Dr. David Kelly is the Chief Global Strategist and Head of the Global Market Insights Strategy Team for J.P. Morgan Asset Management. With over 25 years of experience, David provides valuable insight and perspective on the economy and markets to the institutional investor and financial advisor global communities. David’s research focuses on investment implications of an evolving economic environment. He has written extensively on all aspects of the U.S. economy and his proprietary U.S. economic forecasting model helps shape his views on both the economic landscape and prospective asset class returns. He currently sits on JP Morgan Fund’s operating committee. Throughout his career, David has developed a unique ability to explain complex economic and market issues in a language that financial professionals can use to communicate to their clients. He is a keynote speaker at many national investment conferences and a frequent guest on CNBC, Bloomberg, and other financial media outlets. Prior to joining J.P. Morgan Asset Management, David served as Economic Advisor to Putnam Investments. He has also served as a senior strategist/economist at SPP Investment Management, Primark Decision Economics, Lehman Brothers and DRI/McGraw-Hill. David is a CFA® charterholder. He also has a Ph.D and M.A. in Economics from Michigan State University and a B.A. in Economics from University College Dublin in the Republic of Ireland.
2025 Keynote Speakers
Day 1
JPMorgan
Morning Keynote:
Out of the cyclical storm and into the policy fog
As we move into 2025, investors remain focused on where the economy and markets are headed. A new agenda in Washington is set to shape the economic landscape following a strong 2024. Across markets, equity valuations remain elevated, while bond yields have moved higher in response to proposed policies. Using slides from the Guide to the Markets, Dr. David Kelly will shine some light on these issues and their investment implications, discussing the economic outlook for 2025 and beyond, while highlighting key investment opportunities.
CEO, Triple-I
Closing Keynote:
State of the P&C Insurance Industry: Key Risks & Opportunities
Presentation begins with an overview of the Insurance Information Institute’s (Triple-I) insurance economics outlook and underwriting projections, updated quarterly by their economists and actuaries. The presentation then transitions to Triple-I’s perspective on key risks and opportunities facing the insurance industry, including climate risk, legal system abuse, cyber, and risk-based pricing.
D'Amelio Network
Opening Keynote:
Harnessing Headwinds – Successfully Navigating Change & Adversity
Leaders across every industry and experience level share one thing in common: To be successful they need to effectively navigate failure, organizational change, and the unknown. Like headwinds to a pilot, these perceived barriers can force you to change direction, cost you momentum, and even take away options. These headwinds can feel confusing, disorienting, and downright uncomfortable. In this talk, Nicole Malachowski uses the aviation-based idea of headwinds as a metaphor to show how with the right mindset, individuals and teams can learn to harness the energy of these headwinds in their advantage.
First Woman Thunderbird Pilot, Combat Veteran, Fighter Squadron Commander, White House Fellow & Adviser, and Indomitable Spirit
Nicole Malachowski
Speakers & Sessions
listed alphabetically
Day 1
The Real Estate Whisperer Financial Planning
Defer, reduce, or eliminate taxes on the sale of highly appreciated rental property: 5 methods
1.5 CFP® CE credit
About the Session
This program is tailored for professional advisors and their clients who own rental property, focusing on five proven tax strategies to mitigate or eliminate taxes on highly appreciated investment real estate. The presentation is a survey course covering advanced techniques: 1031 exchanges, 1031-721 exchanges, Opportunity Zones, Charitable Remainder Trusts, and tax-qualified oil and gas drilling. Each strategy addresses the challenges of managing significant capital gains and estate tax exposure associated with high-value properties. Through real-world case studies, attendees will gain actionable insights into preserving wealth and optimizing tax outcomes, making it an essential guide for those managing substantial real estate portfolios.
U.S. Secret Service
The Hidden Realm of Financial Crimes in a Digital World
1.0 CFP® CE credit
About the Session
Uncover how criminals exploit technology, navigate international borders, and manipulate the minds of unwitting victims to steal billions of dollars and launder trillions globally. This presentation sheds light on exposing transnational criminal organizations and combatting this modern threat to protect your clients and our financial system.
Ellevate Advisors
Becoming Succession Ready: the Journey Before the Destination
About the Session
Succession Readiness isn’t just for advisors approaching retirement; it is the mindset required for both buyers and sellers preparing for a smooth transition! Knowing what your goals are now and for your ideal exit scenario is essential to success. Join Brooklyn Brock, a 3rd generation financial advisor, and exit coach to advisors themselves, in this interactive presentation. Together, we will identify common mental roadblocks that derail a transition, explore succession readiness prerequisites using a Retirement Readiness Assessment tool, and identify the right exit strategy to accomplish your unique goals. Any advisor at any age and stage of life and business will leave this presentation better prepared for an internal succession or M&A event!
Aspyre Wealth Partners
Advisor Wellbeing: How you take care of yourself in a caring profession
About the Session
Financial planning is not just the hard numbers and facts. We pour into our clients in caring and thoughtful ways. This care towards clients while rewarding is also draining and if we aren’t careful, the thing we love most about our work becomes our greatest resentment. Join me in a session where we pour into you – the advisor – and teach you how to keep refilling your own “cup” so you can show up as the best advisor for your clients. I’ll be sharing tricks and tips for avoiding burnout in our profession and you will walk away with your own advisor wellbeing toolkit.
Jeffery Coyle
Libretto
A new approach to lifecycle planning and investing
1.5 CFP® CE credit
About the Session
A financial advisor’s most important deliverable is advice. While our industry has made strides in packaging “risk tolerance portfolios” and “probability of success plans” into sleek software, we haven’t seen the same level of innovation applied to advice methodology itself.
So, how can we deliver more robust advice to clients? As it turns out, risk questionnaires aren’t particularly useful for building personalized portfolios, and Monte Carlo simulations aren’t a substitute for real risk management. We can do better, but we’ll need to rethink some of the methods underlying traditional planning and investment advice.
In this session, Jeff Coyle, founder of Libretto and former advisor with 25+ years of experience managing ultra-high-net-worth clients, will introduce a new framework for lifecycle advice that moves beyond the “risk tolerance ecosystem” in favor of an outcomes-oriented approach to planning and investing.
KKR
Alternatives Unlocked: Introduction to Private Infrastructure
About the Session
Private Infrastructure consists of the hard assets that keep our modern society functioning. These aren’t just roads, bridges, and airports, but also includes data centers, electricity grids, and telecom towers. The Introduction to Private infrastructure course provides an overview of the asset class, highlights its unique attributes, and discusses the diversification benefits that Private Infrastructure offers to modern portfolios.
Cruz Consulting Group
Push Don't Pull: Designing Development & Feedback Systems to Attract & Retain Key Talent
About the Session
Employees are hungry for performance feedback from their leaders, managers and peers. They want to gain insights that advance their abilities and career potential. And more than ever, employee feedback is pivotal for sustained engagement. In this session we will cover the talent management systems and processes needed to develop your team and provide meaningful feedback that “pulls” employees by teaching, coaching and developing rather than “pushing” or correcting them.
Investments & Wealth Institute, Cerulli Associates, Raymond James, Morgan Stanley
Building Services for HNW clients
1.0 CFP® CE credit
About the Session
As investable assets held by high-net-worth (HNW) households in the U.S. have increased by more than $23 trillion since 2011, firms have rapidly grown their service offerings aimed at this demographic. Greater than one-third (35%) of HNW individuals state that the reason they began a relationship with their primary advisory provider is related to either services or client experience offered. Additionally, Cerulli data shows that since 2017, every category of service offering has become more commonplace to meet enhanced client expectations and needs.
In this panel presentation, you will hear from the lead Cerulli researcher on HNW services, two practitioners delivering HNW services to their clients, and the CEO of the credentialing body for Certified Private Wealth Advisor professionals. From increasingly nuanced investment management services to more comprehensive and specialized planning services, every arena of high-end private wealth services will experience greater demand: Estate and tax planning, charitable planning, planning for closely held business owners, and the ability to navigate alternative investments on behalf of your clients are essential services for advisors. Wealth management firms buy, build or rent these service capabilities in various ways which shall be explored by the panel.
Merrill Lynch
Estate Tax Planning Ahead of the Sunset: Key Things to Remember
About the Session
This session offers a comprehensive look at today’s gift and estate tax landscape, equipping you with the knowledge to guide clients through effective wealth transfer planning. We’ll examine current laws and exceptions to gifts that preserve exemption amounts, ensuring you’re up-to-date with the latest regulations. You’ll gain insights into key wealth transfer structures, including Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts (SLATs), Qualified Personal Residence Trusts (QPRTs), Charitable Remainder Trusts (CRTs), and more, while understanding how to match these tools to your clients’ unique needs.
Beyond the technical aspects, we’ll address practical considerations like utilizing the first spouse’s exemption, maintaining grantor trust status, transferring business interests, and leveraging Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts (ILITs) and buy-sell agreements. By the end of this session, you’ll be equipped to create tailored strategies for your clients, ensuring their wealth transfer plans are as efficient as they are effective.
Medicare Advisor, Gebhardt Group, Inc.
Navigating Medicare: Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Benefits
1.0 CFP® CE credit
About the Session
Most people think Medicare is free, easy, and covers everything. As an advisor, you can help set more realistic expectations for your clients as they approach 65 and need to figure out all things Medicare. Understand how Medicare works, what it covers and doesn’t cover, and how the decisions you help them make may impact what they pay for healthcare.
Silicon Valley Community Foundation & GiveTeam
How Charitable Planning Can Grow Your Practice
1.0 CFP® CE credit
About the Session
We are in the middle of the greatest wealth transition in history, and CFPs are in the perfect position to help their clients plan to make this successful. Join us for an evidence-based exploration of all ways that charitable planning can position you for success, including connecting with your clients on their values and visions for the future, creating and maintaining relationships with the next generation and establishing yourself as a highly skilled and proactive advisor. We’ll also review some of the most effective charitable planning tools that you can offer to your clients, including charitable uses of retirement assets, using donor advised funds to create family legacies and how lifetime income gifts can offer both charitable deductions and lifetime income.
New Venture Visions Corporation
How to deduct beyond the $750,000 mortgage limitation- Tax optimized debt restructuring on your HNW client's real estate
1.0 CFP® CE credit
About the Session
Home mortgage interest rates are currently at multi-year highs, resulting in increased payments for clients. Compounding this issue, the federal mortgage interest deduction limit of $750,000 significantly impacts owners of multi-million-dollar homes and most second-home owners, who often cannot deduct interest beyond this threshold.
This training session explores a “Tax-Optimized Mortgage Debt Restructure” process, which can, in many cases, enable clients to deduct part or all of the excluded interest. For instance, clients with combined tax rates of 50% or higher, loan amounts of $1.5 million, and interest rates of 6% could realize annual, recurring tax savings exceeding $20,000 through this specialized restructuring approach.
Osterweis Capital
Not All High Yield is Junk
1.0 CFP® CE credit
About the Session
Thanks to the outsized influence of Moody’s and S&P, many investors have a simplistic view of the bond market: investment grade is “safe” and high yield is “risky.” In this presentation, Carl Kaufman and John Sheehan, CFA, Portfolio Managers for the Osterweis Strategic Income Fund, will explain why they believe this view is fundamentally flawed. The distinction between the two segments is determined by an issuer’s agency rating, so they will begin by reviewing the principles behind ratings. They will then explain the limitations of using a single approach to define such a diverse and dynamic market, and they will explore how market inefficiencies allow savvy investors to construct high yield portfolios with risk profiles similar to investment grade portfolios. Carl and John will also discuss the structure of both market segments and examine the appropriate uses of each asset class in client portfolios. In their view, the allocation decisions are less clear than conventional wisdom suggests, as they have different strengths and risks.
Quantinno Capital Management
Solving the key challenges of taxable investors with long/short managed account solutions
1.0 CFP® CE credit
About the Session
An overview of tax-aware solutions available to taxable clients including various approaches to tax loss harvesting. The speaker will provide an introduction to a long/short approach to tax loss harvesting and provide a contrast of pros and cons of the various approaches. The speaker will also introduce key portfolio management challenges and how a long/short approach to tax loss harvesting in managed accounts may have an impact. These challenges may include ossified long-only tax loss harvesting accounts with elevated levels of tracking error and minimal tax benefit generation, as well as low-basis concentrated positions that may be causing outsized risk in client portfolios.
Life Planning Partners, Inc.
How You Can Stop Performance Reporting
2.0 CFP® CE credit
About the Session
Most firms spend significant money and time producing quarterly investment reports for clients. This looks to the past and does not predict the future of the client’s portfolio. Unless your purpose is to tout investment returns, these provide little value to the client.
At Life Planning Partners, Inc., we made a decision to quit performance reporting in 2017. It took some work to prepare clients and they have not missed the reports at all. Our time is now spent of providing what clients value most – real financial panning. Meetings are rarely about investments and are focused mainly on the clients life and financial goals.
Dr. McClanahan will walk you through their process to prepare clients for no more performance reports. She will also share what they do provide to clients and how they efficiently cover projections, tax, estate, insurance, and investment planning.
Optimal AdvisorAI
Saving Financial Professional Time by integrating AI into daily practices
About the Session
In this session, we showcase practical applications of AI in financial planning and advisory services. We demonstrate how offices can save 1-5 hours per week by highlighting real world use cases. After this session, our goal is advisors will be more open to leveraging AI to create stronger, more profitable practices. This presentation is more than just a talk; it’s a look into how AI is going to change the way a financial planning practice can operate.
Key takeaways from the presentation:
Real-World Use Cases: Gain practical insights with real-world examples, demonstrating how AI can be implemented into everyday workflows.
Explore the power of AI to help you save time by providing comprehensive due-diligence reviews, from dissecting 50-page investment PDFs in seconds to summarizing complex financial data.
Learn about the transformative impact of AI on client communication and engagement in a compliant manner and how it can help build deeper, more meaningful relationships.
Why This Presentation?
Educational Focus: The practical session is tailored to educate and empower financial advisors, equipping them with the knowledge to incorporate AI in their daily operations.
Interactive and Engaging: Our style is conversational, ensuring a lively and engaging learning experience for all attendees.
Kitces.com
Unlocking Advisor Productivity: Efficiency Takeaways from Kitces Research
About the Session
As advisory firms grow and add clients, they inevitably reach capacity limitations, because a financial advisor just only has so much time to provide advice and service to clients before they just run out of hours in the day or week, and have to hire more advisor talent. Yet given the cost of advisor talent, advisory firms first and foremost try to lift the productivity of their existing advisors to first generate more with the team they’ve got. In practice, though, firms often don’t focus in the right places to actually generate those productivity lifts.
In this session, Chief Financial Planning Nerd Michael Kitces of Kitces Research will share their latest findings on the four factors that really drive the productivity of advice-centric firms, including the impact of team leverage, face-time with clients, the affluence of the firm’s clientele, and the pricing confidence of the advisors themselves… and in the process, will show how the prevailing focus on AdvisorTech actually plays a remarkably small role in advisor productivity, once advisory firms get the four “big” things right!
Kitces.com
An Advisor’s Guide to the 20% Pass-Through Deduction
1.5 CFP® CE credit
About the Session
With the potential to reduce taxable income by up to 20%, the 199A Qualified Business Income (QBI) deduction has the potential to dramatically reduce a business owner’s tax liability year after year. Notably, while the deduction, which was first introduced available in 2018 as part of changes made by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), was initially set to expire at the end of 2025, as a result of the November 2024 elections, the deduction is now likely to remain a part of the Tax Code for years to come.
The good news is that the QBI deduction is a powerful tax-saving tool for many small business owners. The bad news is that it is also one of the most complex deductions, both from a calculation and a planning point of view. To empower advisors to help their clients make the most of the QBI deduction, this session will begin with a “ground up” overview of the QBI deduction, followed by a review of QBI-enhancing strategies. The ultimate goal is to leave attendees with a “rolodex” of QBI solutions that can be filtered by a client’s business type, taxable income, and other relevant factors.
Focus Partners Advisor Solutions
Four Questions Every Investment Strategy Must Answer
About the Session
Are you confident that your investment strategy is positioned to mitigate risks, efficiently capture returns and withstand the next market shock? Your clients’ financial future is too important to risk.
While the portfolio is undoubtedly a key piece of an overall plan, as an advisor it is imperative that you feel confident in articulating your investment approach. During this session, Focus Partners Advisor Solutions Director of Investment Strategy, Sheldon McFarland discusses simple frameworks you can use to help your clients better understand their portfolio, how prices are set in the markets and why it might be okay if their portfolio isn’t “keeping up with the Joneses.
Oliver Wyman
Decoding the LTCI Mandate: Actuarial Insights and Practical Strategies for Financial Planners
1.0 CFP® CE credit
About the Session
Long-term care insurance (LTCI) mandates are reshaping the financial landscape, offering both challenges and opportunities for financial planners. In this session, Stephanie Moench, actuarial lead for California’s exploration of a potential statewide LTC program, will break down the complexities of implementing a public LTC program, sharing insights into the range of program designs explored, the actuarial considerations underlying the program structure, and the potential impact on clients and advisors. Stephanie will also discuss opportunities for planners to use state exploration into public LTC programs to better serve clients, build trust, and integrate LTCI planning into their practice.
Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of how to navigate the potential new requirements, help clients make informed decisions, and incorporate LTCI conversations into holistic financial planning.
Amplified Planning and Guiding Wealth
Welcoming the Next Generation Into Your Firm & The Profession
About the Session
The next generation of financial planners is eager to make a meaningful impact, but attracting and retaining top talent requires more than just offering a mentor. Drawing insights from training over 4,000 aspiring and next-gen planners, Hannah Moore, CFP®, will share actionable strategies for firms to enhance their hiring and onboarding processes. You’ll explore what incoming talent values, best practices for creating an exceptional new hire experience, and how to foster an environment where the next generation thrives — in the profession as well as our firms.
Yahoo Finance
Navigating the Golden Years: Comprehensive Elder Planning Strategies for Financial Advisors
1.0 CFP® CE credit
About the Session
In an era of increasing longevity and complex financial landscapes, financial advisors play a critical role in guiding clients through the intricate journey of aging. This presentation will provide a comprehensive roadmap for developing holistic elder plans that address not just financial security, but the multifaceted challenges of aging. Participants will learn how to create nuanced, personalized strategies that protect clients’ financial and personal well-being, with a special focus on identifying and preventing elder financial abuse and exploitation.
Morningstar
Goals-Based Tax Strategies
About the Session
In this engaging session, we’ll dive deep into the art and science of tax strategy planning, equipping you with the tools and techniques needed to serve your clients at the highest level. We’ll explore a comprehensive review of tax strategies—the “tools in the toolbox”—and how to assess your clients’ unique situations to select and explain the most effective solutions. From understanding the nuances of implementation to navigating real-world applications, this session is designed to make complex tax planning approachable and actionable.
You’ll leave with a new framework for addressing individual client needs, practical strategies to boost your confidence in delivering results, and insights into the critical importance of showcasing your impact to your clients. Whether you’re looking to refine your approach or take your planning to the next level, this session will empower you to elevate your practice and truly “up your game” in delivering exceptional value to your clients.
Certus Legal Group, Ltd.
How to Not Ruin Your Clients' Kids with Money
1.5 CFP® CE credit
About the Session
This presentation will explore the advisor’s role in facilitating positive generational wealth transfer – something that will be greatly needed during the coming decades’ massive transition of wealth. Our time together will not focus on this technique or that strategy. Rather, we will consider how we can work together to better our clients’ primary goals and assuage their greatest fears when it comes to their children or grandchildren – that the wealth they’ve created and we helped grow will end up ruining those they love the most.
Cooper Sinclair
Midland National/Midland Advisory, Platinum Partner
Advisory Annuities & Retirement Income: Strategies, Taxation and Implementation for Fee-Only Advisors
About the Session
Hear from long time industry insider, Cooper Sinclair, as he provides an overview of the advisory annuity space, with a specific focus on RETIREMENT INCOME PLANNING. Beginning with implementation realities for Fee-Only advisors, and including a crash course on annuity taxation and the solutions most utilized today, Cooper’s presentation will close with a real life case study, courtesy of FPA NorCal member, Mira Ma of Marim Wealth Planning. Given Cooper’s experience as a member of the Committee of Annuity Insurers, Cooper will provide detailed information concerning advisory fees, and the impact of the 2019 IRS Private Letter Ruling that changed the game.
Trouette Insurance Agency, LLC
The CA Sustainable Insurance Strategy
About the Session
Since the 2017 Sonoma County Fires in CA, the insurance industry has moved toward decreased availability of coverage and runaway cost increases. We will discuss the continuum of issues that have contributed to the mounting crisis in CA and strategies for an advisor to assist their clients in navigating insurance options along with advice on how to avoid cancellations.
Commonwealth Financial Network
Planning for Single Women
About the Session
This presentation provides financial planning strategies tailored to single women, including those who are divorced, widowed, or never married. It explores key financial considerations such as Social Security benefits, estate planning, wealth management, and long-term care. Attendees will gain insights into closing the gender pay gap, enhancing financial literacy, and securing financial independence. The session also covers strategies for optimizing retirement benefits, tax implications of divorce and inheritance, and considerations for business succession and philanthropy. By addressing challenges unique to single women, this presentation equips advisors with tools to help clients build strong financial futures.
We are awaiting approval for CFP, IAR, and CIMA credits. We will update this site as CE is approved by each organization.
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