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Greetings!
Welcome
to the ADFP's quarterly newsletter. We hope you find this
information both informative and useful.
Our goal
is to provide both members and affiliates with the latest
information about the divorce financial planning profession as well
as updates on the ADFP.
Please
feel free to suggest any ideas that would make this newsletter more
valuable to you and our subscribers.
Thank
you,
The ADFP
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ADFP's
Software Training Event |
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On
March 15, 2006, Dan Caine, founder of Family Law Software,
provided ADFP members at no cost a special hands-on training
session for Family Law software in Stamford, CT. Attending were ADFP
members from NY, MA, NJ, and CT. It was a very informative
session where Dan coached us through the intricacies of
reports, projections, and proper data input. He answered many
questions pertinent to specific cases we each had and informed
us about software program updates and technical assistance.
Dan
addressed key points of interest to many of us concerning
pension calculations, multiple mortgages, and tax impacting
marital assets. He demonstrated how to determine the present
value of a pension, how to input multiple and non-traditional
(interest- only, ARM's etc.) mortgages and how to show both
pre-tax and after-tax effects of a property division.
This
software is a powerful tool for analytical purposes and for
projections. The amount of detail that is possible from the
reports is abundant. We encourage you to acquaint yourself
with Family Law software as it becomes the state of the art
software for divorce financial planning.
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ADFP's
Web Site is Working For
You |
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 Our
association website, www.DivorceandFinance.com, continues to
be one of the most important benefits of membership in the
Association of Divorce Financial Planners. Many of you have
received inquiries or even clients as a direct result of your
presence on the site. Please continue to inform us of any
experiences you have with the site, so we can benefit from
your experience and further improve the site.
We
completely redesigned and redeveloped the site a couple of
years ago, creating a searchable database, and are continuing
to invest heavily in maintaining, developing and driving
traffic to the site. We have paid listings in three of the
major divorce portals, DivorceNet.com, DivorceSource.com and
DivorceMag.com, in all of the geographical areas covered by
our membership. To date, we have also been able to attain
significant search engine positions in the three major search
engines (Google, Yahoo! and MSN) for several important keyword
phrases. Some current examples from Google, the most popular
of the search engines, are included below:
Keyword
Phrase and Position on Google:
- divorce
financial planning - 1
- divorce
financial planner - 1
- divorce
financial analyst - 4
- certified
divorce financial analyst - 7
Please
keep your information on our website up-to-date. If you are a
new member, be sure to give us your content for the website.
To submit your data, e-mail your contact information and a
description of your practice or business to our Director of
Communications/Website, Lauren Prince, at Lauren@Lprince.com.
Take a look at other members on the website to get an idea of
the type of information you would want to provide including
your photo.
The
ADFP website is a vital benefit to our members, so please be
sure to take advantage of it.
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Practice
Management Tip - Start a Study
Group! |
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Want
a way to hear what the other Divorce Planner professional
is thinking? Want to learn how the attorney really
feels about the financial aspects of a case? Want
to know what the accountant sees in forensic analysis?
Want to hear the mediator's concerns? Want to feel
connected to the divorce professional community?
Organize a multi-disciplinary study group!
Dave
Garfield, an ADFP Board of Directors member in Southern New Jersey is isolated from
most of his colleagues from the ADFP. A solution to continuing
professional contact and gaining perspective as to where he
fit into the divorce planning process was to start a study
group.
Three
planners, four attorneys, three CPAs, and invited
guests make up the South Jersey
study group of the ADFP. Meeting on a scheduled
basis, we confront the issues and problems based
on an interdisciplinary perspective. From "mental
attitude" of the client to understanding the
valuation of stock options, the group eagerly, and
respectfully, challenges the presenting practitioner
to understand their position and reinforce the need
for an interdisciplinary "team approach"
to the divorce process.
The
key to the success of a study group is preparation.
No professional wants to allocate precious time
to a disorganized or frivolous activity. Time is
literally money to the professionals involved in
the divorce process. The organizer must plan a meaningful
topic presented by one of the participants. The
group should be oriented to the topic prior to the
session with a general outline of the session(s).
Some topics require more than one session to cover.
The session should be located conveniently (or in
a rotating location) and at a time the group mutually
agrees upon. Appropriate refreshments are a nice
feature. Discipline and courtesy must be maintained.
Starting and ending times should be adhered to.
Attendance is required, and missed sessions should
result in expulsion from the group. Continuing group
performance self analysis should be performed periodically.
For
the attorney, it is an orientation to a better outcome
based on the application of specialized expertise
to strengthen his/her client's position. To the
accountant, its an education that allows confidence
that the case fact pattern has been thoroughly analyzed
through a financial report system that goes far
beyond the initial Case Information Statement (a
specific NJ document) with analysis of the time
value of various asset class performance. For the
mediator it is enlightenment as to the interdisciplinary
applications. For the planner it is both a true
learning experience and an opportunity to illustrate
the positive impact of our relatively new discipline.
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Save
the Date! ADFP's Annual
Conference |
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The
ADFP's signature event, our annual conference, is scheduled
for September 15th 2006 at the Radisson hotel in New Rochelle,
NY.
We'll
be keeping you posted as details unfold. This event promises
to be our best ever - you don't want to miss it!
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The
ADFP 1/2 Day
Conference |
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Announcing
ADFP's 1/2 day Practice Management
Conference!
May 18th from 1PM to 5PM in NY City.
Not
to be missed! This is your chance to really get down and dirty
in terms of advancing your practice management skills. The
ADFP is offering for the first time a half day series of
workshops to help you:
- Learn how to
market yourself
- Enhance your
financial skills by learning what your experienced peers use
as tools of the trade and what they provide to clients and
attorneys
- Educate
yourself about what are the standards in our profession:
conflicts of interest; ethics; defining our role in various
legal settings
- Learn how the
ADFP has created various marketing tools to help you promote
yourself
- Network with
your peers: share case stories, marketing efforts, problem
solve, etc.
This
is a free service to ADFP members, but we welcome ALL
financial planners who would benefit from this information.
Meeting
Details:
Location:
Wachovia Securities, 1211 Ave. of the Americas, 27th
floor
Cost:
Free to ADFP members with advanced registration, $30 at the
door for non-members or non- registered members.
RSVP
absolutely required: Contact Kristen at (203) 264-1104 or
email ADFP@charter.net
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