CFP in the News

CFP Board’s December 17, 2019, Independent Task Force Report Apparently, there’s a new Sheriff in town.  As a result of a recent task force analysis, CFP Board will now conduct annual background checks on CFP® Certificants.  An overview of the Board’s report follows: Overview On July 30, 2019, the Board of Directors of CFP Board (“The Board”)…

CFP® Certificant in the News According to the CFP Board, “the percentage of women CFP® professionals has remained flat at 23 percent for at least a decade.” Based upon CFP Board commission researched aimed at increasing that percentage, the “WIN Council” and “WIN Advocates” were created by the Board. Key information follows: “WIN Council Following…

CFP Board’s November 2019 “Let’s Make a Plan” newsletter addresses digital security and more There’s never been a time in history when it was more important to keep online financial records private. For example: A 2019 Pew Research Center FACTANK report indicates 9 in every 10 Americans use the internet for online shopping and social…

CFP Board Releases 2019 Survey of CFP® Professionals. CFP Board surveys its Certificants every two years. The 2019 survey canvassed 800 CFP® Professionals and addressed a number of topics, including job satisfaction and key demographic metrics. Job Satisfaction CFP Board reported a continued trend of high job satisfaction among CFP® Professionals working as financial planners.…

While pundits have predicted a recession that has yet to happen for several years, clients do worry about the impact to their finances if a recession occurs. According to a recent survey by CFP Board, CFP® professionals and other financial advisors make a difference in client confidence when facing recession concerns. According to the survey,…

CFP® Certificant in the News A CFP® Certificant is subject to a greater duty, the duty to adhere to the Practice Standards, to clients when providing Financial Planning vs. when providing Financial Advice. As we will see in just a moment, a Certificant may be subject to the Practice Standards based upon what the client…

CFP® Certificants in the News True or False? A CFP® certificant is allowed to have a material conflict of interest with a client when providing financial advice. Answer. The statement is conditionally true. A certificant can have a conflict of interest with a client as long as the conflict is fully disclosed, the client agrees…

CFP® Certificant in the News Here’s the big news for CFP® certificants: Effective October 1, 2019, a fiduciary duty is owed to clients in more circumstances than under the previous CFP Board requirements. Fiduciary duty is the very foundation upon which a great deal of the new Code and Standards rests. A CFP® certificant is…

CFP® Certificant in the News In our last blog, we illuminated CFP Board’s expectation that a certificant either avoid OR disclose and manage material conflicts of interest. That’s a simple instruction, right?  Maybe or maybe not.  It’s easy to confuse “material conflict of interest” as only sales-related compensation such as upfront commissions, deferred sales charges,…

CFP® Certificant in the News People Helping People  It was the way I was raised – you help people out who need help. That is why I got into this business as a financial planner. It is meaningful to me to help people make changes in their lives.” –Rick Fingerman, CFP® When a cancer diagnosis…