Seminars Putting a Target on Presenters' Backs?

Is putting on seminars for seniors the same as putting a target on your back for regulators?

The answer increasingly seems to be "yes" based on news reports, conversations with insurance and securities regulators, inquiries from seniors received at Society of Certified Senior Advisors' offices and conferences such as the recent one hosted by the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA).

"As the first of 79 million baby boomers turn 60 this year, free-this and free-that financial seminars are thriving. Community centers and hotels have become a backdrop for what regulators see as aggressive sales pitches geared to seniors," reported USA Today.

Some regulators have gone so far as to discourage seniors from attending any seminar they're invited to and to be particularly wary of those that offer free lunches or dinners or specifically tell you not to bring your financial adviser or planner. They say that the seminar has become camouflage for bait-and-switch tactics and presenters who claim to have more expertise than their background, education or credentials represent.

"The CSA Board of Standards receives more complaints about seminars and the ads promoting them than any other activity," said Society of Certified Senior Advisors President Ed Pittock. "Last year, the majority of those complaints concerned clients of a particular seminar package provider, so we took the unprecedented step of asking him to tell his clients who were also CSAs to resign their membership in Society."

In Florida, federal, state and NASD regulators have begun investigations of firms sponsoring "free lunch" seminars to ensure their sales practices are lawful. SEC Chairman Christopher Cox and NASAA President Patricia Struck said that these coordinated examinations will be expanded to additional states where seniors may be targets of abusive sales pitches or fraudulent investment schemes.

Society provides to its members a free seminar package about how seniors can avoid financial exploitation. It's called "Nine 'Tips for Seniors To Avoid Financial Abuse," and even it raised one regulator's curiosity. Society staff showed him where he could review the entire presentation on society's web site, and he was satisfied.

"It's still important to be able to get in front of audiences," said Pittock, "and I think it always will be. But you have to follow four main guidelines: Make sure your intent is clearly known in all communication about the seminar. Make sure you talk only about things you're qualified to talk about. Make sure your seminars are known to and open to regulators. And even send them a copy of your invitations and a copy of your presentation before you give it."

(Article taken from: CSA Connections - Senior Marketing Strategies  Volume 3, Issue 6)