This is a time of year when many of us feel an added spring to our steps. I had that feeling last Friday as I left CFP Board's Town Hall Meeting. While it did turn out to be a beautiful day in Denver, it wasn't the weather.

What made me want to savor the moment was the group of people I'd just left. Many dedicated people who understand the importance of the ethical standards for CFP® certification joined us in Denver and through the live Webcast for the Town Hall Meeting. What I felt was what Martin Kurtz, CFP® aptly called a sense of a new collaboration between the organizations in the financial planning profession and a joint purpose to build the profession into something all our clients deserve. The feeling of working together and making progress toward a common goal.

Ethics and compliance aren't issues that typically inspire passion. But I do see passion from financial planning professionals whenever ethics are discussed. Whether you represent CFP® professionals at a large firm or are an independent fee-only CFP® professional, it's clear that ethical standards play an important role regardless of where your particular business model or viewpoint falls within the broad spectrum of the financial planning profession.

I want to give special thanks to the members of the Ethics Task Force for their ongoing dedication to the process of reviewing CFP Board's ethical standards. The amount of time that Marilyn Capelli Dimitroff, CFP®, Daniel Candura, CFP®, Alan Goldfarb, CFP® and Stewart H. Welch, III, CFP® have devoted to this process has been immense. The careful thought and attention they have provided was evident during the Town Hall Meeting as Alan, Dan and Marilyn fielded tough questions from the audience and shared insights into the reasons certain terms and phrases were included in the Second Exposure Draft. While Stewart wasn't able to join us at the Town Hall Meeting, his contributions to the Ethics Task Force have been and continue to be invaluable.

I also want to thank the many CFP Board stakeholders who have taken time to participate in this process. Proposing revisions to a document as important as CFP Board's ethical standards is a daunting task, and the process is one that requires broad discussion and debate. The questions we've received from many of you have been thoughtful and tough - the type of questions we expect from a group of talented professionals who care about their work and the clients they serve. That input has been of great value. The comment period for the Second Exposure Draft remains open through April 25, 2007, and I hope many more of you will take time to share your thoughts.

It is an honor and tremendous responsibility to undertake the task of improving a set of standards that have been developed over many years by groups of talented and dedicated individuals whom I respect deeply. With all of the good intentions, good work and collaboration that have been invested in this process, I am confident that CFP Board will be taking the right steps forward with its ethical standards.

Karen P. Schaeffer, CFP®
2007 Chair, Board of Directors
CFP Board

The statistics are dire. Studies suggest that around 75% of the baby boom generation is not prepared for retirement. But we've heard the numbers so often that they no longer seem to have much impact. It's like living along an earthquake fault. You know someday the Big One will come, but the warnings are so familiar - and that day seems so far off - that you hardly pay any attention. Well, the statistics on women and retirement are even more alarming than for baby boomers as a whole, and the first tremors of socio-economic crisis can already be felt.

According to 101 Facts on the Status of Workingwomen, published by the advocacy group Business and Professional Women USA, two-thirds of women are in jobs that do not provide either a traditional pension or a 401(k). For women who do have pensions, the median income is just above half that for men (In 2004, the median income for women was $12,080; for men, it was $21,102). Some 45% of older women who live alone are classified as living near or under the poverty threshold of $9,060 per year. Social Security is the only source of income for 25% of elderly non-married women. The U.S. has the highest poverty rate for older women of all post-industrial nations. Why are women so much worse off when it comes to retirement?

"Longevity and care-giving are the biggest issues," says Cindy Hounsell, president of the Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER). "Women live longer than men but they also work fewer years and earn less. Women remain the primary caregivers, and they interrupt their working lives to provide care. As a result, they must plan for a longer retirement but they start off with less income." According to the WISER report Unique Challenges Faced by Women in Preparing for and Managing Their Retirement Years, over 61% of women living alone after age 65 have income under $15,000 a year. The report also states that more than half of all informal caregivers say their careers have been adversely affected by that responsibility, and that caregivers are two-and-a-half times more likely than non-caregivers to live in poverty.

Women from all socio-economic backgrounds find themselves in the pension predicament. Hounsell, a regular speaker at conferences and seminars, describes how women nearing retirement regularly approach her after talks. "People sidle up to me in the hallway and ask for advice," she says. "These are professional women, academics, the top women in their fields. But they have that deer-in-the-headlights look. They don't have a penny for retirement." This is one area at least where women have achieved parity with men: Both genders are equally unprepared when it comes to planning for retirement.

"A coaching process needs to occur," says Marilyn Capelli Dimitroff, president of Capelli Financial Services, Inc. and a member of CFP Board's Board of Directors, "and the first step is for women to get clarity about their situations. They need to understand where they are. And if nothing changes, where does that lead?"

If nothing changes, that will certainly lead to big trouble for a lot of older women. Many women may plan to work longer, perhaps even beyond retirement age, in order to fill the pension gap. That's a fine strategy - unless your health or marriage fails or a loved one or family member requires care. The WISER report cites a study of 51- to 61-year-olds that found more than three quarters of the people surveyed in this age group experience divorce, job loss, health problems, widowhood, or the onset of frailty among parents or in-laws. Disconnected: 10 Ways Americans Lack a Realistic Understanding of Retirement Security, a review of retirement research published by the Society of Actuaries, cites a study in which almost 40% of those surveyed said they retired earlier than they had expected; half of this group said poor health, either their own of that of a loved one, was the reason. Crises like these are trying during the best of times. But if they occur before retirement preparations are complete, the financial impact can be enormous.

That's why Dimitroff counsels her female clients to take care of their own retirement needs first. "Women often make decisions that put their children's well-being ahead their own," she says. "I advise them not to give money to their children on demand. If a woman is bereaved and a life insurance policy pays out, that can look like a lot of money. She may think, 'Maybe I can help out so-and-so.' She has to realize, though, that she may need to live on that money for the next 30 years, and that securing her own financial future is a huge gift to her children."

Dimitroff believes financial literacy is gradually improving among younger women. "By marrying later, women are having longer career trajectories and greater periods of financial responsibility before perhaps interrupting their careers to raise a family. That provides a very different start in life than women of previous generations." There are some statistics - positive ones this time! - to back up this observation. Between 1997 and 2004, the number of firms owned by women increased by 17% nationwide, twice the rate of firms in general, according to 101 Facts on the Status of Workingwomen. Women-owned firms now represent 30% of all businesses in the U.S. The less positive news is, many of these firms are small businesses, and like so many small businesses they don't offer much in the way of retirement benefits.

Dimitroff says she often observes a shifting of roles in women and men as they get older. "As men age, they tend to soften up a bit emotionally, while many women become more straightforward, more gung-ho about a career, charity work or doing something for themselves, like learning the piano. Retirement should not be a winding down of the good times, but a time for women to discover the possibilities of what they can do." Sound retirement planning is the oil that will keep the good times rolling.

This is the last in a series of three articles on women and money.

- James Geary

Online Resources
A selection of Web sites focusing on women and retirement:

AARP
AARP is one of the country's most influential advocacy groups for people over 50. The AARP Web site has a comprehensive Financial Planning and Retirement section that provides consumers with specific tips on preparing for retirement.

National Program on Women & Aging
The mission of the National Program on Women & Aging is "to focus national attention on the special concerns of women as they age, to develop solutions and strategies for dealing with these concerns, and to reach out to women and organizations across the country, promoting the changes necessary to improve older women's lives." Tips, Tools, & Tactics: The Best Resources for Women's Financial Planning is an online directory of financial planning areas of special importance to women.

WISER
The Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement "works to provide low- and moderate-income women (aged 18 to 65) with basic financial information aimed at helping them take financial control of their lives and to increase awareness of the structural barriers that prevent women's adequate participation in the nation's retirement systems." WISER's Publications page has links to a number of booklets offering practical insights into the issue of women and retirement.

College students are always short of money. But too many are short of basic financial planning knowledge, too. Bronx Community College of The City University of New York intends to change that among members of its student body, with the help of a grant from CFP Board.

Financial planning can be an intimidating process, for students and parents alike. But students at Bronx Community College (BCC) face some unique challenges. Almost 65% have annual household incomes below $25,000; almost 40% are native speakers of a language other than English; and more than half are first-generation college students. Plus, nearly half work full-time while they are studying, and roughly half support children. "Virtually all of our students have immediate financial planning needs," says BCC grants officer David Hernandez, "such as saving for future tuition payments, avoiding or resolving credit card debt, and saving for their children's education. But because so many are the first in their families to go on to higher education, they have no role models in terms of financial management and planning. They're going it alone."

The BCC project will re-assure incoming students that they're not alone by integrating financial planning education into the Orientation to College and Personal Development course. This course, required for all freshmen, is designed to develop successful coping and achievement skills in academic as well as professional life. The financial planning component will cover everything from basic budgeting practices to checking and savings account balancing to retirement planning. "We want to raise awareness of financial planning basics at this stage in students' lives," says BCC project coordinator Lorna Chan, "to help them build good credit, avoid debt, and acquire good savings and budgeting habits. They need to know that financial planning is not just for the wealthy."

And it's not just students who will benefit from the program. Part of the BCC project involves the provision of introductory financial planning training to Orientation course instructors as well as to counselors at BCC's Career Center. Local CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals will also be invited to make presentations to BCC's Business Club, alumni and the wider College community. Financial planning instruction will also be made available to the thousands of local residents who take courses at BCC through non-credit programs. And BCC administrators hope students will share what they have learned with family and friends, thereby extending the impact of the course well beyond the confines of the College.

The education obtained at BCC can be crucial to a student's future financial well-being. Men with occupational Associate's degrees, for example, earn 30% more than high school graduates with similar backgrounds; women with such degrees earn 47% more, according to statistics compiled by the College. "For our students, over 90% of whom are inner-city African Americans and Latinos, the road to the Associate's degree has extra challenges," says Hernandez. "A knowledge of financial planning will be tremendously beneficial in addressing their immediate financial realities as well as in achieving their future financial goals."

Read more about projects receiving funding through CFP Board's 2006 Financial Planning Grants program.

Share Your Thoughts about Proposed Revisions to CFP Board's Ethical Standards:
Comment Period for Second Exposure Draft Ends April 25, 2007

CFP Board's Board of Directors welcomes your comments and questions about the Second Exposure Draft of proposed revisions to the ethical standards for CFP® certification that were released on March 9, 2007 for a period of public comment. The Second Exposure Draft incorporates many suggestions the Board received in response to last year's proposed revisions, and CFP Board hopes all CFP® professionals and other CFP Board stakeholders will review the Second Exposure Draft and provide feedback.

The Second Exposure Draft and related materials, including side-by-side comparisons of the language in the current Standards of Professional Conduct and the language in the proposed revisions, are available on CFP Board's Web site at: www.CFP.net/aboutus/Exposure_Draft.asp

Comments and feedback will be accepted through April 25, 2007. A short online survey is available through CFP Board's Web site, or written comments may be sent via e-mail to mail@CFPBoard.org or by mail to:

CFP Board
Attn: Ethics Task Force
1670 Broadway, Suite 600
Denver, CO 80202

Comments received and survey responses are publicly available on CFP Board's Web site unless the commenter specifically requests that the comment be kept private. The Board of Directors will review the comments at its meeting in May 2007. If the Board approves the revisions, an effective date of January 1, 2008 is anticipated.

Town Hall Meeting Addresses Questions about Proposed Changes to Ethical Standards

CFP Board's Board of Directors and its Ethics Task Force hosted a Town Hall Meeting on March 30, 2007 at the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver, Colorado. The meeting offered an opportunity for public discussion of the Second Exposure Draft of proposed revisions to CFP Board's ethical standards that was recently released for public comment, with members of the Board's Ethics Task Force responding to questions and comments from the audience.

Marilyn Capelli Dimitroff, CFP®, Chair of the Ethics Task Force, Daniel Candura, CFP® and Alan Goldfarb, CFP® highlighted some of the significant changes proposed in the Second Exposure Draft and addressed questions from the audience in Denver and from those viewing the live Webcast. Moderator Garrett Glaser, Vice President of MWW Group, Inc., directed audience questions to the panel. The questions focused on important provisions of the Second Exposure Draft and raised questions about their applicability to specific situations. Responses to questions about the proposed definition of "fee-only," the proposed fiduciary duty of care for financial planning services - including explanations of the related phrases "material elements of the financial planning process" and "reasonably believes to be in the best interest of the client" - will soon be posted on CFP Board's Web site with the Second Exposure Draft at: www.CFP.net/aboutus/Exposure_Draft.asp

(left to right) Alan Goldfarb, CFP®, Marilyn Capelli Dimitroff, CFP®, Karen P. Schaeffer, CFP® and Daniel Candura, CFP® of CFP Board's Board of Directors.

Following the question and answer session, brief comments on the Second Exposure Draft were presented by Michael D. Udoff, Vice-President and Associate General Counsel of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, Martin Kurtz, CFP® of The Planning Center, Inc. in Moline, Illinois, Ron A. Rhoades, B.S., JD, CFP®, NAPFA Registered Financial Advisor, and Daniel B. Moisand, CFP®, Chair of the Financial Planning Association Board of Directors.

Karen P. Schaeffer, CFP®, Chair of CFP Board's Board of Directors, concluded the meeting with recognition of the good work that has been put into the development of the proposed revisions and appreciation for the many CFP Board stakeholders who have contributed to the process with feedback and suggestions. While acknowledging that the process has not always been easy, she expressed confidence that now is the time to take steps forward to enhance the way CFP Board's ethical standards help consumers get the kind of advice they need to make good decisions.

CFP Board appreciates all those who participated in the meeting. For those who were unable to join CFP Board on March 30, 2007, a video recording of the Town Hall Meeting is available through CFP Board's Web site. (Technicians are currently working to improve the sound quality of certain sections of the video, and an improved video recording and separate audio recording should be available within the next week.)

Report on March 2007 Disciplinary and Ethics Commission Meeting

The Disciplinary and Ethics Commission ("the Commission," formerly known as the Board of Professional Review) held its first meeting of the year on March 23 and 24, 2007. As part of the meeting, the Commission considered 28 disciplinary cases. Ten cases resulted in issuance of private censure letters, three cases resulted in decisions to issue public letters of admonition, four cases resulted in decisions to suspend an individual's right to use the CFP®, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and certification marks (the CFP® marks), and five cases resulted in decisions to permanently revoke or relinquish an individual's right to use the CFP® marks. One applicant for CFP® certification received a decision to delay certification for one year and one day, and one applicant successfully petitioned the Commission to accept his application for CFP® certification after a previously-issued delay of certification. The cases included 11 settlement offers: seven were accepted, two were rejected, and two resulted in the Commission proposing a counter settlement offer. Because the appeal periods in these cases have not expired, the disciplinary actions are not yet final.

At its business meeting the Commission was joined by Marilyn Capelli Dimitroff, CFP®, member of CFP Board's Board of Directors and Chair of the Board's Ethics Task Force, who reviewed with the Commission details of the proposed revisions to CFP Board's ethical standards that were released in March 2007 for a period of public comment. The Commission continued its discussion of the type of activities that would be considered "material elements of the financial planning process," a key phrase included in the proposed revisions, and suggested the possibility of issuing private letter rulings to clarify whether certain scenarios constitute "material elements."

The Commission also recommended a proposed change to Article 5.5 of the Disciplinary Rules and Procedures that would permit an individual to propose a settlement offer in response to an Order to Show Cause for an interim suspension. That proposed change will be presented to the Board of Directors for review at its meeting on May 24-25, 2007.

The Commission's meetings would not be possible without the help of the many CFP® certificants willing to volunteer their time and expertise. In addition to the ongoing support of the Disciplinary and Ethics Commission members, the March 2007 meeting included the assistance of George H. Coughlin II, CFP® of Alamo, California; Gene Harrision, CFP®, CFA, CTFA, of Great Falls, Montana; Michael Ross, CFP® of Plainview, New York; and Sandra J. Smith, CFP®, CIMA of Kansas City, Missouri. CFP Board is grateful to these volunteers who serve to protect the public by helping to enforce CFP Board's standards of ethics and competency.

2007 Program Directors Conference Update

Preparations are well underway for the first ever Financial Planning Association (FPA) and CFP Board co-sponsored Program Directors Conference in Seattle, Washington on September 7 and 8, 2007. Committees of program directors are being assembled to choose themes and topics for the meeting and select quality speakers for this gathering of directors of CFP Board-Registered Programs that provide the educational courses that prepare individuals for CFP® certification. While registration will not be available until late April, we're excited to announce that registration for the Program Directors Conference will include registration for FPA Seattle 2007 on September 8-11, 2007 - admission to two important meetings for one registration fee of $350.

Both CFP Board and FPA are thrilled to be part of this inaugural event, which promises to be an experience that financial planning educators won't want to miss. Watch for more details about the 2007 Program Directors Conference in the months to come.

University of California, Irvine Unveils Free Online Introduction to Financial Planning

University of California, Irvine recently unveiled its new course, "The Fundamentals of Personal Financial Planning," designed to provide a comprehensive but easily-understood overview of personal financial planning for the general public. Made possible by a grant awarded in 2006 through CFP Board's Financial Planning Grants program, this online course is available for no cost at ocw.uci.edu.

The curriculum for this new online course presents the content of UC Irvine Extension's Personal Financial Planning Certificate Program in a way that suits the informational needs of the general public. Part of UC Irvine's OpenCourseWare (OCW) Initiative, which aims to provide high-quality teaching and learning resources for the express purpose of increasing educational achievement and sustaining social and economic development, the development and release of this course "demonstrates UC Irvine's ongoing commitment to the goals of the OCW Consortium, and provides a comprehensive university-level overview of the 'nuts and bolts' of financial planning that is free and available to interested parties across the globe," said Gary W. Matkin, Ph.D., Dean of Continuing Education at UC Irvine and head of UC Irvine's OCW initiative.

Developed by Don Debok, CFP®, B.S., M. of O.E., assistant planner at Newport Planning Corporation and UC Irvine Extension course instructor, the course is presented in eight modules that provide an overview of basic financial planning topics, such as determining goals, creating net worth and cash flow statements, insurance planning, investment basics, retirement planning and estate planning. With worksheets and links to financial planning resources, "The Fundamentals of Personal Financial Planning" is not a replacement for professional financial planning assistance but is designed to make the general public become better consumers of financial planning advice.

Regional Trademark Education Initiative to Focus on Boston Area

CFP Board's trademark department is bringing its regional Trademark Education Initiative to the Boston area. As part of the Trademark Education Initiative, CFP® certificants in the Boston area may be contacted by CFP Board staff for a review of the use of the CFP® marks in their business materials. While the focus will be on the Boston area, we encourage all CFP® certificants to take a moment and review their business materials for trademark compliance. To ensure that your use of CFP Board's trademarks is consistent with the approved guidelines, please review the Guide to Use of the CFP® Certification Marks.

CFP Board Seeks Nominations for 2008 Board of Directors

The Nominating Committee of Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. (CFP Board) seeks individuals to serve on CFP Board's Board of Directors beginning in January 2008. Board of Directors members serve four-year terms on CFP Board's governing body, and the majority of Board members must hold CFP® certification.

Each year only two to four new Board positions are available. To complement the experience of the existing Board members, the Committee would like to see qualified nominees who are leaders in financial planning and have a passion for how CFP® professionals can benefit the public.

Those interested in being considered for membership on CFP Board's Board of Directors may visit CFP Board's Web site at www.CFP.net/volunteers to learn more and complete an online application form. The deadline for submitting a completed application form is April 15, 2007. Selected candidates will be interviewed by the Committee during the summer, and final selections will be made by the Board of Directors this fall.

Help Promote the 2007 Financial Planning Clinic in Boston

Next month, CFP Board will unveil a promotional campaign to draw consumers to the Financial Planning Clinic that will be held in Boston on August 4, 2007. CFP Board hopes to get as many consumers as possible to learn more about the benefits of financial planning and take advantage of the free financial information volunteer CFP® professionals will provide at the Clinic.

If you are involved with groups or organizations in the Boston area that might be interested in providing their members or constituents with information about the Financial Planning Clinic, please contact CFP Board at clinic@CFPBoard.org or 800-487-1497.

There are still seats available for CFP® certificants interested in participating. To participate or learn more about the Financial Planning Clinic, visit CFP Board's Web site at: www.CFP.net/clinic