Last week I attended our annual insurance marketing conference in our nation’s capital.  I love Washington but generally I love it when it’s not as frigid as it was last week.  The conference was in a stately older hotel, The Omni Shoreham.

We had a few very interesting speakers including Bo Eason, a former NFL player who is now an accomplished actor.  We were about 460 advisors and all told we raised $300,000 for the USO on Thursday night at the Newseum, the most popular new museum in DC since opening in 2008.

The highlight of the conference was Friday night at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center where the Steve Miller Band performed after dinner to this aging group of advisors.  Steve and some band members looked really beat and worn out.  Perhaps too many years on the road, too much booze and whatever else?  Who knows?

Before Steve Miller performed, and before dinner was served, we were treated to a lively discussion with the president of our association and former President George W. Bush.  With Laura in the audience (she looked beautiful), we watched the former president answer questions in a wide ranging interview about his years in office as well as his newfound talent as an oil painter.

I really enjoyed and appreciated the president’s candor about 911, some of his mistakes in office like Mission Accomplished and flying over New Orleans after Katrina and why as a conservative who believes in free markets he decided that we needed TARP to bail out the big institutions less we risk going into a full blown depression.

The least amount of applause for Mr. Bush was when he was discussing the Middle East along with our need to stay in Afghanistan.  He definitely still believes in nation building, saying that people all over the world yearn for freedom and democracy and that we need to stay at the forefront to ensure democracy spreads in the troubled Middle East. 

I wasn’t sure I wanted to write this column or talk about how wonderful the markets have been since the first of the year.  Next week we’ll go back to talking “retirement and investment stuff”.

Have a fun weekend and enjoy Super Bowl 48.