Joseph Dearman

March 23rd, 2015

Rich Schega Reflection

Last Thursday, Rich Schega, CFP, and who is also the Managing Director at
Metlife Premier Client Group of Louisiana, came and spoke to my Fundamentals of
Financial Planning class. After shedding some light on his very impressive background,
Rich spoke on a variety of topics that ranged from risk management, professional
literature recommendations, 529 plans, Metlife, plan implementation and industry advice
for CFP Board-Registered students.
If I had to summarize his presentation to someone who was unable to attend, then
the first thing I would say to them is, you missed out. I think Rich was charismatic
throughout his entire presentation and gave rich and sound advice for a CFP BoardRegistered program student, like myself. My favorite part of his presentation was his
advice on financial plan implementation and the industry itself. Some notable quotes
from his presentation, In terms of what separates competent CFPs from everyone else,
is knowing that the power of silence is amazing. This was used when Rich detailed the
financial planning process and when solutions were proposed for the clients needs.
Silence will allow you to implement the plan better without coming across as too much or
being perceived as not having the clients best interests in mind. This also brought up
topics discussed in class, such as the financial planning process. This eventually led to
discussions on better client questioning processes, which I also enjoyed. Rich defines this
process by the following steps: Step 1, acknowledging what the client is saying, Step 2
Drilling it down, and the final step of checking back.
Besides Richs advice and charisma, I really enjoyed his professional literature
recommendations. Rich recommended many books by author Nick Murray, and also the
book entitled Blue Ocean Strategies, which I have already purchased off of Amazon. I
definitely would personally ask Mr. Rich Schega to come back and speak in a heartbeat. I
think his presentation was very detailed, interesting and kept the audiences attention.
Richs summary advice on CFP students was to be informed and be
PASSIONATE. I think this reigns true, as Rich embodied this throughout his career and
demonstrated this clearly in his presentation. There is a lot that can be learned from
accomplished Certified Financial Planners like Rich.