Over the next 10 weeks more than 2,000 Financial Planners, Paraplanners and Wealth Managers will be attending the annual conferences of the two main professional bodies for planners, the Personal Finance Society and the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment.

This year the range of subjects being covered is very diverse and ranges from Artificial Intelligence to pensions and politics and many other current issues.

There is strong emphasis this year on business planning issues with many leading Financial Planners sharing the stories of how they grew their firm and throwing in some best practice tips too. Both events boast multi-stream sessions so some planning ahead to choose the most relevant stream sessions makes a lot of sense.

Both conferences take place in Birmingham this year but are different in structure and style. The CISI goes first with a three day conference beginning on 30 September. A Full Package including 2 nights accommodation, both full days of the conference and the gala awards dinner will cost £745. Alternatively a Day 1 or Day 2 conference pass only will cost £300 per day.

The CISI event is the smaller of the two but is well regarded for the quality of its professional speakers, many of whom are Certified Financial Planners (the CISI qualification).

Despite the serious nature of many of the sessions there is also time for fun at the CISI event with a mini-golf event and a Treasure Hunt taking place.

The PFS event is expected to be larger in terms of attendees but is shorter at one day. It is also free for members or £199 for non-members. Pre-registration is required to ensure entry. There are over 30 speakers across seven streams and there is strong focus this year on technical speakers.

The day ends with a dinner reception and the PFS Personal Finance Awards 2019/20 and plenty of chance to socialise. Both event offer CPD.

 For more details check the professional bodies websites.

 • Financial Planning Today will be covering the key highlights of both events including the run up. Keep checking Financial Planning Today for more details and news.