Some of the most valuable hours in a financial Advisor's year don't happen in client meetings. They happen at industry events, in ballrooms, on boardwalks, over coffee between sessions, where the best ideas in the profession collide with the people willing to act on them.
With the first quarter of 2026 already behind us, there's still a full schedule of high-caliber conferences left on the calendar. Whether you're focused on advanced planning, technology, practice management, or building Accountant partnerships, the second half of 2026 has something worth your time.
Here's a look at the conferences financial Advisors should have on their radar in 2026, in no particular order:
NAPFA Spring National Conference
May 6–9, 2026 | Hilton Minneapolis | Minneapolis, MN
Website: https://www.napfa.org/community/future-conferences
The NAPFA Spring National Conference draws 400 or more fee-only Advisors alongside 60-plus exhibitors for broad-based education on a range of planning topics and the latest industry and regulatory trends. They have more than one event during the year. If you're committed to the fiduciary standard and want to be in the room with practitioners who share that commitment, this is a strong way to kick off the conference season. CE credits are available, including ethics requirements.
American College Horizons 2026
May 4–6, 2026 | Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress | Orlando, FL
Website: https://www.americancollege.edu/horizons
Kitces named Horizons 2026 the Best Retirement Planning Conference, noting that it draws top-tier thought leaders like Wade Pfau, Michael Finke, David Blanchett, and others who go deep on the decumulation side of retirement planning. If you work with clients in or near retirement and want to sharpen your technical knowledge while networking with others who take this planning stage seriously, Horizons is built exactly for that.
FPA NorCal 2026
May 26–27, 2026 | The Palace Hotel | San Francisco, CA
Website: https://www.fpanorcal.org
Kitces named FPA NorCal 2026 the Best Overall Financial Planning Conference for the year, citing its high-quality CE sessions and strong peer community. It's a well-run regional event that consistently punches above its weight. Two days, strong content, meaningful hallway conversations. For Advisors on the West Coast or those looking for a tighter, more focused conference experience, this one could be worth the trip.
MDRT Annual Meeting
June 7–10, 2026 | Anaheim Convention Center | Anaheim, CA
Website: https://annualmeeting.mdrt.org
***Worth noting: MDRT's membership skews heavily toward life insurance producers and agents. Financial Advisors with an insurance background or a production-focused practice will get the most out of this event.
The MDRT Annual Meeting gathers thousands of members from around the world to stimulate growth through learning and sharing innovative ideas, with attendees hearing from inspiring speakers and sharing best practices with peers. Previous attendees have noted that a single idea from one MDRT Annual Meeting turned into tens of thousands in new commission revenue, all from learning a new way to describe something to a client.
Morningstar Investment Conference 2026
June 17–18, 2026 | Navy Pier | Chicago, IL
Website: https://www.morningstar.com/business/events/morningstar-investment-conference
Now in its 38th year, the Morningstar Investment Conference brings together leading voices to address the most pressing investment challenges with actionable strategies and independent, research-backed insights. This year's agenda covers geopolitical and macroeconomic factors shaping portfolios, the future of active management, the evolution of retirement planning, and the behavioral factors influencing how investors navigate complex markets. Confirmed speakers include Blackstone's Jon Gray, Fidelity's Will Danoff, and Dimensional Fund Advisors founder David Booth. CE credits are available.
Elite VFO Collective
June 24–26, 2026 | Westin Gaslamp Quarter | San Diego, CA
Website: https://elitert.com/elite-vfo-collective
If your practice is moving toward advanced planning, Accountant partnerships, and Virtual Family Office services, this is the event built specifically for where the profession is heading. The Elite VFO Collective brings together financial Advisors, Accountants, and specialists from across the country to share ideas, case studies, and strategies around the team-based planning model. Unlike general industry conferences, this one is focused entirely on how advisors are building proactive, multi-specialist practices, and the revenue that comes with it.
Future Proof Festival 2026
September 14–17, 2026 | Huntington Beach Boardwalk | Huntington Beach, CA
Website: https://futureproofhq.com/festival
***Worth noting: this is a broad wealth management industry event, not exclusively for financial Advisors, but Advisors make up a significant portion of attendance and consistently find it valuable for technology, practice evolution, and networking.
Future Proof is a major annual event for the wealth and investment management industry, known for its unconventional format that combines education, live music, art, and immersive experiences on the boardwalk next to the beach, drawing thousands of financial advisors, executives, asset managers, and fintech companies. A signature feature is the Breakthru program which is a technology-driven matchmaking platform that facilitates pre-scheduled, one-on-one meetings between attendees, making networking more intentional and efficient.
RTS Tax Summit 2026
September 27–30, 2026 | Phoenix, AZ
Website: https://retirementtaxservicesevents.com/2026-rts-tax-summit
Kitces named the RTS Tax Summit the Best Tax Planning Conference of 2026. Attendees learn how to simplify financial planning, put tax at the heart of every client conversation, and walk away with the strategies and systems to scale smarter and charge more. The conference is built exclusively for financial Advisors, with real case studies, hands-on sessions, and in-the-trenches experience on how common tax planning strategies actually get implemented and reported from start to finish. For Advisors who want tax planning to be a genuine differentiator in their practice, this could be the most focused event on the calendar for that goal.
Schwab IMPACT 2026
October 27–29, 2026 | Boston, MA
Website: https://impact.schwab.com
***Worth noting: the event is invitation-based for advisors on the Schwab platform.
Schwab IMPACT is the premier benchmark event of the RIA industry, bringing together industry experts, top solutions providers, and thousands of Advisors across education sessions covering practice management strategies, compliance, investment strategy, financial planning tools, and technology solutions, with attending advisory firms ranging from sole practitioners to firms managing more than $5 billion. IMPACT is one of the largest gatherings of independent RIAs in the country, and it's been doing it consistently for decades.
FPA Summit 2026
November 15–17, 2026 | Palm Beach, FL
Website: https://www.plannersearch.org
The FPA's annual national gathering, now running as FPA Summit, is designed for financial planners seeking community, inspiration, and growth. The Summit offers deep technical content and CE credits across a wide range of planning disciplines. Closing out the year in Palm Beach with a focused planning audience makes this a strong final conference for the season, especially for Advisors who want to reset their thinking before the new year.
Why Conferences Still Matter in 2026
There's no shortage of webinars, podcasts, and online courses available to financial advisors today. The information is everywhere. What isn't everywhere is the room itself:
- the conversation that happens after a session
- the introduction that turns into a partnership
- the idea shared between Advisors who are doing the same thing you're doing but figured something out you haven't yet
Conferences compress the learning cycle. A strategy you might have stumbled across in 18 months of trial and error gets handed to you in a 45-minute breakout session. A connection that might have taken three phone calls to establish happens organically over lunch.
For Advisors who are building practices around advanced planning, Accountant collaboration, and premium client service, industry events serve a second function: they sharpen your identity. You come back with a clearer sense of where the profession is going, which clients you want to serve, and how your model fits into all of it.
The rest of 2026 has a lot to offer. Pick the events that match where you are and where you're trying to go… and go!
Interested in one conference built specifically around advanced planning and Virtual Family Office services? The Elite VFO Collective takes place every June in San Diego.
