Sheryl Garrett, founder of Garrett Planning Network, was among the winners of Financial Planning's 2010 Influencers of the Year Awards. But who's influencing the financial planning profession this year? Let us know.
Nominate your candidates for the 2011 Influencers of the Year Awards at financial-planning.com. Awards will be given for Contributor of the Year, Practice Management Guru, Tech Wizard, Wealth Creator and Legacy Builder. We will also bestow a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Garrett was recognized as Practice Management Guru for introducing innovative ways to run a financial planning shop and sharing her ideas with other advisors. Other Influencers honored last year included Contributor of the Year Marilyn Capelli Dimitroff of Capelli Financial Management; Tech Wizard Maya Salzer of Wealth Management Conservancy; Wealth Creator Louis Stanasolivich of Legend Financial Advisors; and Emerging Wealth Investment Management and Legacy Builder Michael Kitces of Pinnacle Advisory Group. Ross Levin of Accredited Investors took home the Lifetime Achievement Award.
From Our Discussion Boards:
On the financial planning industry's penchant for defining itself - as well as the performance and pecking order of individual advisors - solely by assets under management:
"The focus on AUM allows planners to lose focus on the value they are creating for clients and promotes in the marketplace instead the mistaken belief that financial planning has no value (because planners don't charge a fee for those services). Like employer-prepaid medical care (it's not really 'health insurance,' although that's what people call it), the end-consumer has no idea what they are buying or what it is really worth. Costs escalate and overall value diminishes. The sooner we get away from this disaster, the more likely it will be that the FP industry can actually become a real profession."
