Full Agenda




Tuesday, October 7




Tuesday
11:00 AM

Registration




Tuesday

ACP 2025 Open
More information coming soon! All experience levels open for this year's ACP Open, played as a scramble. Everyone gets to hit and then the team picks the best ball from which to play their next shot. Tee times start at 11 AM, and you'll be back in time for the welcome reception this evening. So whether you have a low handicap, or only dust off your clubs once a year, we want you to come out and have some fun! Clubs are available for rental, and course information is coming soon!

ACP Pickleball-Palooza

Come join us for open-play pickleball at Second Summit Cider! No experience is necessary, so whether you play every day or you've not had a chance to try it yet, you're welcome here! We'll spend the afternoon together, and get you back to the Hilton in plenty of time to recharge and get ready for our Welcome Reception. Looking forward to seeing you there! 




Tuesday

ACP 2025 Open
More information coming soon! All experience levels open for this year's ACP Open, played as a scramble. Everyone gets to hit and then the team picks the best ball from which to play their next shot. Tee times start at 11 AM, and you'll be back in time for the welcome reception this evening. So whether you have a low handicap, or only dust off your clubs once a year, we want you to come out and have some fun! Clubs are available for rental, and course information is coming soon!




Tuesday
6:30 - 8:00 PM

Welcome Reception
Hilton Salt Lake City, Trofi Patio (just past check-in)




Wednesday, October 8




Wednesday
8:00 - 8:45 AM

Breakfast
Room:
Regency Ballroom

New Member and First-Time Attendee Introductions



Wednesday
9:00 - 10:30 AM

Opening Comments and Featured Speaker

Investment Salsa – Memorable Metaphors with Craig Israelsen

Craig Israelsen, Utah Valley University / 7Twelve Portfolio

Room: Grand Ballroom C

Room: Regency Ballroom

We tend to remember things better when we can connect the information to things we already know.  That's where salsa comes in.  Who hasn't had salsa?  Investment portfolios are a lot like salsa.  Come see for yourself!




Wednesday
10:30 - 11:00 AM

Break with Sponsors




Wednesday
11:00 AM - 12:30 PM

Workshops & Deep Dives

The Future of Financial Planning: Understanding & Integrating AI
ACP Leadership Track Panel,
formerly G2 Committee
Room: Grand Ballroom B

Room: Verelst

This session will explore how small financial planning firms can harness the power of AI-driven workflows to transform their daily operations and client interactions. Attendees will learn how AI can streamline meeting preparation by automatically collating relevant data from multiple sources, capture detailed meeting notes with minimal effort, and enhance client communication through personalized follow-ups. Beyond these core use cases, we’ll discuss how to approach and think about AI as a technology.


An Advisor's Tips to Successfully Integrating 
Asset Dedication Into Your Practice

Adam Broughton, 
PBL Wealth Management
Brent Burns, Asset Dedication
Brian Duvall, Asset Dedication
Room: Grand Ballroom C

Room: Percival

Adam Broughton hired Asset Dedication in 2019 after more than a year of attempting to implement liability-driven investing for his clients. The last five years have produced many best practices for successful collaboration and lots of lessons learned. This session will be a structured conversation between Adam Broughton (founder of PBL Wealth Management, LLC), Brent Burns (CEO of Asset Dedication) and Brian Duvall (Mgr. of Advisor Services). The discussion will cover the key decisions, tools, best practices and work flows an adviser needs to think through to realize the full benefits of engaging Asset Dedication as a strategic partner.


YouTube Marketing

Thomas Cook,
Retire to Tellico
Bridget Mermel, Sullivan Mermel, Inc.
John Scherer, Trinity Financial Planning
Room: Grand Ballroom A

Room: Verelst

Thomas will share everything he's learned about making financial content on YouTube and how to convert viewers to clients.




Wednesday
12:30 - 1:45 PM

Lunch and Dessert with Sponsors
Room:
Regency Ballroom




Wednesday
1:45 - 2:45 PM

Breakout Sessions

Training Clients to be Active Philanthropists

Bert Whitehead, ACP (ACA) Founder & Supporter
Room: Grand Ballroom C
Room: Percival

Many of our Baby-Boomers have become wealthy, but have not come to grips with a strategy balancing philanthropic goals and passing assets to heirs ("Charity begins at Home!").  This results in over-flowing Donor Advised Funds, and often unrealistic intergenerational expectations.  Over the past 25+ years, Bert has contributed an amount in the high six figures to charities largely selected by family members, while distributing outright cash gifts to the next 3 generations, and shares lessons of what worked and what didn't! 


Managing a Remote Office

Jennifer Harper, Bridge Financial Planning
Room: Grand Ballroom A

Room: Sloane

Jennifer would have been the last to believe her firm could work remotely, but here she is. Three years ago, she and her husband moved abroad and haven’t looked back. With strong processes, procedures, and communication in place, the business has continued to grow with the support of a reliable team working in two other locations. Today, about 40% of the firm’s clients live outside of its original region. Here are some of the lessons she has learned along the way.

Retirement Income Planning
Craig IsraelsenUtah Valley University / 7Twelve Portfolio
Room: Grand Ballroom B

Room: Vernon

Through the use of the Retirement Portfolio Analyzer (RPA) various retirement income scenarios can be analyzed in real-time.  Various withdrawal rates, portfolio asset allocation, portfolio cost, starting balance, social security information, retirement spending, etc. can all be adjusted.




Wednesday
2:45 - 3:15 PM

Break with Sponsors
Room:
Regency Ballroom




Wednesday
3:15 - 4:15 PM

Breakout Sessions

Unlocking Hidden Value: What Financial Professionals Need to Know About Reverse Mortgages
Jerry Auippa,
Longbridge Financial
Room: Grand Ballroom C

Room: Verelst

Elderly homeowners own close to $14 Trillion in home equity, and many are struggling with a financial plan that fully fund their lifetime expenses, yet financial advisors often overlook this hidden wealth.  Why?  In this 1-hour presentation, we take a deep dive into the FHA Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) and new attractive and low-cost proprietary products to understand how it can improve the retirement plans of clients, protect against longevity risk, be optimized to fit with client goals, and to do so in an ethical and compliant manner. Home equity is one of the largest sources of assets for clients, and reverse mortgages can unlock this hidden wealth in a safe and standardized manner.  With new, best interest and compliance standards for financial advisors, the value of considering home equity in the planning process is growing. 

 



Sell and Stay: Life When You're No Longer the Boss
Ken Robinson, SAX Wealth Advisors
Room: Grand Ballroom A

Room: Verelst

One option when you sell your practice is to continue to provide financial planning with your new firm. What changes do you and your clients – need to be prepared for?


Financial Planning for Federal Employees

Fran Goldman, Mercer Advisors
Room: Grand Ballroom B

Room: Percival

The Federal government is the largest employer in the country.  Given the current situation with increasing uncertainty for Federal employees, it is increasingly important for financial planners to understand the unique structures that govern the Federal workplace.  How are wages determined?  What benefits are available to Federal employees?  What is similar to private sector employees and what is different?  What are the particular decisions that need to be made when Federal employees leave the government or retire?  And what do all those acronyms mean -- TSP?  FEGLI?  FEHB?  CSRS?  FERS?






Wednesday
4:30 PM - 5:30 PM

Breakout Sessions

Long Term Care Insurance: Protecting & Planning for the Future
Taylor West,
LLiS
Room: Grand Ballroom B

Room: Verelst

As clients get older and start to think of the implications of a long-term care event, it’s important to know what options are available to protect against it. In this presentation, we will review the cost of care in different parts of the country, as well as the associated premiums for various types of coverage. We will also compare the advantages and differences of traditional LTCi and hybrid solutions, as well as chronic illness riders versus long-term care riders.

By illustrating what’s available on the market today, you’ll be better equipped to identify the ways in which your clients can prepare for long-term care needs while also protecting their assets and ability to leave a legacy. We will also review underwriting requirements and common obstacles to obtaining coverage.




Donor Advised Funds: Designing a Tax-efficient Diversified Strategy for Philanthropists to Fund DAFs
Steve Huxley,
Asset Dedication
Bert Whitehead,
ACP (ACA) Founder & Supporter
Room: Grand Ballroom C

This session will dig deeper into the themes from the Training Clients to be Active Philanthropists session and provide an opportunity to answer participant questions.

Pyramid Exploration 
Moderated by
Jim Davis,
Partnership Financial LLC
Tim Caban,
Copper Beech Advisors, LLC

Room: Grand Ballroom A

Join your ACP colleagues in a discussion about the ACP Pyramid – where it's headed, how it's working, and how it serves our membership. Whether you use the Pyramid daily, weekly, or haven't seen it since you joined ACP, we're interested in hearing from you in this open conversation about current challenges and opportunities. 




Wednesday
7:30 - 9:30 PM

Leadership Track Social
Formerly G2, Leadership Track's signature event is back again this year with thanks to LLiS, who is proud to support ACP and our rising stars. SIP, SWING, EAT, REPREAT at TOPGOLF!
Mini-Bus departs from the Hilton Salt Lake City Center lobby at 6:45 PM. The return trip boards at 9:45 PM from TOPGOLF.

RSVP required




Thursday, October 9


Thursday
8:00 - 8:45 AM

Breakfast
Room:
Regency Ballroom



Thursday
9:00 - 10:30 AM

Opening Comments and Featured Speaker

Mind Over Markets: Behavioral Finance & Economic Realities for Today’s Advisor

Morgan Lemaitre and Joshua Flade, Park City Investment Solutions
Room: Grand Ballroom C

In an environment shaped by shifting interest rates, evolving fiscal policy, and persistent market volatility, financial advisors face a dual challenge: interpreting the economy’s signals while guiding clients through the behavioral biases that cloud decision-making. This session, Mind Over Markets, examines the powerful interplay between human behavior, market trends, and economic policy. We’ll explore the latest data on inflation, growth, and monetary policy—and uncover how behavioral tendencies can magnify or mute their impact on financial decisions. Advisors will leave with actionable strategies to help clients stay grounded, seize opportunities, and avoid costly missteps in today’s complex economic landscape.


Investment Salsa – Memorable Metaphors with Craig Israelson

Craig Israelson, Utah Valley University / 7Twelve Portfolio





Thursday
10:30 - 11:00 AM

Break with Sponsors
Room:
Regency Ballroom

Thursday
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Breakout Sessions

Addressing Client Needs – Tax Management Toolkit
Kacie Walsh,
Dimensional Fund Advisors
Room: Grand Ballroom C

Room: Percival
Join Dimensional subject matter expert Kacie Walsh for an educational session focused on helping advisors address & plan for client tax management needs with various investment solutions. Attendees can expect to learn the use cases that may require less familiar investment solutions, the associated investment terminology/platforms/providers (SMAs, Exchange Funds, 351 Transfers) and how utilizing them can help improve the client and prospecting experience. Walk away confident in your understanding of the various investment solutions in your tax management toolkit and how they may apply to the clients you serve.



The Education Planning "Lifecycle": the 5 S's

Resource Development Committee (formerly System Committee)
Room: Grand Ballroom A

Room: Sloane

Education planning can be very emotional for parents and family members, and this can be an especially tricky topic for advisors to navigate with our clients.... but we're here to help!  

Please join us for a presentation from the Resource Development Committee (formerly the System Committee).  We have created several new tools designed especially for ACP advisors to use with their clients when discussing education planning.  These tools are useful at all stages of the education planning "lifecycle": from savings, to setting expectations, navigating student loans and scholarships, selecting the right school and later servicing loans.




What Every Advisor Needs to Know About Special Needs Planning

Christopher Currin, Mercer Advisors
Room: Grand Ballroom B

Room: Verelst

People with disabilities represent the largest and fastest growing minority group in the U.S. As advisors, we can serve this vulnerable segment of the population throughout their life cycle. The three phases of planning for people with disabilities are 1) disaster prevention, 2) plan enhancement and 3) better case scenario support. The presentation will outline both best practices in well established practice areas as well as frontiers where needs still far exceed solutions.




Thursday
12:00 - 1:30 PM

Lunch and Dessert with Sponsors
Top Tips 2025 and Prize Drawings

Room: Regency Ballroom

Thursday
1:30 - 2:45 PM

ACP Annual Membership Meeting
All ACP members are encouraged to join in our official ACP Membership Meeting for association updates and discussion. 

Thursday
2:45 - 3:00 PM

Coffee Break
Room:
Regency Ballroom

Thursday
3:00 - 4:00 PM

Breakout Sessions


The Good, the Bad, and the - Beautiful - of Real Estate Investing
Tim Sullivan, Clarity Financial 
Room: Grand Ballroom A

Room: Verelst

Investing in rental property can be a great way to build wealth, diversify an investment portfolio, and create a significant passive income cash flow. It can also be an excellent way to lose money, concentrate net worth in an illiquid asset, and cause an otherwise normal person to question their own sanity. As advisors, we can help clients evaluate if owning rental property is a good option for them, understand the financial numbers when buying or holding a property for investment, and avoid big mistakes as a landlord and property owner.  

Estate Tax Planning For Middle America
Matthew Lincoln,
Cadence Planning
Room: Grand Ballroom B

Room: Regency Ballroom
This session examines the intersection of gifting strategies and basis planning, highlighting how decisions made during a client’s lifetime can significantly affect tax outcomes for their heirs. Many well-meaning strategies—particularly those involving appreciated assets—can unintentionally increase tax burdens if the implications for income tax basis and estate inclusion are not carefully considered. The session will explore foundational rules around gift taxation and basis treatment, clarify when step-up in basis does and does not apply, and introduce planning techniques to help preserve or enhance favorable tax treatment. Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of how to align income, gift, and estate tax considerations in practical client scenarios.



Total Wealth Planning & Investing
Jeff Coyle,
Libretto

Room: Grand Ballroom C

Room: Sloane

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 called total wealth planning and investing.

 

Thursday
4:00 - 4:15 PM

Break
Room:
Regency Ballroom

Thursday
4:15 - 5:15 PM

Breakout Sessions


Tax Planning 101

Michael Garber,
Michael Garber Financial Planning

Keith Spencer, Spencer Financial Planning

Bridget Mermel, Sullivan Mermel, Inc.
Room: Grand Ballroom A

Tax planning is one of the most valuable ways advisors can demonstrate their expertise and deliver meaningful impact for clients. In this session, you’ll learn how to move beyond simply preparing returns and instead help clients make proactive, informed decisions that minimize tax liability and align with their overall financial goals. Using the ACP philosophy and best practices, we’ll explore how to integrate tax planning into your advisory process in a way that is both practical and client-friendly. Through real-world case studies, you’ll see how these strategies are applied in practice, providing concrete examples you can adapt to your own work. Attendees will also gain insight into the most effective tools and resources advisors use today to streamline tax planning and strengthen client relationships.

Preparing for Bad Markets: Visualizing Black Swans for Clients 
Brent Burns,
Asset Dedication
Stephen Huxley, Asset Dedication
Room: Grand Ballroom C

The stock market does not behave how financial reporters expect.  Recent market volatility and mainstream media’s response spurred the Asset Dedication research team to investigate rare but extreme market events.  These events, made famous by Nicholas Taleb’s book The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable (2010), happen far more frequently than expected and can cause investors to panic.  
 
Most clients have likely seen the classic bell curve (the normal distribution).  This presentation will provide client friendly images using illustrations that compare the bell curve to the distribution of actual S&P 500 returns on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual basis for data back to 1928, 1950, and1975.  The Black Swans become quite obvious visually.  These illustrations will allow advisors to be ready for the next time mainstream media screams that the world economy is going to collapse tomorrow due to a little market turbulence today.  Historical perspectives tend to have a settling influence to offset the alarmist headlines.

10 ways AI saves you 10+ hours a week 
Alex Garcia,
Slant
Room: Grand Ballroom B

A practical session on integrating AI into the financial planning process to expand client capacity and improve advice quality. Advisors will learn 10 AI workflows to make significant efficiency gains, plus the guardrails to use them safely.




Thursday
6:30 PM - UNTIL

DFA Reception | Van Ryder Rooftop

Join Dimensional Fund Advisors and your ACP friends and colleagues for a fun night at Top Deck, just a block down the street. This rooftop venue promises a great view of historic downtown Savannah and a sunset on the Savannah River. Gather in the lobby as early as 6:15 PM, and we'll lead the way to a great night sponsored by DFA. No additional RSVP required – come as you are. 




Friday, October 10


Friday
8:00 - 9:00 AM

Breakfast 
Room:
Regency Ballroom




Friday
9:00 - 9:15 AM

Opening Comments




Friday
9:30 - 10:30 AM

Breakout Sessions

Empowering Your Planner Skills for Enhanced Client Relationships
Kelly Adams,
Triskele Coaching & Consulting
Room: Grand Ballroom A

Room: Verelst

Elevate your impact as a fee-only financial planner by mastering essential skills designed to transform your client relationships and boost your own professional self-confidence. This interactive workshop empowers you to move beyond traditional advice-giving, directly addressing the common challenge of clients who intellectually grasp a financial plan but struggle with implementation.

Drawing from coaching principles, you'll acquire immediately applicable techniques to improve self-confidence and awareness, deepen connections and foster greater client ownership. We'll focus on honing your ability to ask powerful questions that uncover core motivations and values, and practice deep active listening to truly understand your clients beyond the numbers. Through focused exercises and discussions, you'll gain expertise to guide clients toward their own solutions, increasing your confidence in handling complex client dynamics. This session is your opportunity to develop invaluable skills that will strengthen trust, improve communication, and lead to more meaningful and effective client partnerships.


Success as a Solo Advisor

Brian Shea,
Shea Financial Advising
Room: Grand Ballroom B

Room: Regency Ballroom
Brian will share his thoughts and experiences from his 20+ years of running a solo financial planning firm with no support staff. The highs and the lows. What worked and what didn’t. The latter portion of the session will include an “Ask Me Anything” format where the audience will drive the conversation. Whether you're curious about his journey, seeking advice on a specific challenge, or want to share your experiences, no question is off-limits.

Eliminate Manual Work and Create the Capacity You Need to Grow
Daleele Alison,
RooksDM
Room: Grand Ballroom C

Room: Regency Ballroom
Every hour you or your team spends on manual or inefficient processes is an hour not spent with clients, building relationships, or driving growth. Over time, that adds up and limits your capacity to move the business forward. In this session, we’ll walk through how Microsoft AI and automation tools can simplify the way you work. You’ll see how to eliminate busywork, improve workflows across your team, and create more space to focus on what matters most - giving you hours of your time back.




Friday
10:30 AM - 11:00 AM

Break 
Room:
Regency Ballroom



Friday
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

ACP Town Hall

Room: Regency Ballroom

Join in an open discussion about what's working, what's not, and where we're headed. What can ACP add to enhance your practice? We look forward to hearing from current members, prospective members, and friends!