OK … similarly, the Ontario government has announced that It will soon pass legislation regulating just who can provide financial planning and financial advisory services …. Until that happens, just about anyone can self-identify as providing financial planning or advisory services … how important is this to the typical investor?
Trust is most important in any relationship first and foremost. In addition to that investors need someone with education AND experience in the field. Continuing education ensures their advisor is keeping up to date with all the latest changes. Now you don’t have to have a designation to do that but it is a requirement for designation so it’s a way of making sure they are.
At this time, it is believed that included in this list of those that can identify as a financial planner or advisor are CPAs and Certified Financial Planners. Can you walk our readers through what is involved in securing the coveted CFP designation and from there what does a CFP bring to the table that a BA or CFA or even an MBA just cannot?
Definitely, I received my Certified Financial Planner Designation in 2008. At the time it involved studying the 6 financial planning disciplines with a course in each. Once each was successfully completed you could write the exam. The exam was 6 hours in total 3 in the morning and 3 after lunch. It has changed since then and I have been involved in helping to evaluate the current offerings. This will be one of the new methods as of January 2020. In addition to this you still need 3 years work experience. The process is actually quite an extensive one and one that I’m proud of.
179