Session Type: Breakout Session

From MMC 25, an AI workshop sparked a spin-off mastermind that has met monthly for the past year. As the group’s purpose and experience evolved, one thing remained constant: the value of collaborating with peers to test emerging AI tools, apply them in real advisory practices, and stay compliant. This breakout session shares our “Top 10 AI Takeaways” from a year of experimentation and growth and invites attendees to either join our mastermind or launch one of their own. (Of course, this was written with AI!)

Every day, women servicemembers balance mission demands, family responsibilities, and personal goals while navigating deployments, PCS moves, and the unrelenting pace of military life. These pressures often prompt the question of whether continued service is sustainable. This presentation highlights the intentional financial planning steps that build true financial resilience—creating the decision space that empowers servicewomen to stand confidently in the door, ready to make the “should I stay or should I go” decision that is right for their lives.

Many parents know exactly what their teenagers should be doing with money (budgeting, saving, avoiding debt) but struggle to get their teens to listen, engage, or take action. This session uncovers the real reasons teens resist financial guidance, the common communication mistakes parents make without realizing it, and the mindset barriers that quietly block progress on both sides.

Attendees will learn how the teenage brain processes advice, why traditional “do this because I said so” methods fail, and how to shift into proven communication strategies that build buy-in instead of conflict. We’ll explore practical tools for turning everyday moments into meaningful money lessons, helping teens connect financial habits to their identity, goals, and future independence.

Parents will leave with a clear, actionable framework that not only teaches financial skills but also strengthens the parent-teen relationship; laying the foundation for self-sufficient, financially confident young adults.

This session explores how AI is reshaping financial planning through a paired challenge/opportunity: rapidly rising consumer openness to AI-enabled financial help and persistent capacity constraints in advice delivery.

We frame the “advice gap” and show how AI can expand reach beyond traditional channels while improving acquisition and engagement. We then examine the advisor productivity/time crisis, in which roughly one-fifth of first-year planning time is consumed by data gathering, and outline a practical workflow redesign using “conversational intelligence” (meeting transcripts paired with an LLM query layer) and evidence-based communication tactics.

Finally, we demonstrate how predictive AI can be applied in real client situations to evaluate the effectiveness of advisor-client conversations and forecast the most effective combinations of engagement components, improving follow-through and outcomes.

This session demystifies how entrepreneurs, advisors, and financial professionals can participate in U.S. Government innovation efforts, from SBIR and OTA programs to tech commercialization and defense acquisition cycles. Using real examples from BlackHays Group projects, Scott outlines the “Marathon Framework”: a step-by-step approach to positioning businesses for long-term government work, building credibility, and balancing private growth with compliance and security. Attendees will gain a clear understanding of acquisition milestones, tech transition barriers, and how patience and preparation outperform speed in government contracting.

The AI hype is real — but for financial advisors, the real challenge is identifying where these tools add value without compromising compliance or client trust. This session explores practical, compliant use cases for AI in research, financial planning, note-taking, and proposal generation. Attendees will learn how to integrate AI into their workflows to enhance productivity and client engagement while maintaining the “human in the loop” that ensures accuracy and personalization. Through real examples and best practices, we’ll highlight what AI can and can’t do, helping advisors avoid common pitfalls and understand how to position AI as an assistant, not a replacement. Participants will walk away with a clear framework for safely and effectively adopting AI — transforming it from a buzzword into a tangible competitive advantage.

This session introduces participants to the Certified Financial Transitionist (CeFT®) framework and how it can transform the way advisors support military clients during separation, retirement, reenlistment decisions, medical transitions, and relocations. Attendees will learn how to integrate emotional readiness, decision-making capacity, and communication patterns into their technical planning—resulting in more effective guidance and better client outcomes. Advisors will leave with a practical, repeatable framework to help servicemembers and their families move from overwhelm → clarity → confident action—improving both financial outcomes and the human experience of transition. This approach elevates advisors from technicians to true partners in one of the most defining moments of military life.

College is one of the most significant expenses faced in life. It can facilitate future success as well as financial burden. Yet comprehensive financial planning has often approached college planning with simple estimates of the future cost of tuition and fees, matched with accounts funded according to expected inflation of college costs, the rate of return, and the annual contributions. This presentation will be a deeper exploration of college planning, including how college admissions and financial aid work behind the scenes on campuses, how to maximize scholarships, how students should compare their college options, and how planners and counselors can add value by going beyond traditional college planning techniques.