A Message from the Executive Director: Lazy, Hazy Days of Summer?

Lazy, Hazy Days of Summer?

Whatever happened to the “lazy, hazy days of summer”?  Everyone I talk to or hear from seems to be as busy as ever.  Apart from the decidedly June-like temperatures, it feels a lot more like the middle of fall than the beginning of summer.  The pace may be slowing somewhere, but it’s not in the direct investment industry, and it’s certainly not here at the IPA, where a number of new projects are keeping us busy and energized.  To bring you up to date on some of these initiatives:

• Our newly created Public Relations Committee is getting organized and planning strategies for delivering consistent, proactive, positive messages about the direct investment industry and its products.  Recent negative media coverage underscores the timeliness and importance of these efforts.

• We’re getting ready to unveil the first course in the series of on-line training courses we are developing jointly with The American College, to educate financial advisors about direct investment products.  The initial course – an introductory overview of direct investments – will be available to advisers over the next few months. We’re also working now on a marketing brochure to promote the course, which should be ready for distribution soon. And we’ve developed an article about direct investments to run in the September issue of the American College’s flagship magazine, The Wealth Channel.  The article will also appear on the American College’s Web site, with a link to more information about our on-line training program.

• We expect to begin distributing the IPA’s revised and re-branded brochure “Guide to Understanding Direct Investments” this summer.  FINRA has reviewed the guide, a generic overview of direct investment products that financial advisers can use to educate clients about direct investments.

• IPA committees are working on several “Best Practices/Standardization” documents, which will be distributed as soon as they are available: The REIT Committee has almost finished work on “Financial Reporting Standards for Dividend Coverage,” which we expect to release soon; the Operations Committee is focusing on “Best Practice Documentation for Cost Basis Reporting” and the Due Diligence Committee is soliciting input for a “Detailed Invoicing” best practices document.

• Our re-designed Web site is beginning to attract significant traffic, well on its way now toward becoming the “go-to” information resource for industry executives and the public that we want it to be.

• Count the IPA’s monthly conference calls among the activities that aren’t taking a summer break.  The next call, June 15th, scheduled for noon eastern will focus on FINRA’s new Notice to Members 10-22, clarifying the disclosure and suitability requirements of Regulation D.  Click here to register if you haven’t already done so.  The July call will provide an update on the REIT market so stay tuned for more details.

Not on this ‘to do’ list, but very much on our minds, is the planning for the IPA’s fall conference, “Creating a New Tomorrow,” November 3-5 at the Gaylord Texan in Dallas. Anyone who attended the spring conference in April had to be impressed by the professionalism and enthusiasm of the IPA membership, not to mention excited by the record-breaking attendance we celebrated.  Your participation and commitment help to advance the IPA’s core mission:  “Advocating direct investments as an important part of a diversified portfolio, through education and collaboration.”  Your continuing support helps strengthen the IPA’s role as a knowledgeable, influential and progressive representative of and advocate for the direct investment industry.

I hope all of you manage to enjoy at least a few “lazy, hazy days” this summer before the calendar hurls us into the fall.  That will happen in a blink, so make the most of any down time you are able to grab and above all, make it safe.  I’ll look forward to seeing you in Dallas in November, and will welcome your ideas and input any time.

Kevin Hogan
IPA Executive Director
212-812-9799 X202
khogan@ipa.com
www.ipa.com