--- title: Schedule description: Explore the FPA Gather schedule, featuring curated sessions, networking opportunities, and experiences designed for financial planning professionals. image: https://gather.financialplanningassociation.org/hubfs/FPA_Gather_LogoTaglineFPA_Horizontal_FullColor_RGB.jpg --- FPA NexGen Gathering is now FPA GATHER Workflow [![FPA_Gather_LogoFPA_FullColor_RGB](https://gather.financialplanningassociation.org/hs-fs/hubfs/FPA_Gather_LogoFPA_FullColor_RGB.png?width=1754&height=400&name=FPA_Gather_LogoFPA_FullColor_RGB.png "FPA_Gather_LogoFPA_FullColor_RGB")](https://gather.financialplanningassociation.org/?hsLang=en) Open menu [About](https://gather.financialplanningassociation.org/about?hsLang=en) [Registration](https://gather.financialplanningassociation.org/?hsLang=en#pricing) [Speakers](https://gather.financialplanningassociation.org/speakers?hsLang=en) [Schedule](https://gather.financialplanningassociation.org/schedule) [Partners](https://gather.financialplanningassociation.org/for-partners?hsLang=en) Contact Us [For Partners](https://gather.financialplanningassociation.org/partners-contact?hsLang=en) [For Attendees](https://gather.financialplanningassociation.org/attendees?hsLang=en) [FAQ & Policies](https://gather.financialplanningassociation.org/faq-policies?hsLang=en) [![FPA_Gather_LogoFPA_FullColor_RGB](https://gather.financialplanningassociation.org/hs-fs/hubfs/FPA_Gather_LogoFPA_FullColor_RGB.png?width=1754&height=400&name=FPA_Gather_LogoFPA_FullColor_RGB.png "FPA_Gather_LogoFPA_FullColor_RGB")](https://gather.financialplanningassociation.org/?hsLang=en) Close menu [About](https://gather.financialplanningassociation.org/about?hsLang=en) [Registration](https://gather.financialplanningassociation.org/?hsLang=en#pricing) [Speakers](https://gather.financialplanningassociation.org/speakers?hsLang=en) [Schedule](https://gather.financialplanningassociation.org/schedule) [Partners](https://gather.financialplanningassociation.org/for-partners?hsLang=en) Contact Us [For Partners](https://gather.financialplanningassociation.org/partners-contact?hsLang=en) [For Attendees](https://gather.financialplanningassociation.org/attendees?hsLang=en) [FAQ & Policies](https://gather.financialplanningassociation.org/faq-policies?hsLang=en) ## FPA GATHER 2026 # Past Schedule Check back often as more details on the full schedule will be added soon. For a highlight of last year's FPA GATHER, check below.  ![Header_2224929109](https://gather.financialplanningassociation.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Header_2224929109.jpg?width=7360&height=4912&name=Header_2224929109.jpg) ## Day 1 ## Tuesday ## August 18 ## Day 2 ## Wednesday ## August 19 ## Day 3 ## Thursday ## August 20 ## 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM ## Lunch & Learn: CFP Ethics ## CFP Ethics training with a light lunch provided. Advanced registration required. Session will be eligible for CFP and IAR CE. ## 12:00 PM - 5:00 PM ## Registration & Help Desk Hours ## 12:00 PM - 4:30 PM ## Exhibit Hall Hours ## 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM ## Cohort Conversations ## 2:30 PM - 3:00 PM ## Networking Break ## 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM ## Meet Your 2026 Cohort Leaders ## 4:30 PM - 5:30 PM ## Welcome Reception ## 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM ## Registration & Help Desk Hours ## 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM ## Exhibit Hall Hours ## 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM ## Breakfast ## 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM ## Cohort Conversations ## 10:00 AM - 10:15 AM ## Networking Break ## 10:15 AM - 11:15 AM ## Education Breakout Sessions | Block One ## The Five-Prompt Advisor AI Playbook ## **Speaker:** Matt Halloran **Description:** Through real-world examples, attendees will see how AI can help organize ideas before client meetings, translate complex planning strategies into clear client conversations, simulate perspectives from leading financial thinkers, and turn advisors' expertise into meaningful educational content. The session will include a short live demonstration showing how one prompt can transform a complex financial concept into a clear, client-ready explanation in seconds. Attendees will also explore how AI tools—including emerging advisor-focused assistants such as Zocks—can reduce the invisible administrative work surrounding advice, allowing advisors to spend more time on what matters most: listening, guiding decisions, and strengthening client relationships. The session concludes with an interactive Q&A, during which advisors can explore practical ways to integrate AI into their workflows.   **Learning Objectives:** - Apply the Five-Prompt Advisor AI Playbook to common advisory workflows. - Simplify complex financial planning topics for clearer client conversations. - Use AI to explore multiple strategic perspectives when evaluating decisions. - Leverage AI to transform advisor expertise into educational client communication. - Identify ways AI tools can reduce administrative friction and return time to client work. ## The Buy-In: Navigating Your Firm’s Path to Partnership ## **Speaker: **CJ Miller, CFP®, RMA®, CPWA® **Description:** The transition from employee to partner is a pivotal milestone for the next generation of planners. This session provides a strategic roadmap for building or navigating that path, from the alignment of a firm’s mission, vision, and values to the technical aspects of ownership. Using Sensible Money as a real-world case study, we will evaluate many practical implications of ownership, including valuation methodologies, financing strategies (internal vs. third-party), and essential operating agreement provisions. Whether you are a founder designing a legacy or a G2 successor seeking insight, you will leave with a framework to navigate the journey of firm partnership. **Learning Objectives:** - Construct a holistic framework for partnership eligibility that balances technical benchmarks with firm values to ensure a mutually beneficial path for founders and successors. - Evaluate the impact of valuation and financing methodologies to identify the trade-offs and cash flow implications unique to different firm life cycles. - Analyze the impact of key operating agreement provisions to establish a governance framework that sets clear expectations, protects firm continuity, and reduces conflict among partners. ## Beyond Retirement Planning: Memory Impacts on Money ## **Speaker:** Christine Moriarty, CFP® **CFP CE Credit:** 1 **Description:** Our elderly population in the United States is expected to reach 80 million by the year 2050. This is a risk for your clients, their assets and your business. The Money and Memory session is designed to prepare the advisor for financial realities of aging clients and give them tools to share for peace of mind.   **Learning Objectives:** - Practical tools and strategies to ensure clients have peace of mind. - Actionable steps to protect against dementia and scams. - Plans to secure successful outcomes for your clients ## 11:15 AM - 11:30 AM ## Networking Break ## 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM ## Education Breakout Sessions | Block Two ## The AI Edge: 5 Steps to Building Your AI Strategy as an Emerging Advisor ## **Speaker:** Matt Reiner **Description:** AI tools are everywhere — but fewer than 40% of billion-dollar advisory firms have a five-year strategy for incorporating AI. For emerging advisors, this gap is your opportunity. Matt Reiner shares a five-step framework for building an AI strategy, drawing from his firm's transformation journey, a national study on client attitudes toward AI, and live demonstrations of AI workflows across financial planning, client communication, and email management. Whether you're building your own practice or positioning yourself as the AI champion within a larger firm, you'll leave with a clear roadmap and the tools to start this week.   **Learning Objectives:** - Identify where AI fits in the client journey using national study data on client comfort levels with AI across different advisory touchpoints - Apply a five-step framework (Assess → Prioritize → Experiment → Measure → Scale) including the AI Prioritization Grid for building a compliant AI implementation plan - Demonstrate practical AI use cases across financial planning, client communication, and meeting follow-up using accessible, low-cost tools ## From Overlooked to Overbooked: 5 Simple Steps to Attract High Net-Worth Clients ## **Speaker:** Derrick Kinney **Description:** Most NexGen advisors never learned exactly what to say to make ideal prospects eager to hire them. Derrick Kinney, founder of Success For Advisors, will share the five proven steps to win high-net-worth clients without chasing leads. You’ll walk away knowing how to quickly connect with prospects, avoid trust-killing communication mistakes, and turn your tech tools into more revenue. What you'll walk away with: Use one sentence that turns a cold prospect curious;  Avoid the #1 communication mistake that kills trust in the first 60 seconds;  Turn fintech time into real revenue opportunities;  Apply the simple phrase that helps one advisor land a $7M client **Learning Objectives:** - Describe their fiduciary role and planning value using clear, client-focused language. - Recognize communication patters that unintentionally reduce client trust or understanding. - Apply structured conversation frameworks and scripts to improve initial prospect meetings. - Connect planning recommendations to client goals, concerns and decision-making behaviors. ## Career Changers Playbook: Breaking Into a New World, Adding Value in New Roles, and Going Independent in a New Firm ## **Speakers:** Chad Nolte, EA, Patrick Mcdonnal, and Bryan Ruiz, CFP® **Description:** Three recent career changers and members of the FPA NexGen National Career Changer Committee share what it takes to break into financial planning and gain traction quickly. Representing different stages of the journey, one is in their first year, one in their second, and one has recently launched their own firm. You’ll hear what worked, what didn’t, and what they’d do differently; from landing that first role to adding value early and deciding whether, and when, to go independent.   **Learning Objectives:** - Get equipped for the industry - Map your entry path into financial planning, including the most relevant education, designations, and licensing based on your background. - Identify roles that might be right for you - Identify areas where you can add value quickly to a firm and understand what firms actually look for in career changers. - Evaluate starting a firm - Assess whether (and when) starting your own firm makes sense, what it takes to be a financial planning business owner, and the key trade offs career changers often underestimate. ## 12:30 PM - 1:45 PM ## Lunch ## 1:45 PM - 2:00 PM ## Networking Break ## 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM ## Education Breakout Sessions | Block Three ## The Advisor Algorithm: Building Trust and Long-Term Client Relationships ## **Speakers:** Courtney Scott and Elle Musto **Description:** Building strong client relationships is a lot like dating. Clients are looking for trust, shared values, and someone they can rely on over time. In an increasingly noisy and uncertain world, advisors need more than market commentary or technical expertise. They need a clear value proposition and a consistent approach to the way they communicate with clients. This session will explore how advisors can define what sets them apart, establish credibility early in their careers, and build lasting relationships in a modern advice landscape. **Learning Objectives:** ## The Future of Financial Planning Careers: Insights from CFP Board's 2025 Compensation Study ## **Speaker:** Kayla Walter, MSF, CFP® Discover what the latest CFP Board compensation research reveals about the future of financial planning careers. In this session, we’ll unpack key findings from the CFP Board 2025 Compensation Study, including compensation trends, career satisfaction, work-life balance, advancement opportunities and the measurable impact of CFP® certification on earnings. Attendees will gain practical insights into how experience, leadership responsibilities and career decisions can shape long-term success in the profession- and why so many CFP® professionals describe financial planning as both financially rewarding and personally fulfilling.   **Learning Objectives:** - Identify key compensation and career satisfaction trends impacting today’s financial planning profession.  - Explain how CFP® certification influences compensation, career advancement and professional opportunities.  - Evaluate how factors such as experience, leadership responsibilities and workplace benefits contribute to long-term career success and fulfillment in financial planning. ## Estate Planning in 2026 ## **Speaker:** David Haughton **CFP CE Credit:** 1 Estate planning has undergone a quiet but meaningful shift in recent years. With the elimination of the anticipated estate tax sunset, the continued rise of digital assets, and the growing role of technology in planning workflows, the focus is moving away from purely tax-driven strategies toward implementation, coordination, and real-world execution/administration. Attendees will gain practical insights into why advisors are critical to the estate planning process. They will also learn modern planning risks, including digital asset access, beneficiary misalignment, and outdated documents, along with strategies to improve client outcomes through better process and coordination.    **Learning Objectives:** -  Identify how recent legislative changes, including the permanence of the higher estate tax exemption, have shifted the focus of estate planning away from tax minimization toward implementation and coordination.   -  Recognize common points of failure in estate plans and understand how these issues impact client outcomes. - Evaluate the role of technology in estate planning, including how tools can enhance workflows without replacing professional judgment or putting advisors at liability risk.  ## 3:00 PM - 3:30 PM ## Networking Break ## 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM ## Cohort Conversations ## 8:30 PM - 10:00 PM ## Closing Party: Kabernet with Kallsen ## Join CFP Board Chair Terri Kallsen, CFP®, and CFP Board CEO K. Dane Snowden for Kabernet with Kallsen during FPA GATHER 2026. This special afterparty is an opportunity to connect with Terri and Dane and network with CFP® professionals.  **\*\*\*Your FPA GATHER name badge and a valid ID required. No exceptions.\*\*\*** ## 8:00 AM - 10:30 AM ## Registration & Help Desk Hours ## 8:00 AM - 10:30 AM ## Exhibit Hall Hours ## 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM ## Breakfast ## 9:30 AM - 10:15 AM ## Cohort Conversations ## 10:15 AM - 10:30 AM ## Break ## 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM ## Closing General Session | Shut the F Up and Listen: How AI Can Make You More Human ## **Speaker:** Matt Halloran  **CFP CE Credit:** 1 **Description:** What if the very technology we fear is making us less human is actually our best chance to become more human?In this powerful, story-driven keynote, bestselling author and TEDx speaker Matt Halloran challenges how we think about AI, productivity, and connection. Drawing from his work Shut the F Up and Listen and years spent helping professionals deepen relationships, Matt shows how AI—when used intentionally—doesn’t replace empathy, presence, or listening. It restores them.   Attendees will learn why most people aren’t bad listeners—they’re just overloaded—and how freeing our mental bandwidth allows us to show up differently in conversations, meetings, and life. This session blends practical insight, humor, and deeply human moments to help audiences rethink their relationship with technology and rediscover the power of listening. This isn’t a talk about tools. It’s a talk about attention, presence, and becoming the kind of human people trust.   **Learning Objectives:** - A new framework for human-first AI - A simple but profound listening shift they can use immediately - A renewed sense of purpose in their work and relationships   start here ## #FPAGather FPA GATHER welcomes early-career financial planning professionals and career-changers who are looking to find their community—the people, connections, and sense of belonging that ground you in this profession. Structured conversations. Meaningful connections. Content designed to help you find your place and build the foundation for your professional journey. Curious about logistics, CE, or what to expect on site? Our FAQ has the details. [Explore FAQ](https://gather.financialplanningassociation.org/faq-policies?hsLang=en) ### STAY UP TO DATE ON SOCIAL! 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