Take-Aways From AFCPE Symposium Recordings

 

One of the great features of the annual Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education (AFCPE) Symposium is that AFCPE records all of the breakout sessions and makes them available to attendees online for a year. Gone are the days when you needed to choose one session from among multiple topics of interest and miss hearing the others.

During the past nine months, when I had time, I slowly made my way through parts of the 2024 Symposium that I missed and was interested in. This post provides a very eclectic summary of my key take-aways from the “rest of the AFCPE Symposium.”

Sequence of Returns- This term refers to the order of investment returns in retirement. In other words, good years first/bad years last or bad years first/good years last. It is not the average return throughout retirement that matters but, rather, the order in which returns arrive.

Sequence of Returns Risk- This is the danger that poor investment returns early in retirement, combined with withdrawals for living expenses, will reduce a portfolio’s value, increasing the risk of running out of money sooner, even if average returns are acceptable. Most sequence of returns risk happens during the first half of retirement.

Buffer Assets- These are assets outside retirement accounts that can pay expenses during market downturns to shield retirees from having to make withdrawals from equity assets. Examples include high-yield savings accounts and money market funds, home equity lines of credit (HELOCS), cash value life insurance, and reverse mortgages.

Financial Education Courses- The “gold standard” for high school financial education is at least a full semester stand-alone course and, in 2023, eight states passed a financial education requirement. As of July 2025, 29 states guarantee a personal finance course. Most state mandates are unfunded. Why the momentum? Great advocacy work, organizational support, and research findings showing the effectiveness of, and positive impacts from, financial education.

The American Dream- Research findings show the term “American Dream” is highly individualized  but perceived by most people as owning a home, having a comfortable retirement, and an expectation that your children will have a better life than you. White, Asian, and higher-income Americans are more likely than others to say they achieved the American Dream.

Reinventing Yourself- A panel of speakers discussed the process of transitioning to a new career within the financial education and counseling space. The benefit of doing this is that “you know things” and can transfer knowledge and skills honed during a prior career. In other words, you don’t have to start at the bottom. Some people also get paid more when they switch careers. A key to success is trying to differentiate yourself through skills, credentials, and experiences.

Next month, I look forward to attending the 2025 AFCPE Symposium. I’ll be teaching a concurrent session myself and once again learning from, and networking with, professional colleagues and sharing best practices in financial education.

This post provides general personal finance or consumer decision-making information and does not address all the variables that apply to an individual’s unique situation. It does not endorse specific products or services and should not be construed as legal or financial advice. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.