I’d like to thank those of you who attended the CFP Board events at FPA Retreat earlier this month. While members of our Board of Directors have frequent contact with individual CFP® certificants and CFP Board stakeholders, the opportunities to meet face-to-face with a group of CFP® certificants that includes many who have served in leadership roles at CFP Board aren’t as frequent as we’d like. I appreciated the chance to listen to the comments and concerns expressed at the meetings and would like to assure those who attended that those concerns have been shared with my colleagues on the Board of Directors.

One of the primary concerns expressed was the level of communication between the Board of Directors and CFP® certificants. As I mentioned in my message last month, CFP Board is committed to keeping connected with the financial planning community, and we are working to make that a reality through several initiatives. I’m pleased to invite CFP® certificants to participate in one of those initiatives: CFP Board’s first Business Update Webinar on July 9, 2008 from 1:00 - 2:15 p.m. (ET). This Webinar will allow CFP Board’s leadership to share information about our current activities with CFP Board’s stakeholders, and it will also include a question and answer session that will give us the opportunity to listen and learn from the CFP® certificant community.

In advance of our first Webinar, I’d like to share three questions that I posed to attendees of FPA Retreat earlier this month:

1. What information do you need from CFP Board and its Board of Directors?
2. How do you want that information delivered?
3. How would you like CFP Board to structure its communications with certificants and stakeholders?

Responses to these questions will be helpful to the Board of Directors and CFP Board’s staff as we formulate communications strategies designed to meet the specific needs of the CFP Board stakeholder community. Anyone with thoughts on these questions is welcome to share them through a short online survey or via e-mail to BOD@CFPBoard.org.

Like any other organization, CFP Board has seen changes in policy and structure over time. Those changes have resulted in some misperceptions about CFP Board’s role within the financial planning profession and the financial services industry. To provide a common ground for constructive discussion, we’ve assembled a document titled Purpose, Parameters and Policies of CFP Board that brings together information about the history of CFP Board, our organizational structure and strategic plan. I hope this document helps provide CFP Board’s stakeholders with a clear understanding of CFP Board’s purpose and how its organizational structure and strategic plan helps it achieve that purpose.

I also hope you will join us for the July 9 Business Update Webinar. We look forward to enjoying more open and effective lines of communications with CFP® certificants and others who support and value the CFP® certification.

David G. Strege, CFP®
2008 Chair, Board of Directors
CFP Board

Contact CFP Board’s Board of Directors at BOD@CFPBoard.org.

While I came to CFP Board from an association that works within the financial services industry, one of the first and most obvious differences between CFP Board and other associations is the abundance of energy and expertise CFP Board enjoys as a result of the generous contributions of volunteers from all segments of the financial planning community. From the volunteer members of our Board of Directors, to the volunteers of the Council on Examinations, Disciplinary and Ethics Commission and the newly-formed Council on Education, a great part of CFP Board’s strength and vitality originates in our volunteer groups.

One of the reasons CFP Board’s volunteer groups have functioned so effectively has been the diversity of membership in those groups. Selection for committee participation has always taken into consideration such things as the business model, business size, geography, gender, type of firm and the past volunteer experience of those who have expressed interest in serving. That emphasis on diversity will continue at CFP Board, if not increase as time goes on. It is through the ongoing services CFP® professionals provide to the American public that CFP Board is able to accomplish its mission, and it is important that our work be guided by input from across the broad spectrum of the financial planning profession.

We at CFP Board truly do value the input and contributions of our stakeholders, and I look forward to strengthening our relationships with CFP® certificants and others who support and value the CFP® certification.

In closing, I’d like to recognize the recent accomplishment of the volunteer with whom I have the most contact on a day-to-day basis, David Strege, CFP®, Chair of our Board of Directors. Given the amount of time David has contributed to CFP Board, I sometimes find it hard to imagine how he manages to balance his duties with CFP Board with his devotion to his family and his responsibilities at his firm Syverson Strege & Company in West Des Moines, Iowa. So I was impressed yet again to hear that David recently added the distinction of being named Most Valuable Player at the National Adult Open Volleyball Tournament, where his Spike Force team won the National Volleyball Title after defeating a team from Brazil. Please join me in congratulating David on this latest accomplishment in an already well-rounded life.

Kevin R. Keller, CAE
CEO, CFP Board
CFP Board

(The all tournament team for the Men’s 50 division of the 2008 USA Volleyball National Tournament. David Strege, Most Valuable Player, is seated in the middle of the front row.)

According to Sabrina Lowell, CFP®, 28, of Mosaic Financial Partners, Inc. in San Francisco, it all began at an industry conference back in 2003 when a handful of young financial planners looked around the room and realized, “Wow, we’re the only people here under 50!” That demographic fact led to the founding of the 200-strong NexGen “community of interest” within the Financial Planning Association. The changing demographics of the financial planning profession are highlighted in an article in the June issue of Smart Money. “Last year, one in five aspiring certified financial planners were in their 20s, up 21% in four years,” the magazine reports. Plus, Smart Money notes, the average age of new CFP® certificants dropped in 2007 for the first time in a decade.

From those informal beginnings in 2003, Lowell and her peers formally organized themselves into a group in 2004 and held the first NexGen conference in 2006. About 100 people showed up for that initial event, a mix of career-changers and planners just getting started in the profession. It quickly became clear, Lowell says, that the issues facing career-changers and younger planners were just too different to sit comfortably within a single conference. So, by 2007, NexGen had redefined itself as a community of FPA members 36-years-old and younger who are CFP® certificants (or enrolled in a CFP Board-Registered Program) and currently employed or seeking employment in a financial planning capacity.

As the NexGen 2008 conference — at Saint John’s University in St. Cloud, Minnesota from July 25–27 — approaches, NexGenners are faced, in the words of conference chair Lowell, with the question: “We’re the future of the industry. Now what?”

Well, for starters, NexGenners are still exploring one of the main issues that brought them together in the first place: how to chart a career path in this young, still evolving profession. “Other professions, like law and accounting, already have well-defined career paths,” Lowell says. “In these jobs, you know pretty much from day one what you have to do to make partner. The planning profession is so new that career paths can differ from one firm to another, or in smaller entrepreneur-owned firms there may be no clear career path at all.” One thing NexGenners would like to do is develop a framework and infrastructure to make those paths a little clearer.

This aspect of the NexGen agenda caused some tension at first. Some veteran planners thought NexGenners were coming on a little too strong. After all, they had spent decades building a business only to find some kid just out of college wanting to know when she was going to make partner. For many, it seemed a little too much, a little too fast. Things have quieted down since then, and NexGen goes out of its way to stress the respect it has for financial planning’s pioneers. Another NexGen membership criteria is, to “commit at least five acts of honoring an industry predecessor each year.”

“Mentoring is very important to us,” says Lowell. “We want to find commonality between younger and seasoned planners; we want to tap into their knowledge. It’s not us against them.” That generational link will be strengthened at the 2008 conference when Richard B. Wagner, CFP®, delivers a presentation called “To Think … Like a CFP® Professional circa 2008.” Grounded in his influential 1990 Journal of Financial Planning article, Wagner’s address will focus on the issues and implications of creating an authentic profession — for financial planners of any age.

The career path conversation is a timely one, coming as it does during a period in which many veteran planners might be eyeing retirement, considering selling or merging their businesses, or thinking about putting a succession plan in place. “Entrepreneurs may have a passion for relating to clients and doing financial planning but not necessarily for managing a business,” Lowell says. “There comes a time, though, when the entrepreneur realizes, ‘It’s not just me in this business anymore.’ In other industries, the management structure is already in place, but it’s not inherent in financial planning firms.”

The NexGen conference will address these kinds of transition issues as well. A “Talk on Ownership” panel featuring Sarah K. Bailey, CFP®, and Jason L. McGarraugh, CFP®, both of whom have recently become owners of their respective firms, will address questions like, What qualities make firms/business partners offer ownership opportunities? How is ownership structured? Is ownership always tied to management?

For Lowell and her peers, the challenges facing NexGenners are the same challenges facing the industry as a whole: how to create and maintain growth and development opportunities for new people in the industry; how to further define what a CFP® professional does versus what other financial professionals do; and how to provide financial planning to underserved markets.

While the questions facing first- and second-generation financial planners may be the same, the answers are sure to be different, if only because business models have to change with the times and with changing technologies. One important difference, in Lowell’s view, is likely to be the way planners interact with clients. “Older clients tend to like face-to-face meetings and printed quarterly reports,” Lowell says. “Younger clients are more comfortable with electronic communication, Web presentations, and e-mail.” As planners become more efficient in delivering information electronically, the Web could turn out to be a cost-effective way to connect with hard-to-reach populations, too.

“When you ask people who does their taxes,” Lowell concludes, “they say, ‘a CPA.’ When you ask them who manages their finances, they say, ‘I do.’ My hope is that, as we make it easier for people to obtain credible financial planning services, the answer to that second question will become, ‘I work with a financial planner.’ That’s a statement that all planners, young and old alike, can agree with.

- James Geary

When Karen Greenberg, CFP®, received grant funding from CFP Board back in 2006, her goal was to use the money to expand the reach of Prosperity Life Planning (PLP) across south and central Florida. Through the non-profit PLP, Greenberg and her husband, Jaret Vogel, help the parents of children and adults with disabilities navigate the maze of financial, legal, and support services involved in special needs planning.

To date, the couple have conducted more than 25 free “Protecting the Future and Benefits for Your Special Needs Child” workshops around Florida, reaching some 1,500 families. Working with organizations like the Autism Society of America and the Down Syndrome Society of Miami, Greenberg and Vogel have walked parents through the entire financial planning process for special-needs children: how to write a letter describing the disabled child’s personality and preferences; how to establish and fund a special needs trust to protect the child’s eligibility for public benefits; how to choose successor trustees and guardians for the child; and what to know about the tax implications and administration of the trust. Along the way, Greenberg and Vogel discovered that their special needs financial planning framework could help people with other types of disabilities, too.

Through her PLP activities, Greenberg met a woman who had developed multiple sclerosis (MS) at the age of 30. MS is an autoimmune disease that attacks the central nervous system, resulting in a progressive loss of physical and cognitive functions. “This woman’s mental faculties are perfect; she just has a physical disability,” says Greenberg, who founded PLP after creating a special needs trust for her autistic son. “Meeting her presented a whole different angle to the financial planning process. I realized there was another part of the population with lots of similarities to special needs families but with some key differences.”

People with conditions like MS are often adults who have worked, may already qualify for some benefits, and may already have some assets of their own. They may be able to take care of themselves for now, but they know their condition will impair their abilities even further in the future. “They want to protect their eligibility for public benefits,” Greenberg says, “and they want to be involved in the creation of their trust.” To share her expertise, Greenberg will be making several presentations at events organized by the South Florida Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Greenberg and Vogel are still working to connect families with legal professionals who can help them with the trusts and other legal issues vital to special needs planning. They have created Special Needs Attorneys Providing Legal Services (SNAPLS), a group of attorneys who have agreed to discount their fees for the families of children with special needs. The couple are also lobbying the U.S. Congress for a Special Needs Tax Credit of up to $5,000 to defray the cost of setting up Guardianship and/or a Special Needs Trust.

And, of course, Greenberg and Vogel continue to conduct their special needs planning workshops. After the sessions, “parents are so relieved to hear that there are ways for them to save money and protect their child’s eligibility for benefits,” says Vogel. “They are so used to spending, spending, spending. After the workshop, they understand who they need on their support team and what they need to do to make it happen. They feel like a weight has been lifted off their shoulders.”

“And this is not just a one-shot,” adds Greenberg. “We work with families for months and often hear from them again a year or more later. They come back with other questions, and we become a referral source for other services. As a result, my vision of what I can do with this organization is different now. We can work with other professionals in other states to, little by little, help the families of disabled children and adults secure their loved ones' financial futures.”

Read the original profile of Prosperity Life Planning from the January 2007 CFP Board Report.

Online Resources

The Academy of Special Needs Planners
The Academy of Special Needs Planners (ASNP) serves as an information clearinghouse for attorneys in the special needs field. The Parents & Families section of the ASNP Web site provides an overview of strategies that parents and others can use to plan for their own futures and those of family members with special needs.

The Special Needs Alliance
The Special Needs Alliance (SNA) is a national, non-profit organization committed to “helping individuals with disabilities, their families, and the professionals who represent them.” The Search for a Special Needs Attorney by State feature on the SNA Web site enables users to locate attorneys with an expertise in special needs in every state.

CFP Board’s Revised Ethical Standards:
Effective Date July 1, 2008; Enforcement Date January 1, 2009

In May 2007, CFP Board's Board of Directors adopted a revised Standards of Professional Conduct that maintains high ethical standards for CFP® certificants, strengthens key elements of those standards and presents them in a manner designed to be understood clearly by CFP® certificants and their clients. The revised Standards were adopted with an effective date of July 1, 2008.

On June 10, 2008, the Board of Directors met and reviewed the progress that has been made to implement the revised Standards. At the meeting, the Board of Directors determined that it would be in the best interest of CFP® certificants and their clients to provide a six-month grace period for CFP® certificants to ensure they are in compliance with the revised Standards before CFP Board will begin rigorous enforcement of the revised Standards. Accordingly, CFP Board announces today that enforcement of the revised Standards will begin January 1, 2009.

This decision does not change the July 1, 2008 effective date for the revised Standards. CFP® certificants are expected to abide by the revised Standards beginning July 1, 2008. The delay in enforcement will allow you and other CFP® certificants to work with the new ethical standards and optimize the alignment of your practices with the requirements of the revised Standards. Conduct by a CFP® certificant that takes place prior to the January 1, 2009 enforcement date will be reviewed under CFP Board’s current Standards of Professional Conduct. Compliance with the revised Standards will satisfy the requirements of the current Standards of Professional Conduct

Since the announcement of the revised Standards, CFP Board has worked to educate CFP® certificants on the new ethical standards to which they will be held. We have been in contact with many CFP® certificants and their firms to answer questions about the content of the revised Standards and their application to the daily business practices of CFP® certificants. CFP® certificants are engaged in a wide variety of business settings and activities, and as the revised Standards are applied to those varied practices during the last half of 2008, we expect that additional questions may arise.

We appreciate the commitment CFP® professionals make to uphold CFP Board’s high ethical standards and hope the introduction of the January 1, 2009 enforcement date allows you to ensure that all aspects of your practice are fully aligned with the revised Standards. If you have questions about the enforcement date or the content and application of the revised Standards, please contact CFP Board at standards@CFPBoard.org.

Sample Disclosure Documents, Sample Client Engagement Letter and Updated Frequently Asked Questions

CFP Board has released sample forms CFP® certificants may use to meet their obligations under CFP Board’s updated Standards of Professional Conduct and released an updated Frequently Asked Questions document with additional information about the application of the updated Standards.

Sample disclosure forms include Form OPS (for CFP® certficants who provide services other than financial planning), Form FPD (for CFP® certificants providing financial planning services). Form FPDA includes the required disclosure information for CFP® certificants providing financial planning services and also incorporates the elements of the written agreement required for financial planning services by Rule 1.3 of the new Rules of Conduct. CFP Board believes that using the form appropriately will supply clients with:

• information about a CFP® certificant;
• the services being provided,
• any conflict of interest a CFP® certificant may have; and
• the costs to the client associated with the services being provided, which includes compensation arrangements, financial or investment product fees, or other costs related generally to transactions or advice by a CFP® certificant.

The updated Frequently Asked Questions document includes additional information about disclosure requirements and further guidance to assist CFP® certificants in determining when their services rise to the level of financial planning or material elements of the financial planning process.

Continuing Education Programs on CFP Board’s Revised Ethical Standards

CFP Board is pleased to share information about the many continuing education providers that currently offer CFP Board-approved ethics courses on CFP Board’s revised Standards of Professional Conduct, which has an effective date of July 1, 2008 and an enforcement date of January 1, 2009. The courses below provide information on the revised Standards and satisfy the ethics component of the biennial continuing education requirement for CFP® certification:

A AAA Financial Planning Institute
800-344-0335
CFP Ethics and Professional Responsibility (2 hours)

A Center for Continuing Education - Georgia
800-344-1921
CFP Board Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility (2 hours)

A Professional Training Services Company
847-705-3838
Ethics 2008 (2 hours)

Beacon Hill Financial Educators
800-588-7039
Ethics Workshop CFP Board Code of Ethics and Practice Standards with Case Study (2 hours)

Candura Group
781-626-0888
Leading the Profession (2 hours)

Courses 4 CE
973-992-1258
CFP® Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility (2 hours)

Educational Services
831-476-7079
CFP Board's Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility (2 hours)

Financial Planning Institute, LLC
720-529-1888
Extended Family Feud: Determining Ethical Excellence for AIG Advisors (2 hours)

FinancialCampus.com
800-711-9484
Ethics-CFP® (2 hours)

FPA - Financial Planning Association
800-322-4237 (7315)
It's a Whole New World: Practicing Under CFP Board's New Code of Ethics (2 hours)

FPA - Colorado Chapter
303-450-0515
Ethics and the CFP® Certificant (2 hours)

Frederick E Adkins III, Inc.
501-376-9051
It's a Whole New World: Practicing Under CFP Board's New Code of Ethics (2 hours)

Gulfcoast Education Center of Florida, Inc.
813-962-0047
CFP Code of Ethics (2 hours)

H C Denison Company
CFP Code of Ethics (2 hours)

Noble Continuing Education
800-275-2589
CFP Code of Ethics (2 hours)

PASS Online
817-252-4253
Personal & Professional Ethics for CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Certificants

Quest Continuing Education Solutions
877-593-3366
Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility (2 hours)

Speaking of Ethics
619-981-1911
Speaking of Ethics

WebCE
800-488-9308
CFP® Code of Ethics and Rules of Conduct (2 hours)

Current lists of continuing education sponsors registered with CFP Board may be generated from CFP Board’s Web site at www.CFP.net/certificants/sponsors.asp.

NOTE: CFP Board’s adoption of the revised Standards does not change the biennial continuing education requirement for CFP® certification. While CFP® certificants are expected to become educated about the revised Standards and apply them in their practices, CFP® certificants who have previously completed a CFP Board-approved ethics course during their current continuing education reporting period do not need to take an additional ethics course prior to their next renewal.

Focus on Ethics: Handling Client Information and Property

Download the FAQ on CFP Board's Revised Standards (PDF format)

The Rules of Conduct in CFP Board’s revised Standards of Professional Conduct, which has an effective date of July 1, 2008 and an enforcement date of January 1, 2009, contains a section of rules organized under the heading “Prospective Client and Client Information and Property.” The Rules in this section outline obligations CFP® certificants have to protect the confidential information they receive from clients and prospective clients, and these Rules include guidelines applicable to situations where the certificant handles a client’s property and assets.

Rule 3.1 of the Rules of Conduct sets forth a CFP® certificant’s obligation to protect the confidentiality of information received from clients and prospective clients. The Rule identifies five situations when legal and practical considerations may require a certificant to share otherwise confidential information: 1) in response to proper legal process; 2) as necessitated by obligations to a certificant’s employer or partners; 3) to defend against charges of wrongdoing; 4) in connection with a civil dispute; and 5) as needed to perform the services. Protecting the confidentiality of client information requires attention to the security of that information. Rule 3.2 requires certificants to “take prudent steps to protect the security of information and property, including the security of stored information, whether physically or electronically, that is within the certificant’s control.”

Rule 3.3 requires CFP® certificants to obtain the information necessary to fulfill their obligations. In situations where a certificant cannot obtain the necessary information, this Rule also requires certificants to “inform the prospective client or client of any and all material deficiencies.” For CFP® certificants who are engaged in financial planning, the explanation of Practice Standard 200-2 provides additional guidance for obtaining information and documents relevant to a client relationship, including the direction that certificants “communicate to the client a reliance on the completeness and accuracy of the information provided and that incomplete information will impact conclusions and recommendations.”

Recordkeeping is an important part of any business activity, and Rules 3.4 and 3.5 outline obligations CFP® certificants have to maintain records of their clients’ information and property. Rule 3.4 states, “A certificant shall clearly identify the assets, if any, over which the certificant will take custody, exercise investment discretion, or exercise supervision.” In situations where a CFP® certificant takes custody of a client’s assets or property or takes on the responsibility of discretionary authority for a client’s assets or property, Rule 3.5 requires a certificant to “identify and keep complete records of all funds or other property of a client in the custody, or under the discretionary authority, of the certificant.”

CFP Board has long opposed the practice of CFP® certificants and clients borrowing or lending money between each other. Rules 3.6 and 3.7 incorporate this prohibition in the Rules of Conduct and identify only three situations where borrowing or lending money might be appropriate in a client relationship: 1) if the client is a member of the certificant’s immediate family; 2) if the client is an institution in the business of lending money and the borrowing or is unrelated to the professional services performed by the certificant; or 3) if the certificant is an employee of an institution in the business of lending money and the money lent is that of the institution, not the certificant.

The Rules of Conduct also set forth restrictions on the practice of commingling client property. Rule 3.8 states, “A certificant shall not commingle a client’s property with the property of the certificant or the certificant’s employer, unless the commingling is permitted by law or is explicitly authorized and defined in a written agreement between the parties.” Rule 3.9 states, “A certificant shall not commingle a client’s property with other clients’ property unless the commingling is permitted by law or the certificant has both the explicit written authorization to do so from each client involved and sufficient record-keeping to track each client’s assets accurately.”

The section of the Rules of Conduct focused on the handling of a client or prospective client’s information or property concludes with Rule 3.10, which requires a CFP® certificant to “return a client’s property to the client upon request as soon as practicable or consistent with a time frame specified in an agreement with the client.”

While some of the Rules in section 3 of the Rules of Conduct address the issues related to the handling of client property in a general way designed to apply to all who hold CFP® certification, it is important to remember that certain activities related to the handling of client property may fall under more specific requirements imposed by various state and federal regulatory bodies. CFP Board’s revised Standards makes clear in Rule 4.3 that CFP® certificants must comply with all applicable regulatory requirements governing the professional services they provide clients. As CFP® certificants perform services aligned with the principles of CFP Board’s Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility, including the principles of Competence and Diligence, certificants should stay abreast of current best practices for protecting the information and property their clients entrust to them.

For more about the revised Standards, read Frequently Asked Questions or send additional questions to CFP Board at standards@CFPBoard.org.

About the Revised Standards of Professional Conduct:
On May 31, 2007, CFP Board’s Board of Directors announced the adoption of a revised version of CFP Board’s Standards of Professional Conduct, which sets forth the ethical standards for CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals. The revised Standards become effective July 1, 2008 and apply to the more than 57,000 financial planners in the U.S. who are authorized by CFP Board to use the CFP® certification marks. CFP Board encourages CFP® professionals to begin applying the revised Standards to their daily practice well in advance of the July 1, 2008 effective date.

CFP Board Business Update Webinar: July 9, 2008, 1:00-2:15 p.m. (ET)

CFP Board invites CFP® certificants and others interested in CFP Board’s activities to attend the CFP Board Business Update Webinar on Wednesday, July 9, 2008 from 1:00 - 2:15 p.m. (ET). This free informational Webinar (not for continuing education credit) is the first of a series CFP Board will hold to update CFP® certificants and other CFP Board stakeholders on CFP Board's activities and key issues related to CFP® certification.

This inaugural Webinar will feature David G. Strege, CFP®, Chair of CFP Board’s Board of Directors, Marilyn Capelli Dimitroff, CFP®, Chair-Elect of the Board of Directors, and Kevin R. Keller, CAE, CFP Board’s CEO, and focus on CFP Board's mission and strategic direction, as well as its revised ethical standards and their enforcement. The Webinar will be presented in an interactive format and be hosted by Stewart H. Welch, III, CFP® of The Welch Group in Birmingham, Alabama, who previously served on CFP Board’s Board of Directors and Board of Professional Review (now Disciplinary and Ethics Commission).

The Webinar will include time for questions and answers, and certificants are invited to submit questions prior to and during the program. Questions may be submitted in advance of the program to webinars@CFPBoard.org.

Space for the live Webinar presentation is limited, but a recorded version will be available soon after the live presentation. To register, visit https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/452048418.

CFP Board Welcomes SEC Proposal to Enhance Adviser Disclosure

CFP Board has filed a comment letter with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) welcoming its proposal to improve the quality of information that investment advisers must provide to clients and prospective clients.

The public that seeks financial services “will benefit from the enhanced overall disclosure” of conflicts of interest and material information in the proposal to amend Form ADV, Part 2, said Kevin R. Keller, CEO of CFP Board. Form ADV is comprised of two parts – Part I, which provides the SEC with necessary information about the investment adviser, and Part II, which sets forth information required to be disclosed to clients and prospective clients of the investment adviser.

CFP Board’s letter offers strong support for full disclosure of the methods of compensation, noting that CFP Board’s revised Standards of Professional Conduct, which have an effective date of July 1, 2008 and an enforcement date of January 1, 2009, strengthen the requirements that CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certificants must follow in disclosing conflicts of interest and compensation information during the course of their relationship with their clients.

The letter also urges the SEC to consider expanding its requirements for the disclosure of material background information so that advisers would be required to list disciplinary actions taken by state agencies and professional organizations, as well as personal and business bankruptcies and the occurrence of any judgment liens within the previous five years. “The public has the right to know such information when evaluating whether to do business with an investment adviser,” Keller writes.

CFP Board’s letter also expresses concerns over the use of designations that suggest an adviser has “attained a particular level of skill or ability.” “The proliferation of credentials, particularly those aimed at elderly or senior investors, has created much confusion and has led to an increase in elder fraud,” Keller said. CFP Board has urged the SEC to consider adopting guidelines for advisers who use designations that are consistent with the guidelines of the Model Rule recently adopted by the North American Securities Administrators Association. Alternatively, CFP Board has suggested that advisers who use designations should provide a conspicuous note that the SEC does not endorse, approve or otherwise regulate the designation.

Read the comment letter.

CFP Board Comments on SEC Proposed Amendments to Regulation S-P

On May 12, CFP Board filed a comment letter with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) commending it for proposing amendments to Regulation S-P that would increase safeguards for the personal identifying information of investment adviser clients.

CFP Board’s letter also suggested that the proposal’s requirement that an individual be designated to serve as coordinator of the information security program be made by naming a position, rather than a specific individual’s name, and CFP Board also suggested that the proposal be amended to include references to best practices concerning responses to identify theft. CFP Board also requested clarification on the timing of certain disclosures that would be required by the proposed amendments.

Read the comment letter.

CFP Board Provides Comments to President’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy

On May 23, CFP Board sent comments in response to the Council’s call for information about financial literacy efforts in the workplace and other venues. The comments commended the Council’s work and provided information about the rigorous requirements for CFP® certification and CFP Board’s outreach to the public through its Financial Planning Clinics and collaboration on initiatives that deliver financial planning and financial literacy through the workplace.

Read the comment letter.

Disciplinary Action

CFP Board has permanently revoked the right of Roger C. Faubel, of Youngstown, Ohio, to use the CFP® certification marks, effective immediately.

In April 2008, CFP Board’s Appeals Committee heard the appeal of a July 2007 decision by CFP Board’s Disciplinary and Ethics Commission to revoke Mr. Faubel’s right to use the CFP® marks. The Commission, in part, based its finding on two customer complaints. One related to Mr. Faubel recommending the purchase of “B” mutual fund shares. In the other, Mr. Faubel recommended that a client incur interest and penalties in taking withdrawals from an annuity and did not inform the client of the option of taking penalty-free distributions from a spouse’s IRA. The Appeals Committee affirmed the Commission’s findings and discipline imposed.

This is the latest public discipline imposed through CFP Board’s active enforcement of the ethical standards for CFP® certificants. Public disciplinary actions taken by CFP Board, in order of decreasing severity, include permanent revocation, suspension and letters of admonition. An individual found in violation of CFP Board’s Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility or Financial Planning Practice Standards by the Commission has the right to appeal that decision to CFP Board’s Appeals Committee, which may affirm the Commission’s decision or modify the Commission’s decision or findings.

Accomplishments of CFP® Certificants

CFP Board congratulates the following CFP® professionals on their publication and other professional activities:

Terry R. Altman, CLU, CFP® for his election as President of the Financial and Estate Planning Council of Metropolitan Detroit for 2008 and 2009.

LeCount Davis, CFP® for being honored with the 2008 Award for Lifetime Achievement by FPA North Capital Area.

Robert J. Fignar, CFP® for his promotion to Chief Executive Officer of The First National Bank of Mercersburg, Mercersburg, PA, effective April 25, 2008. Fignar has been employed by the bank since 1986.

Scott Paul Frush, CFP®, for the upcoming release of his fourth book, Commodities Demystified, published by McGraw-Hill.

CFP Board welcomes information about the activities and accomplishments of CFP® professionals. If you have information you would like to share with CFP Board, please contact us at mail@CFPBoard.org.

Earn Continuing Education Credits by Volunteering at CFP Board’s 2008 Financial Planning Clinics in Washington, DC and Miami

CFP Board is pleased to announce that CFP Board will grant continuing education (CE) credits granted to CFP® certificants who participate in 2008 Financial Planning Clinics in Washington, DC and Miami. At the Clinics, volunteer CFP® professionals will meet one-on-one with individuals and families to answer their financial questions. The events will also feature a series of 50-minute educational workshops presented by CFP® professionals on a wide range of financial planning topics.

To date, more than 150 CFP® certificants from Washington and Miami have generously volunteered their time and expertise to educate the public on the benefits of financial planning and there is still room for more participants.

CFP® certificants participating as one-on-one volunteers at the Clinics will receive CE credits for the number of hours they spend meeting with consumers at the events. Workshop presenters will also receive an hour of CE credit for each educational workshop they present. The CE credits will be allocated to the financial planning topic that volunteers and presenters address at the Clinics.

If you are interested in participating at the 2008 Financial Planning Clinics as a volunteer for one-on-one consultations with the public, please fill out an application form for the Clinic in Washington, DC, or the Clinic in Miami, or contact CFP Board by e-mail at clinic@CFPBoard.org or by phone at 800-487-1497 with the following information:

• Name
• Phone Number
• E-mail Address
• Mailing Address
• If you are multi-lingual, the languages you would like to use at the Financial Planning Clinic
• The general financial planning topics you are most interested in discussing with attendees

Learn more about opportunities for CFP® professionals to present educational workshops during the Clinics.

The Financial Planning Clinic in Washington, DC will be held on Saturday, September 13 from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm at the Grand Hyatt Washington.

The Financial Planning Clinic in Miami will be held on Saturday, November 15 from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm at the Hyatt Regency at Miami Convention Center.

For more information on CFP Board’s Financial Planning Clinics, visit www.CFP.net/clinic.

2008 Program Directors’ Conference: Michael Kitces, CFP® to Present Keynote Address

CFP Board is pleased to announce that Michael Kitces, CFP® will present the keynote address at the 2008 Program Directors’ Conference, scheduled for August 7-9, 2008 at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC.

Michael is a sought-after speaker and prolific writer who has made a great impact in the financial planning profession over the past several years. Named a “mover and shaker” of the financial planning profession by Financial Planning magazine when he was only 28 years old, he is Director of Financial Planning for Pinnacle Advisory Group, a private fee-based wealth management firm located in Columbia, Maryland, and publishes The Kitces Report, as well as the blog Nerd’s Eye View to provide commentary on developments in the financial planning profession. He was a co-founder of the NexGen group for young financial planners, and his further work with the FPA has helped give a voice to young professionals entering the financial planning profession. His dedication to education is evidenced by not only a litany of professional designations, but also the two master’s degrees he currently holds and the third he expects to begin this summer.

Read more about CFP Board’s 2008 Program Directors’ Conference, including sponsorship, exhibitor and advertising opportunities.