Day 1 Highlights of FPA NorCal Conference - Twitter Style!

(Editor's Note: See separate highlights of the opening keynote speaker Neel Kashkari, managing director at PIMCO and former chief of TARP.)

CarolynMcC: In "life planning and cash flow management" session by Amy Mullen of Money Quotient. #FPANorCal

BillWinterberg: Caltrain -> Muni -> Palace Hotel this morning for #FPANorCal. Now attending Dave Yeske's session on Tech Developments over the last 10 years

MichaelKitces: Next up - Horsesmouth's Elaine Floyd on Savvy Social Security Planning for Couples. #FPANorCal

jbrentburns: Cash flow mgmt and life planning are the key to success in shifting advice paradigm. Amy Mullen #FPANorCal

BillWinterberg: Today's tech trends: Cloud computing, mobile devices, business analytics, work from anywhere, social media. -Yeske #FPANorCal

MichaelKitces: Floyd session focuses on maximing Soc Security benefits for married couples, survivor benefits, and lifetime divorcee benefits. #FPANorCal

CarolynMcC: Effective communication leads to trust and commitment. Mullen #FPANorCal

MichaelKitces: Eligible divorcees can apply for Social Security former spouse benefit w/o contacting ex-. He doesn't even have to know! -Floyd #FPANorCal

MortgageNudge: 60% of the wealth in US is controlled by women, and most are Advisor Friendly. - Susan Hirshman #FPANorCal

BillWinterberg: About 1/3 of the room responded they have at least one staff member that works remotely. -Yeske #FPANorCal

BillWinterberg: You don't want to make technology decisions one at a time. You need an overarching technology plan. -Yeske #FPANorCal

BillWinterberg: "If I could have just one piece of software, it would be CRM. I'd throw out everything else." -Yeske #FPANorCal

MichaelKitces: Social Security trustees project Social Security long-term COLA at 2.8%. -Floyd #FPANorCal // What do you use for Soc Sec COLA assumption?

BillWinterberg: Yeske's policy: "If you talk to a client, you're not allowed to do anything else before you record the contact in CRM." #FPANorCal

MichaelKitces: When there's spouse age discrepancy, Soc Sec is favorable if older spouse was higher earner. Reverse very unfavorable. -Floyd #FPANorCal

CarolynMcC: People with purpose goals are happier than people with profit goals. Mullen. #FPANorCal

MichaelKitces: File and suspend only works once you reach Normal Retirement Age. NOT at 62. -Floyd #FPANorCal

MortgageNudge: Men and women communicate differently. Leads to breakdowns in interpretation. Hirshman #FPANorCal

MortgageNudge: "What do you think?" for men is call to action; for women is call to discuss. Hirshman #FPANorCal

BillWinterberg: There's no technology out there where someone doesn't find something to hate. -Yeske #FPANorCal

MortgageNudge: Goal of investing for men: To win. For women: To prevent poverty. Pay attention to way you frame risk tolerance. - Hirshman #FPANorCal

MortgageNudge: Women tend to undervalue their own value, leads often to being underinsured. Review insurance policies - Hirshman #FPANorCal

BillWinterberg: Xantrion gets several audience recommendations as a competent IT outsource provider for independent financial advisers. #FPANorCal

BillWinterberg: Yeske: The Internet & our technology allows us to create a 2,400-mile-long hallway between our two offices. #FPANorCal

mkcorbin: SEC sues CCOs. If you appoint one, their career is on the line. -Rupright #FPANorCal

MichaelKitces: Contrary to popular belief? RT @BillWinterberg Clients like virtual mtgs, more convenient 4 them; their time very precious -Yeske #FPANorCal

jbrentburns: Life conversations and financial conversations intersect at cash flows. Mullen #FPANorCal

MichaelKitces: Unfortunately not all Social Security Administration employees are well trained. Sometimes u have to push back on answers. -Floyd #FPANorCal

MichaelKitces: & they're cheap relative to salary! RT @BillWinterberg Yeske: Never seen my staff as excited as when we gave funds to buy iPad2! #FPANorCal

BillWinterberg: Yeske/Buie employees use FaceTime on their iPad2 as inter-office video intercoms. #FPANorCal

MortgageNudge: For women: stay away from "budget," use "spending plan" instead - relieves guilt, provides more appropriate context. Hirshman #FPANorCal

MichaelKitces: Next up at #FPANorCal - Don Knauss, CEO of Clorox about a CEOs perspective on what really matters.

MichaelKitces: "Change is certain; progress is not. The key to progress is leadership." -Knauss #FPANorCal

MichaelKitces: The key to leadership it about rallying people to a better future. -Knauss #FPANorCal

MichaelKitces: Leadership requires both thought leadership (envision the future) and people leadership (energize others to achieve it). -Knauss #FPANorCal

MichaelKitces: Health & wellness @Clorox multibillion company - "we help you kill bad stuff & stop spread of infection" Beautiful. -Knauss #FPANorCal

MichaelKitces: The purpose statement of @Clorox - "we make everyday life better, every day" - love it. -Knauss #FPANorCal

MortgageNudge: 5 traits of effective people: integrity, optimism, curiosity, compassion and humility. -Knauss #FPANorCal how do u relate to these 5 traits?

MichaelKitces: A leader's job is to allocate the resources to make everyone else successful. -Knauss #FPANorCal

MichaelKitces: Things happen faster when you have less formality in leadership structure. It's about organizational agility. -Knauss #FPANorCal

MichaelKitces: This @Clorox leadership philosophy is so brilliant I actually wish I could work there. Are your employees that engaged? -Knauss #FPANorCal

mkcorbin: If you engage people with the creation of the vision, you'll keep them engaged in realization of the vision -Knauss #FPANorCal

MichaelKitces: Laugh line - Last year @Clorox paid 35.5% effective tax rate. "We're making up for GE." -Knauss #FPANorCal

MichaelKitces: Greatest challenge to growth is corporate tax rate. @Clorox has $100m less to invest in R&D compared to non-US companies. -Knauss #FPANorCal

MichaelKitces: Next up at #FPANorCal - Me! "Revisiting Modern Portfolio Theory" in breakout. Sorry, I won't be tweeting from the podium on this one!

jbrentburns: @MichaelKitces won't be able to tweet his own presentation at #FPANorCal, but don't worry...I'll send a play by play.

BillWinterberg: Now "Breaking Through the Clutter" with @spensersegal of Actifi. #FPANorCal

jbrentburns: Revisiting Modern Portfolio Theory. Is it broken? Obsolete? No, but we have been using it wrong. Kitces #FPANorCal

BillWinterberg: "If you're going to keep a collection, make it baseball cards, not software tools." @spenseractifi #FPANorCal

snowtech: #FPANorCal Spenser Segal - if you've got a process problem, technology is NOT going to magically fix it.

CarolynMcC: Charitable clients are often our best so we need to learn how to take care of their needs. McCoy #FPANorCal

BillWinterberg: The next big wave in productivity gains will NOT come from technology, but from process changes. @spenseractifi #FPANorCal

CarolynMcC: Probably won't find out about estate law changes until end of 2012. McCoy. I think two year planning timeframes will be the norm #FPANorCal

BillWinterberg: "He who has the most checkboxes or bells & whistles in technology will not win." @spenseractifi #FPANorCal

jbrentburns: Markowitz's model was not meant to be a long term model and was designed to allocate among stocks. Kitces #FPANorCal

mkcorbin: Neg ?: What's bothering u? Neutral: How's it going? Pos: What's going well? -Jacobson #FPANorCal

CarolynMcC: Too frequent solicitation and being asked for the wrong amount are the major reasons people quit giving to a charity. McCoy #FPANorCal

snowtech: #FPANorCal Spenser Segal - make small changes that succeed rather than big changes that cause instant overload.

jbrentburns: Volatility drags performance. You cannot assume arithmetic average returns. Kitces #FPANorCal

jbrentburns: MPT and time. The optimal portfolio over multi years is different than over one year periods. Optimizers need taming. Kitces #FPANorCal

BillWinterberg: "When viewing a vendor demo, challenge them with example use cases to see how their software really works." @spenseractifi #FPANorCal

mkcorbin: Rebalancing eliminates volatility drag, creates pos return. -Kitces #FPANorCal

snowtech: #FPANorCal Spenser Segal - it doesn't matter what 'eye candy' features software has if it can't solve your core requirements.

jbrentburns: Rebalancing too often systematically drags performance if correlation is higher than we think. Timing has to be perfect. Kitces #FPANorCal

jbrentburns: Diversification does not provide returns. It manages volatility for a given return target. Kitces #FPANorCal

mkcorbin: Universally low correlation between CEOs' understanding of procedures & how workers understand them. Segal #FPANorCal

jbrentburns: There is inherent subjectivity to return assumptions. Unfortunately no right answer to which period. 1926?, 1950?, 1900? Kitces #FPANorCal

mkcorbin: Allocate by region, not by emerging markets/ developed mkts -Carpenter #FPANorCal

mkcorbin: Pfau article in JFP "true professional literature"Veres #FPANorCal

snowtech: "I generally favor cloud based solutions" for CRM #FPANorCal Spenser Segal

mkcorbin: I think Mary Schapiro isn't representing us well because of her previous connections with FINRA -Veres #FPANorCal

mkcorbin: Should advisors plan to die with their boots on? It's a failure of fiduciary duty not to plan for transition. Veres #FPANorCal

CarolynMcC: Attending financial planning update for registered domestic partners. Deb Kinney #FPANorCal

MortgageNudge: Intro to Cloud computing, with Joel Bruckenstein is starting now. #FPANorCal

BillWinterberg: Next up is Kathleen Pritchard on Positioning Your Practice in a Competitive Landscape. #FPANorCal

MortgageNudge: "Each person is pinata of possitives.". Ed Jacobson #FPANorCal

MichaelKitces: All you have to do is hit them with a stick? RT @MortgageNudge "Each person is pinata of possitives.". Ed Jacobson #FPANorCal

BillWinterberg: 3 lessons of powerful brands: Decide who you are, compete on value, not price, and deliver a great customer experience Pritchard #FPANorCal

MortgageNudge: Scalability is key, but under appreciated benefit of Cloud computing - Bruckenstein #FPANorCal. Can scale back down as well.

MichaelKitces: Cloud computing - think like electric grid. Need power, don't buy generator, just plug in & power allocated as needed -@fintechie #FPANorCal

mkcorbin: Cloud Computing cheaper: standardized hardware, lower overhead, better access to top-tier talent.-Bruckenstein #FPANorCal

MichaelKitces: Cloud computing security - do you really think your computer servers are more secure Microsoft's and Google's are? -@fintechie #FPANorCal

BillWinterberg: To improve a mission statement, focus on target market, issues your clients face, solutions you provide & benefits to clients. #FPANorCal

CarolynMcC: Same sex couples can't efile. Kinney. #FPANorCal

MichaelKitces: Many companies think they've never been hacked b/c their technology is so weak they wouldn't even know it happened! -@fintechie #FPANorCal

BillWinterberg: More multi-generational support needed. 80% of female widows leave their advisor within one year of husband's death. -Pritchard #FPANorCal

mkcorbin: Think about a trial period (9 mos) for possible successors -Armstrong #FPANorCal

MichaelKitces: Coud computing inflection point for most firms is when server dies, & firm evaluates whether to replace or change. -@fintechie #FPANorCal

mkcorbin: Best way to find possible successors: stay active in FPA chapter and look there. Armstrong #FPANorCal

CarolynMcC: So important that LGBT couples have their estate planning documents done correctly. #FPANorCal

MichaelKitces: Whether you like it or not, we're moving to the cloud. Most industry providers aren't making desktop-based platforms -@fintechie #FPANorCal

mkcorbin: 80% of lifetime healthcare cost is incurred in last 24 months of life. -Maurer #FPANorCal

mkcorbin: Catch 22 If you keep duration short bc u expect rates to rise, but rates are flat, u lack required duration.-Huxley/Burns #FPANorCal

MichaelKitces: Wrapping up sessions for the day. Time for the (California) wine & cheese! #FPANorCal

If you enjoy this kind of content and want more, be sure to follow some of the active Twitter users who are broadcasting conferences, including Tech guru @BillWinterberg and yours truly, @MichaelKitces. Stay tuned for more conference live-Tweeting experiences throughout the year, and a follow-up post to this one for day 2 highlights of the FPA NorCal conference! And let us know what you think!