and I was only in attendance at this dinner because of the relationships I’ve formed on the platform. Not only are the people on FinTwit some of the most genuine people you will meet, but the information that is exchanged is higher-ed quality–no joke.

Oh, If you ever have a chance to dine at Il Mulino don’t pass it up! Just make sure you wash the Rolls Royce before you go; the parking lot was filled with some of the most expensive cars on the market. I think some of the locals could use a financial advisor!

Although the conference wrapped up Wednesday, I chose to head home Tuesday evening; as much as I wanted to stay and continue the conversations with my friends, I was ready to see my family. I did, however, miss the big announcement from Josh Brown that the Ritholtz Wealth Management team and the Inside ETFs team are partnering together to throw what is sure to be a can’t miss conference in September called Wealth/Stack in Arizona. Be sure you get your ticket when they are released. You can bet I will be there!

Here’s some of the great content I was able to record while I was down there:

All About Your Benjamins The Podcast: Project One Question

Talkin’ Shop With Brendan Mullooly

Talkin’ Shop With Tyrone Ross Jr.  (a formal post for this important video will be coming shortly)

 

Disclaimer: Nothing on this blog should be considered advice, or recommendations. If you have questions pertaining to your individual situation you should consult your financial advisor. For all of the disclaimers, please see my disclaimer page.