Former Fed Chief Ben Bernanke takes stage at Schwab Impact as behemoth RIA conference convenes

About 1,900 advisers are gathering in Denver for Wednesday’s official start to the 2014 Schwab Impact conference. Many looking for tips to generate new business while others hope to find new investment vehicles aimed at smoothing returns during market volatility.
Over the next four days, the conference will include dozens of educational sessions on running a profitable RIA, investments, technology and compliance.
Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve chairman during the 2008 economic crisis is the highest-profile speaker of the day. He is set to discuss his time as chairman, as well as issues related to today’s economy.
Former President George W. Bush will share his experiences during his eight years in the White House on Thursday at Impact, one of the largest conferences in the nation for registered investment advisers. About 5,000 total attendees will roam the halls of the Colorado Convention Center this year. Last year’s conference in Washington attracted about 1,500 advisers.
When President Bush spoke at the Raymond James national conference for advisers in Dallas in April 2013, advisers were impressed with his candor and humility. It will be interesting to see if this group of RIAs are similarly smitten.
In a pre-conference session late Tuesday, Liz Ann Sonders, Charles Schwab & Co. Inc.’s chief investment officer, said she expects more market volatility like that of September and October, “but in the context of a secular bull market.” She recently told InvestmentNews that she believes the economy is moving toward a growth phase driven more by business capital spending as opposed to consumer spending.
Greg Valliere, chief political strategist of Potomac Research Group, said Tuesday’s elections, which resulted in the Republican takeover of the Senate, can’t be considered a predictor of how the 2016 presidential election will go because the pattern of voters is so different.
“As Mitt Romney found out to his deep regret, the demographics of the presidential election are much more heavily tilted toward women, toward young people, toward minorities and, especially, Hispanics,” he said even as the polls were still closing on the West Coast. The conference agenda offers plenty of practice management opportunities, with sessions on “The Power of Story Selling,” “When You Share Equity the Pie Gets Bigger,” and “Managing Client Profitability: Segmentation Strategies that Best-Managed Firms Employ to Help Drive Results.”
Of course, building a top advisory business requires an adviser to be at his or her best, suggesting that the session called “Ready for Anything: From High Stress to High Performance in One Moment” might be popular.
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Other sessions likely to draw a crowd focus on creating an income stream for retired clients, preventing behavioral biases from affecting investment performance, futures-based risk management techniques, digital currencies and multigenerational planning.
Other Wednesday highlights:
A session on how goals planning helps clients make the right investment decisions will follow a presentation by behavioral finance expert Shlomo Benartzi.
Sallie Krawcheck, the former Bank of America Merrill Lynch executive, is set to discuss the importance of reaching out to female clients. Always a lively speaker, Ms. Krawcheck told a group of female advisers last month that women had investing needs that are different from men.
She also described herself as the only person on earth to have worked directly for seven financial services CEOs.
The Schwab adviser conference officially closes Friday at about noon with a few words from author and Duke University senior fellow Dan Heath, who will offer advice on making better choices.
Bernie Clark, Schwab’s executive vice president for adviser services, is set to offer opening remarks first thing Wednesday morning. InvestmentNews reporters and editors will be reporting on the conference at #Schwabimpact through Friday.
Check out InvestmentNews.com for on-location video, too.