Voila! Our profession was its very own NGT!

Idealistically, our profession has sparked successions of NGT!s. Some made money. Many did not. Some were grand in vision. Some were not. Some worked. Some did not. But we persisted.

Perhaps some of our grandest NGT! forethoughts formed our profession's foundations. We developed a brand new educational institution, generated an appropriate curriculum and empowered its teaching. We created credentialing bodies and professional associations. These continue to thrive. Concurrently, we developed different forms of practice, ranging from enabled solo practitioners to efficient firms to reconstructed relationships within the financial services industries. None of these existed 30-odd years ago.

Financial planners face consistent strains between ideals and profit centers. Our hearts have tugged at our wallets as our wallets have tugged at our hearts. This, in turn, brought us to new products, services and business practices-and ongoing ethical dilemmas and the insistent paradoxes of modern life.

The dynamic is interesting. As advisors in matters financial, we know for certain that we cannot stay in business if we don't make money. As human beings, we know we can't do this business if it is only for the money.

With our theoretical development, there are repetitive processes. Someone notices shortcomings in current systems or individual products. We create the appropriate response and establish a niche. Within that niche, we are beloved by our clients but laughed at by current practitioners and the established Godzillas of the financial services industries. Bambi, CFP®, carries on regardless, establishing conceptual legitimacy and commercial viability. Slowly but surely the detected shortcomings of the dominant systems become increasingly apparent; Godzilla loses market share as the crazy visionaries prosper. Shortly thereafter, the status quo folk find themselves losing business or adopting the methods of the niche. Life proceeds merrily for some time as the vision becomes the status quo, the early adopters accept the sweet fruit of victory in lieu of rational compensation for their achievements, and life goes on. Then a group of visionaries sees something wrong with the status quo. They anticipate NGT! The cycle repeats.

Technologically, we were among the first to embrace computers and what they could do to help us keep and analyze meaningful data. We pushed for more comprehensive programs and enabled support technologies that have, in turn, included the latest and greatest NGT!s in portfolio management and related functions. We have contemplated Monte Carlo analyses, embraced scenario planning and pondered "life planning," all in the name of NGT! Where these go, nobody knows, but it is safe to say few other professions have pursued such intangibles with our vision and vigor. We have collectively loved comprehensive financial planning; this love has driven us on this path.

We are unabashed explorers. We have been early users of all sorts of technologies and theories. We jumped into adventurous, meaningful relationships with various ancillary services and supports. We engaged in new and ambitious forms of business. We consistently pursued the untried and untested. All of these, in turn, served as the engines of rather extraordinary growth, social acceptance, individual and collective opportunity, realization of ideals and, yes, successful, profitable businesses. In short, collectively we are pioneers-visionaries and capitalists. "Selfless" or "selfish," NGT! has been a consistent enabler for a very long time.

But we can't forget our shadows. These NGT! phenomena have been intensely "practical" and self-serving. Nothing inherently wrong with that, except it involved considerable nonsense over time. Plus, we became confused as to our genuine identity. We needed something reliable, remunerative. We needed something that paid. It needed to be in the idealistic spirit of financial planning. Most especially, it needed to serve perceivable client interests. But whatever might be other qualities of NGT!, ample remuneration was essential-but sometimes this took tragic turns. Or it took unfortunate priority over our drive to be an authentic profession. Sometimes it has led industry types to believe that our profession was for sale.

But let's not get too cynical about getting paid. Thanks to some of these NGT!s, many fine practitioners have prospered; along with them, the profession has attracted and maintained the sorts of strengths and ambitions necessary to develop an authentic profession. Simply stated, we can't explore if we are not in business. We cannot attract talent if our profession is not financially attractive.