By Maureen Renzi, vice president - communications

Financial planning for baby boomers is the biggest financial planning opportunity in American history, and the PICPA is ramping up resources so members can capitalize on this avenue for growth.

The first baby boomers started receiving Social Security benefits in January 2008. Over the next two decades nearly 80 million Americans will become eligible for Social Security. With retirement comes a host of complex personal financial decisions baby boomers will face. Some of the issues are Social Security claiming strategies, Medicare supplemental plans, qualified retirement, or retirement annuity payout strategies, to name a few. This provides a natural growth area for firms.

The PICPA’s Personal Financial Planning Committee has been addressing the issue for many years, including planning a successful day-long conference featuring nationally recognized speakers, regularly contributing to the Pennsylvania CPA Journal, and being actively engaged in PICPA’s financial literacy outreach to consumers. As Council addressed emerging/evolving practice areas, personal financial planning bubbled up to the top of the discussions, and PICPA leadership agreed to support and enhance the efforts of this committee.

The surge in interest in personal financial planning has inspired new programs:

• A series of free webinars to guide members exploring the potential for practice growth, including Introduction to Financial Planning and Your Practice, The Basics of Wealth Management, and Turning Your Tax Client into a Financial Planning Client
• A free networking program on Nov. 30, Growing Your Practice with Personal Financial Planning Services
• A dedicated resource page that will continue to grow with new videos, podcasts, and articles

Activity in this area will continue to expand. In the coming year, the Personal Financial Planning Committee will explore joint programs with other key professional groups to plan events that build mutually beneficial relationships and develop additional technical resources in the form of articles, podcasts, and webinars.