FinCon
I didn’t really think much about going to FinCon2016 but living in Las Vegas and the event taking place in San Diego, made it feel imperative that I attend. After all, it is only 5 hours in good traffic. Also, bothering me was how I would be able to attend without having to take time off from work. Well, fortunately we have a local sales office so I tried to kill two birds with one stone and both work and attend the conference. This turned out to be a bad idea since I ended up working the typical 10 hour work days but I did get to attend enough of the conference to understand that it is an absolute must attend for me in the future.
What is FinCon?
Its tag line is where money and media meet. It is an event where folks interested in digital media and personal finance can meet to network and learn more about digital media and personal finance and how each apply to one another.
Highlights of FinCon 2016
Keynote Speakers
Clark Howard I have been listening to Clark on the radio as well as watching Clark Howard’s HLN. I believe that the HLN television show was on Saturday afternoons. I knew I would see Clark present but I had the unexpected pleasure of meeting him face to face in the lobby of the Sheraton. The event was held at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina. As I walked in the door, Howard greeted with a great big smile and shook my hand. What a thrill it was to meet him face to face after listening to him all these years.
Clark and I chit chatted about where I lived and he let me know he was familiar with the drive I had to make from Las Vegas to San Diego. I then told him that I was looking forward to his presentation and he joked about hoping he had something worthwhile to say. Clark isn’t flashy or a particular funny but he is a loveable guy. Everyone loves Clark.
Clark’s presentation focused on the difference in media in today’s media in comparison to when he had started in personal finance. He talked about how he was steadily losing ratings in radio and television and attributed it to the fact that the folks he was speaking to had gotten older. From there he had to make drastic changes that resulted in more focus on digital technologies for reaching out to his audience. Then his numbers started to come back. There was an interesting twist on this where he suggested to the audience that they were heavily invested in digital media and that they could gain audiences by leveraging the previous technologies. Namely, radio and television. This resulted in some heavy Q&A.
Jean Chatzky
Jean Chatzyky is a financial editor from NBCs today show. I am a bit embarrassed to say that her name sounded familiar to me but I really didn’t know anything about her. She did a Special Live Episode of “Her Money with Jean Chatzky” right at the show. She interviewed three people that were attending the show. The questions focused on how the interviewees started in personal finance and built their businesses. She also took money confessions from the audience. These were quite amusing but were of value to everyone attending because we all make mistakes and we can learn valuable lessons from others.
Noah Kagan
Noah Kagan is and American Internet entrepreneur and the Founder of AppSumo. AppSumo provides digital tools and learning courses. Noah took us through his history of working in technology for companies like Intel, Facebook and Mint before starting up AppSumo. He was very entertaining but the most interesting part of the presentation was that he detailed his salary history throughout all of his job transitions. Most people tend to be skittish about providing that kind of detail but Noah was very comfortable. I think the audience was grateful for both his sense of humor and insight to what the work path is for a company founder in technology.
Sessions
There were many learning sessions which one would expect to find at a conference like this. A couple of my favorites were “On FIRE: Everything You Need to Know About the Financial Independence / Early Retirement Movement” and “Money for Mature Audiences. Thank goodness we have access to the recordings as there were easily 40-50 sessions and some overlap.
FinCon Mentoring
There was a part of the conference that ended up being a surprise to me. It was an hour session called FinCon Mentoring. Now I thought I had signed up for the mentoring but come to find out I hadn’t according to the folks running the session. This session paired beginners up with seasoned veterans. Now that is something I want to be part of. Well, the coordinator of the session told me not to worry and she hooked me up with a lady named Lynette Khalfani-Cox. This was the highlight of my trip. It made the 5 hour car ride over along with two sleepless nights due to working and attending the conference worth it. Lynette is the money coach at www.askthemoneycoach.com. And in my eyes she is the Money Coach Goddess. Lynette is a well sought out personal finance expert, public speaker, author, coach and web site owner.
Lynette was kind enough to spend an hour and a half with me even though the session was only supposed to last one hour and we started about a half hour late due to the fact that I wasn’t really signed up or entitled to the session. Lynette told me all about her experiences in personal finance. We also chatted about our children since we both have children who are young adults along with the challenges of making sure our children are financially savvy. She also took a look at my website which was in the beginning stages. Lynette gave me many suggestions and examples. I am forever grateful.
Conclusion
I didn’t even get to mention that I did see a couple brilliant personal finance people at the show. I saw Todd Tresidder who is the financialmentor.com. I voted for Todd to win the Plutus award for outstanding retirement website and I believe he won. I am not sure if the Madfientist was there but there was someone wearing a t-shirt advertising his site. I also ran into another gentleman who works out with me in a group exercise class in Austin. What are the chances of that happening? Two people interesting in personal finance and working out from the same class in the same city? This show along with Affiliate Market Summit East and West are now a must attend on my travel circuit. If you have any interest at all in personal finance then this is a must see.