2017 National Spring Conference Speaker
Helen Modly
Helen’s father died unexpectedly when she was in her early 20’s. Her mother’s struggle and eventual success at gaining control over her financial future shaped Helen’s desire to help others facing the same experience. She entered the investment industry in 1981, earning her Chartered Financial Consultant designation in 1986, her Certified Financial Planner designation in 1997 and her Certified Private Wealth AdvisorSM designation in 2011.
Her passion to create the fee-only, disciplined investment management process employed by Focus evolved from almost 20 years of seeing how the industry packages and pitches investment products. She helped create the Client First-Client Only culture as a reaction to the vastly unlevel playing field that exists for most investors. Her insistence on acting solely in her clients’ best interest is a founding principle at Focus.
Focus Wealth Management’s success is partly due to Helen’s almost insatiable intellectual curiosity and professional energy. She is a prolific writer and her columns appear regularly in MorningstarAdvisor and Horsesmouth.com. Helen is recognized as a retirement income planning expert and is frequently quoted in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Money Magazine, Business Week, and The Washington Business Journal. She enjoys speaking on financial planning and investment topics and has presented at both local and national financial planning conferences, and local CPA conferences.
Helen is a member of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) and was the Chair of the 2015 Financial Planning Association National Capital Area (FPA NCA) Board of Directors. She was also selected as the 2010 Financial Planner of the Year by the membership of FPA NCA and is regularly named as a top financial expert by Washingtonian Magazine and The NOVA Magazine.
Her passion to create the fee-only, disciplined investment management process employed by Focus evolved from almost 20 years of seeing how the industry packages and pitches investment products. She helped create the Client First-Client Only culture as a reaction to the vastly unlevel playing field that exists for most investors. Her insistence on acting solely in her clients’ best interest is a founding principle at Focus.
Focus Wealth Management’s success is partly due to Helen’s almost insatiable intellectual curiosity and professional energy. She is a prolific writer and her columns appear regularly in MorningstarAdvisor and Horsesmouth.com. Helen is recognized as a retirement income planning expert and is frequently quoted in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Money Magazine, Business Week, and The Washington Business Journal. She enjoys speaking on financial planning and investment topics and has presented at both local and national financial planning conferences, and local CPA conferences.
Helen is a member of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) and was the Chair of the 2015 Financial Planning Association National Capital Area (FPA NCA) Board of Directors. She was also selected as the 2010 Financial Planner of the Year by the membership of FPA NCA and is regularly named as a top financial expert by Washingtonian Magazine and The NOVA Magazine.