CFP Board’s 2009 Program Directors’ Conference, held last month in Arlington, Virginia, brought together many representatives of CFP Board’s Program Directors community, the group of educators and administrators involved in providing the professional financial planning education required to attain CFP® certification. I was honored to have the chance to meet many of the attendees. I appreciate their evident dedication to providing the high-quality education needed to prepare individuals to provide competent and ethical financial planning to the public.

This year’s Conference was clearly an event with a purpose. Much of the conversation at the Conference focused on the recent release of a proposal to add a financial plan development course requirement to CFP Board’s education standards. If adopted as proposed, CFP Board-Registered Programs would be required to offer a Financial Plan Development Course by January 2012, and successful completion of a Financial Plan Development Course offered by a CFP Board-Registered Program would become a prerequisite for all individuals wishing to take the CFP® Certification Examination at a later date. Since the proposal was released for comment last month, CFP Board has received an abundance of feedback, including an overwhelmingly positive response from CFP® certificants. Many of the comments have been posted to CFP Board’s Web site.

We’ve also received positive and constructive responses from the Program Director community, both through written comments and the discussions held at the Program Directors’ Conference. The Conference provided time for Program Directors whose curricula currently include financial plan development activities to share best practices with their colleagues. And discussions included thoughtful questions about how to implement the proposed financial planning development course requirement effectively in different types of programs. With more than 350 Registered Programs at 216 institutions across the country – including non-degree and degree programs, classroom-based as well as distance learning programs – the educational community that supports the CFP® certification program is indeed diverse. I’m confident that the comments and suggestions shared during the Conference, and the written comments received during the comment period, will enable CFP Board’s Council on Education to refine the proposed requirement’s framework to one that can be implemented effectively by all types of programs.

In addition to the proposed financial planning development course requirement, CFP Board is currently deep in the process of conducting the extensive Job Analysis Study conducted every few years to determine the current knowledge and skills needed for the competent delivery of financial planning services. The results of the Job Analysis study will be used to update the topics list that forms the basis of our CFP® Certification Examination. It will also impact the core curriculum our Registered Programs are required to teach, as well as the types of continuing education programs that CFP Board accepts for credit. A central part of this study involves feedback from CFP® certificants, gathered through surveys of the knowledge and tasks required for the delivery of financial planning services. So your input is essential.

If you receive an invitation to complete one of the Job Analysis Study surveys, I strongly encourage you to take time to complete it, even if you don’t typically respond to surveys. As the financial planning profession matures and the practices involved in professional financial planning evolve, it is vital that the content of the CFP® certification requirements remains up-to-date and relevant.

Marilyn Capelli Dimitroff, CFP®
2009 Chair, Board of Directors
CFP Board

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

Many in the CFP® certificant community have expressed concern to us at CFP Board about recent advertisements and statements issued by The American College to promote its educational credentials. When you see statements such as “financial planning’s highest standard” and “the most rigorous credential in financial planning,” we all expect to see them followed by the CFP® marks. Instead, we’ve seen them paired with The American College’s ChFC designation.

I appreciate and respect the longstanding ChFC designation program and The American College’s ongoing attempts to keep the requirements for the ChFC relevant. The core courses required for the ChFC credential cover the same topics covered by the 350 other educational programs that have registered their curricula with CFP Board. But I must take exception with the college’s recent marketing spin.

While The American College promotes one of its credentials as an “upgrade” to the CFP® certification, the truth is that the ChFC is an educational credential, or what the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and National Organization for Competency Assurance (NOCA) would call an “assessment-based certificate.” In contrast, the CFP® certification is a professional certification. The difference between the two is like apples and oranges – a clear difference increasingly recognized by regulators, consumer media outlets and the general public. It’s a difference I believe is important for all of CFP Board’s stakeholders to understand.

According to ANSI/NOCA, an “assessment-based certificate” is awarded to someone who attends a particular course of instruction and passes a test based on those courses. The test(s) for these certificate programs is used to evaluate whether students have accomplished certain learning outcomes, and the test generally takes place at the completion of each course. The tests do not have to meet any psychometric rigor to prove they are fair, valid or reliable. Often the “cut score” to determine who passes and who fails is not systematically determined based on proven methodologies.

On the other hand, a certification represents a declaration that a particular individual has achieved identified professional competencies. A professional certification, like the CFP® certification, is awarded to someone who passes an examination tied not to a particular course or series of courses, but rather to someone who meets professional standards based on broad industry knowledge often called a practice analysis, independent of any training courses or course providers. It is this practice analysis that gives validity to the examination and is the basis for defending the examination when it may be challenged legally. As all CFP® professionals know firsthand, comprehensive examinations are a central component of a certification program. The purpose of a certification examination is to evaluate a person’s mastery of the knowledge, skills, or competencies required for certification, and the examination typically takes place after the participant has had the opportunity to acquire the required knowledge, skills, or competencies.

Another key difference is that certification is time-limited and can expire unless certificants complete specified activities designed to measure or enhance continued competence. Compare that with training certificates, which are generally granted permanently, somewhat like an educational degree, with no ongoing requirements to maintain the certificate. Those certificate programs that do have continuing education requirements typically provide continuing education courses themselves, just as they provide the courses required for the certificate.

More importantly, certified individuals are subject to disciplinary policy. Many certificate programs put out ethical codes that set forth admirable aspirations. But unlike CFP® certification, which has rigorous and actively-enforced ethical and practice standards, certificate programs leave their ethics at the aspirational stage. Any enforcement of ethical standards undertaken by a certificate program is likely to happen outside the public’s eye, while disciplinary actions by certification programs are public. Those with certification are clearly held accountable to the professional ethics and practice standards embodied by the certification.

The difference between a certificate and a certification can also be seen in the type of third-party accreditation the certificate-granting institution or certification program holds. Institutions that offer certificate programs are likely to be accredited by an accreditation body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Institutions that offer true certification programs, like CFP Board, receive accreditation for their certification program from the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) of NOCA, ANSI or other accrediting bodies that focus on professional certification standards, as opposed to educational standards.

The true differences between certificate and certification programs are meaningful, especially when it comes to the assurances they provide to the public. A consumer seeking services from someone who holds a certificate can be assured that the certificate-holder has completed an educational program with testing. But a consumer seeking services from a certified individual, like a CFP® certificant, can be assured that the certified individual has met initial and ongoing standards of professional competency. The existence of an established certification within a certain profession allows the public a way to identify practitioners who have demonstrated competencies through a scientific based examination process. And a recognized certification helps the public avoid those who have not been certified on the best practices and recognized processes and procedures within that field of certification, including incompetent and unfit practitioners.

To illustrate the difference between training certificates and certifications, let me share an example that’s close to home. In 1984, Michael Shaw, Managing Director of CFP Board’s Professional Review and Legal departments, graduated from college and took up a job providing insurance services. He completed the courses and tests offered by The American College and earned the ChFC designation. To this day, even though he has not provided financial services since 1990, The American College continues to lists him as a holder of the ChFC designation in good standing.

Compare that with the more than 60,000 CFP® certificants who must meet ongoing certification requirements to retain the right to display the CFP® marks. They must complete continuing education requirements and, most importantly, are held to the ongoing responsibility of upholding a fiduciary standard when providing financial planning services, putting the client’s best interests first and always.

The certification standards for financial planning that CFP Board has established over the course of nearly 25 years give the CFP® marks credibility with regulators, with influential consumer media outlets and with the financial services industry. Our recent consumer survey, which collected data from a cross-section of the American public, found that the number of consumers who recognized the CFP® marks was more than five times higher than those consumers who recognized the ChFC. The public increasingly understands what differentiates CFP® certificants from financial service providers who may have been awarded certificates and who hold out other designations, and CFP Board will continue to actively communicate this important message to the American consumer.

While I’ve singled out The American College’s ChFC program here, I want to make clear that I truly value the important role that all of the educational programs registered with CFP Board serve in imparting the body of knowledge required for the delivery of competent and ethical financial planning. The American College and other CFP Board-Registered Programs provide a high-quality education to a significant percentage of the CFP® certificant community. And education certificate programs certainly have their part within a profession. But I believe that to suggest a financial planning-related educational credential or educational certificate provides the public with “the highest standard of knowledge and trust” compromises the integrity of our profession and is, quite simply, false.

Kevin R. Keller, CAE
CEO, CFP Board

New technologies always offer a trade-off between risks and opportunities. Look no further than the music, journalism and publishing industries for examples of how technology can overturn established business models. Financial planning is also changing in response to current technological trends, a fact highlighted by the latest Charles Schwab RIA Benchmarking Study. The independent registered investment advisors surveyed listed “implementing new technologies that will automate processes and build scalability” as the third most important factor for growth over the next five years, just behind “closing the deal after meeting with a prospect” and “maintaining quality and consistency in client relationships.”

“We are seeing the democratization of financial planning advice,” says Kevin Condon, CFP®, executive vice president, advisor services for Myfinancialadvice, an online service that connects employees and consumers with CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals. “Advice is not just for people at the top of the pyramid anymore, but it’s growing down into the middle-income range and even down to pro bono advice and financial literacy services. This trend is happening everywhere as a result of the Internet, and it’s leading to new practice management models.”

An important aspect of those new practice management models, Condon believes, will be the ability to efficiently deliver specific financial planning information in a client-focused way. As consumers take on more and more responsibility for making their own financial decisions — about everything from health insurance to pensions — more and more people will need competent and ethical advice. Traditional face-to-face meetings may not be affordable for this demographic, and it may be difficult for the planner deliver that kind of service in a cost-effective manner. The Internet offers an efficient and effective alternative.

“At the top of the pyramid, there are certain planning expectations,” Condon says. “Lower down there are different needs, and you can’t serve these people with the top-of-the-pyramid model. This group often just wants an action-oriented answer to a specific question. Planners can bring that to people through the Web and the telephone.”

To further meet this need, Myfinancialadvice is forming the Personal Financial Planning Alliance (“Alliance”). The Alliance is a network of corporations, institutions and independent CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals working to make advice affordable and widely available to the middle-income demographic. CFP Board has joined the Alliance as the primary recruiting source for CFP® professionals to power the Myfinancialadvice platform with competent and ethical financial planners. TD Ameritrade Institutional has joined as the premier corporate sponsor in support of its mission. Through the Alliance service, planners will provide one-on-one sessions for a fee via Web and phone on defined topics, such as a financial health check-up or a 401(k) review. Consumers will access the service through participating affinity groups, large employers, media partners and online social media channels. For more details and information on how to take part, see the Personal Financial Planning Alliance Web site.

Condon compares Web-enabled financial planning to the kind of service you would receive at a medical clinic as contrasted with your family doctor. A clinician doesn’t start with a detailed knowledge of your family and a history of previous conditions, and she doesn’t need to. People visiting a clinic come in with a specific problem they want fixed. Middle-income consumers are in a similar situation; they may just need an answer to an investment question or a tax situation. Some financial services companies are already using social media — blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc. — to communicate with clients, according to Consumer Financial Education Today: Best Practices, a report by research firm Corporate Insight.

“The planner’s task is to bring clients from confusion into clarity,” Condon says. “There is a huge market for that, regardless of what’s going on in the economy. Kids still grow up and need to go to college; people still retire. There is always a swirl of chaos that needs sorting out. [The Internet] allows planners to provide this service to more and more people for a reasonable fee.”

Whether financial planning advice is delivered via the Web or in the context of face-to-face meetings, planners need to ensure they are making smart use of technology. The less time a planner spends fiddling with spreadsheets, the more time she can spend actually talking to clients. To maintain efficiency — and profit margins — integration is key, says David J. Drucker, CFP®, co-founder of the practice management/tech newsletter and conference Technology Tools for Today.

“Software is so specialized,” Drucker says. “Planners use discrete programs they think are the best for specific functions, like customer relationship management or investment rebalancing. But the output from one program needs to be the input for another program, and the programs often don’t talk to each other. Integration gets different programs talking to one another, allowing advisors to choose software that does the best job.”

There are two different approaches to integration: all-in-one packages that attempt to provide complete functionality and discrete products that are specialized in one domain. Both approaches are steaming ahead, according to Drucker, and which one a planner chooses will depend on factors like the nature of the individual practice and the legacy systems that have been in place for years. The benefits encompass everything from eliminating the need for re-entering data to simplifying the production of client reports. For Drucker, the bottom line is choosing “more intelligent products that can be integrated rather than just strung together.”

Tim Clegg and his colleagues at Community Based Financial Planners have created an integrated software program designed to help planners help low- and moderate-income clients achieve their goals. Currently in the beta testing stage, the CBFPro tool quickly organizes essential data (pay stubs, seasonal expenses, debt calculations, etc.) into a detailed budget scenario. The software handles all the calculations and what-ifs, including tax estimates, so the planner spends much less time building a spreadsheet. The client, in turn, can see a budget scenario that changes over time, depending on different financial assumptions and decisions.

“Planners have a healthy skepticism about detailed budget maps,” Clegg says. “Real life will be different from any prediction, so why bother? This may be fine for high-net worth clients, but cash flow is all that middle- and lower-income folks have to work with. The challenge for them, and for the planner, is to see opportunities to save and to build assets. CBFPro can help planners who want to work with these clients to build action plans with real numbers.”

Clegg describes one client whose Plan A was to quit his job, take out a student loan, go back to school, and re-train for a better job. He was earning around $30,000 a year and paying child support. Clegg helped the client see that Plan A was unaffordable. But using CBFPro, he and his client were able to map out a Plan B with a two-year transition period during which the client would work part-time. He would then be in position to get a teaching job in the $50,000 range, enabling him to pay off his student loan and still be substantially better off. “The software enabled him to see the detail of his plan,” Clegg says, “and to have the confidence to make the leap and do it.”

Clegg sees applications for the software in individual practices as well as in community-based organizations and non-profits that offer money-coaching services. The CBFPro help manual follows CFP Board’s “6 Step Process” for financial planning, while the software itself is available as a free download from the Community Based Financial Planners Web site until its commercial release later this fall. “You can do a lot for a client if you can provide a detailed budget-based plan in an efficient and time-effective way,” Clegg says. “You can charge a fair price and still make money as a planner.”

Technology will change a lot of things, but one thing it won’t change is the need for customized financial planning advice and information. “The experienced planner will take the information from technology and interpret it for the client,” says Drucker. Planners can produce that personalized interpretation more effectively and cost-efficiently through the smart use of technology. High tech can help deliver high-touch. “You can’t do everything on the Web,” concludes Condon, “but you can sure do a heck of a lot.”

James Geary

Charles A. Moran, JD, CFP® Elected as 2010 Chair-Elect of CFP Board’s Board of Directors

At its July 16-17 meeting, CFP Board’s Board of Directors has elected Charles A. Moran, JD, CFP® as chair-elect, effective January 1, 2010. He will begin his duties as chair-elect on January 1, when Robert Glovsky, CFP® begins his term as 2010 chair. Moran will serve as the Board of Directors’ chair beginning in January 2011.

CFP Board Requests Comments on Proposed Financial Plan Development Course Requirement

On August 3, 2009, CFP Board issued a request for comments on the proposed addition of a Financial Plan Development Course requirement to CFP Board’s education standards. The proposed Financial Plan Development Course requirement would require individuals seeking to attain CFP® certification demonstrate their ability to integrate and apply the financial planning topic areas to a scenario based on the types of situations a practicing financial planner might be expected to address with clients. The proposed addition is intended to enhance the knowledge, skills and abilities of individuals seeking to attain CFP® certification and implement an assessment of their ability to deliver professional and competent financial planning services to the public.

The proposed framework for the Financial Plan Development Course includes:

If adopted as proposed, the Financial Plan Development Course requirement will necessitate amendments to CFP Board’s criteria for CFP Board-Registered Programs to require that their curricula include a Financial Plan Development Course. The proposed requirement, if adopted, will also require amendments to CFP Board’s certification requirements, adding successful completion of a Financial Plan Development Course offered by a CFP Board-Registered Program to the eligibility requirements for the CFP® Certification Examination.

The proposed effective date for the Financial Planning Development Course requirement is January 1, 2012. If adopted with that effective date, CFP Board-Registered Programs would be required to offer a Financial Plan Development Course on or before January 1, 2012. Successful completion of a Financial Plan Development Course offered by a CFP Board-Registered Program would become a prerequisite for all individuals wishing to take the CFP® Certification Examination at a later date.

Any individual or group wishing to comment on the proposed technical corrections should submit written comments no later than October 2, 2009. CFP Board is especially interested in comments focused on implementation, assessment and/or course outcomes related to the proposed Financial Plan Development Course requirement. Comments may be sent to CFP Board by e-mail to edstandards@CFPBoard.org or by mail to:

CFP Board
c/o Managing Director, Education
1425 K St., NW, Suite 500
Washington, DC 20005

Comments received during the 60-day comment period, which ends October 2, 2009, will be reviewed and considered by CFP Board and posted to CFP Board’s Web site.

Michele Wetherald, Esq., Named as CFP Board’s Managing Director of Examinations, Education and Talent

CFP Board has named Michele W. Wetherald, Esq., as its new Managing Director of Examinations, Education and Talent.

In this role, Ms. Wetherald will provide oversight to CFP Board's continuing development of the rigorous CFP® Certification Examination; establish and enforce educational standards for enhancing the knowledge, skills, and abilities of current and potential CFP® certificants; and direct the acquisition, retention and deployment of the top-flight staff which CFP Board needs for strategic goal attainment.

Ms. Wetherald brings to this role strong understanding and extensive experience in the areas of education, examinations and talent management. Michele brings this expertise from her past positions as Executive Director of AAUW - American Association of University Women, Educational Foundation, and Leadership and Training Institute; Executive Dean at Eastern West Virginia Community and Technical College; Chief Personnel Officer at West Virginia Northern Community College; Associate Attorney at Newman, Olson & Kerr; Adjunct Faculty at Hiram College; and various personnel and labor relations positions at General Motors.

Ms. Wetherald is a past president of the AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund Board of Directors. She holds a JD (Juris Doctorate) from the University of Akron School of Law, and a BA in Business Management from Hiram College.

Michele has been part of the CFP Board transition team assisting us for more than a year on projects related to our transition to Washington, D.C. from Denver and immediately contributed and connected with our mission.

"We are very pleased to have someone with Michele’s accomplishments and interests joining CFP Board’s leadership team," said Kevin R. Keller, CAE, Chief Executive Officer of CFP Board. "She comes to CFP Board already well-experienced in our culture and operations, having served as Interim Managing Director of Education. Her unique combination of expertise in education, law, executive management, and human capital management will be a tremendous asset to CFP Board as it pursues its mission of benefiting the public by granting the CFP® certification and upholding it as the recognized standard of excellence for personal financial planning."

“I look forward to building on the existing strong foundation that CFP Board has entrusted to me and which is so central to its ability to carry out its mission.” said Ms. Wetherald. “I believe that my broad background will inform and enrich the various aspects of my work in these positions, and help me continue to be a vital and productive member of the CFP Board leadership team.”

Get Published: Sample Consumer Education Articles from CFP Board

Educate your community about the importance of financial planning and the high standards of competent and ethical financial planning provided by CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals with educational articles and other resources available to CFP® professionals through CFP Board’s online CFP® Certification Companion.

The Marks Education – Public Relations Materials section of the CFP® Certification Companion contains sample articles that you can customize with your personal information and submit to your contacts at local publications, newsletters, magazines and newspapers, including an article focused on the rigorous requirements for the CFP® certification: “All Credentials Are Not Equal.” Other sample articles include:

• “10 Questions To Ask When Choosing A Financial Planner”
• “Common Questions About Financial Planning”
• “Make Financial Planning Work for You”
• “Financial Planning Process Can Help Baby Boomers Realize Retirement Goals”
• “What You Should Know About Financial Planning”
• “Knowing Your Rights as a Financial Planning Client”
• “Plan Now for a Comfortable Retirement”
• “Get the Most Out of Financial Planning”

These articles and other materials on CFP Board’s Web site are derived from copyrighted CFP Board publications, so we request that you include copyright attribution at the end and request CFP Board’s written consent by completing a Copyright Permission Request Form.

And let the world know you hold CFP® certification by wearing this handsome embossed lapel pin, with a blue and black mark on a silver-colored metal background. Available exclusively to certificants, the pin is available for $5.00 (shipping included). Download an order form from your online CFP Board account.

To access the online CFP® Certification Companion, login to your online account at www.CFP.net/login, then select “Tools & Resources.”

CFP Board Grant Recipient Update: Financial Planning for Women

Financial Planning for Women (FPW), a Web site and free monthly series of seminars designed to educate and empower women about personal finance and investing, received a grant from CFP Board back in 2006. Jean Lown, a professor in the Family, Consumer, and Human Development Department at Utah State University who started FPW about 12 years ago, used the funds to promote the workshops and purchase personal finance books and other educational materials for participants. Now, three years later, Lown reports that FPW is still going strong and the remainder of the CFP Board grant will be dedicated to a formal evaluation of the program.

But it’s already clear that FPW has had a positive influence on women’s financial lives, starting with the Utah State University community itself.

Due to cutbacks in the state budget, the University recently announced an incentive program for early retirement. Both employees within reach of retirement and younger workers were offered financial incentives to leave voluntarily. Lown presented a program on how to evaluate the offer with the help of two CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals, who also met individually with participants afterwards. The session addressed questions like, Is it a good time in my financial life to make a change? What considerations go into making this decision? Around 50 people attended the event, which was followed by about a dozen one-on-one meetings with the planners.

“The main issue for many people is health insurance,” says Lown. “That’s the tail that wags the dog. It is one of the major issues to consider when thinking about changing jobs. The University offered a deal in which health care coverage would continue for people five to seven years away from retirement until Medicare kicked in.”

Deciding whether to retire early, or to switch jobs, is always complex. But the process may be a little less fraught in Logan, Utah, where the University is based, since it has the second lowest unemployment rate in the country. “The region is suffering,” Lown says, “but nowhere near to the same degree as in other states. There was no speculative housing boom here, and there are a lot of hi-tech spin-offs from the University. So for some people, this turned out to be their time to do what they always wanted to do, maybe start their own business.” Having a resource like FPW available to help weigh the pros and cons of that decision was invaluable.

The recession has definitely sparked interest in personal financial planning, according to Lown, and the early retirement session was among the most well attended FPW events of the past several years. “Dealing with the financial crisis has been the main thing,” Lown says. “That has made people think more about their asset allocation. So we’ve reviewed things like allocation strategy and risk tolerance. What is a person’s risk tolerance? Usually, they have no idea until they have actually lost a lot of money.”

Lown advertises FPW events, which attract women from northern Utah and southeast Idaho, on public radio and by distributing flyers around town. But word of mouth is still the most successful marketing technique, she says: “Someone saying, ‘This has been really valuable to me’ is most important.” To encourage word of mouth publicity, Lown offers free financial planning books — on everything from insurance to estate planning — to everyone who brings along a friend.

As part of the evaluation process, Lown is emailing a questionnaire to each program participant. The form will ask questions like, What have you done as a result of the program? What topics would you like to see in future programs? The idea, says Lown, is “to document the changes people have made in their lives and their finances as a result of the program.”

One of Lown’s students is working on an MA thesis about women who have made major changes in their financial lives. The student has organized focus groups as part of her research, and many of the participants mention FPW as the trigger that helped them realize they needed to make a change. That’s the best kind of word-of-mouth endorsement there is.

Read the original profile of Financial Planning for Women in the March 2007 issue of CFP Board Report.

CFP® Marks in the News

Target-date mutual funds need vigilance
Many investors ... were caught off guard when people nearing retirement lost a ton of money in these target-date mutual funds during the market meltdown in 2008. "Imagine it's 2009 and you lost 41% and you're retiring next year," said Marilyn Capelli Dimitroff, a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER[™ professional] from Bloomfield Hills.

Target-date funds as they work now are "fundamentally misleading to investors," according to testimony that Dimitroff gave in Washington, D.C., in June. She spoke before a joint hearing of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Department of Labor.

Dimitroff, now the chair of the board of directors for the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc., maintains that industry standards should be established for appropriate asset allocations for target-date funds. Such standards are needed, she said, to "ensure that target-date funds are not misleading to consumers on either extreme -- too much cash for the young investor or too much equity for the investor near retirement."

Susan Tompor
The Detroit Free Press
August 13, 2009

Get a little help with financial planning
In the financial world, there are as many accreditations as letters in alphabet soup, says [Steven Young, CFP®, owner of Steven Young Financial Planning]. One of the most respected titles is CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER[™ professional] or CFP[® certificant], says Young, a sentiment echoed by most of the professionals interviewed.

A CFP[® certificant] has to pass a 10-hour exam, take courses, has ongoing education to keep the accreditation, and they must have three years' financial planning experience and an undergraduate degree.

Juliana Goodwin
News-Leader (Springfield, Missouri)
August 18, 2009

New Credit Card Rules Take Effect
The first phase of the credit card legislation -- signed into law by President Barack Obama in May -- is finally kicking in and consumers can expect to see a few changes, if not in their wallet, then in their mailbox. For one thing, the new rules require companies to send out bills 21 days before payment is due.

According to CFP Board consumer advocate Eleanor Blayney, the change doesn't mean you can pay less, or late. It just means you'll have more warning. "It helps only in that you have a few more days to get a little bit of money to pay down that balance," said Blayney.

View the story as broadcast on NY1

Tara Lynn Wagner
NY1 24 Hour News
August 19, 2009

Accomplishments of CFP® Certificants

The CFP® certificant community is well-represented among the finalists of the 2009 Community Leadership Awards, presented by InvestmentNews and the Invest in Others Charitable Foundation to recognize financial advisers for their roles as leaders and active volunteers in charitable organizations within their communities:

Brett S. Ellen, CFP®, of American Financial Network in Calabasas, California, was selected as a finalist for the Mentoring Excellence Award, presented to an adviser who has been actively mentoring a young adult for at least two years and has demonstrated qualities as a role model and "champion for youth" in his or her community, for his work with Turn Kindness On (TKO) Helping Hands.

Mary Schulte, CFP®, of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Naperville, Illinois, was selected as a finalist of the Volunteer of the Year Award, presented to an adviser who has been actively serving as a volunteer at one or more local non-profit organizations for at least two years and has made a contribution considered to have a "lasting impact," for her work with DuPage PADS Inc.

Scott Thole, CFP® and Daniel Pierson of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Chicago, Illinois, were selected as finalists for the Volunteer Team Award, presented to a team of advisers and/or office staff for their current, collective involvement of at least three years as volunteers for a charity in their community, for their work with Chicago HOPE Dollars for Scholars

James Thompson, CFP®, of Village Financial Partners in Auburndale, Massachusetts, and FPA of Massachusetts, were selected as finalists for a Volunteer Team Award, presented to a team of advisers and/or office staff for their current, collective involvement of at least three years as volunteers for a charity in their community, for their work with Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Karen True Winslow, CFP®, of Wintergreen Financial Group in Portland, Maine, was selected as a finalist for the Mentoring Excellence Award, presented to an adviser who has been actively mentoring a young adult for at least two years and has demonstrated qualities as a role model and "champion for youth" in his or her community, for her work with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southern Maine.

The 2009 awards will be presented at the Community Leadership Awards Dinner on September 30, 2009 in New York City.

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.

• Presentation Materials from 2009 Program Directors’ Conference
• Recording of July 30, 2009 Webinar: “Post CFP® Exam: Your Next Steps To CFP® Certification”
• Frequently Asked Questions on CFP Board’s Standards of Professional Conduct, updated with Technical Corrections adopted in July 2009
• 2008 Certificant Survey Report

Financial Planning Clinic in Detroit, September 19

CFP Board will host a Financial Planning Clinic on Saturday, September 19 from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm at the Westin Southfield Detroit in Southfield Town Center.

The concept is simple – CFP® certificants will volunteer to meet one-on-one with consumers to offer personalized financial planning information on a pro bono basis. The benefits are plentiful – increasing the recognition and the value of financial planning and CFP® certification in the Detroit area and providing the public with the financial information they need at a time when many residents in your community are in urgent need of financial planning assistance due to the recent economic turmoil.

The Clinic in Detroit builds on the successes of similar events CFP Board hosted during the past few years in Los Angeles, Boston, Washington, DC, and Miami. Through these events, CFP® certificants made a positive difference in the lives of thousands of people by sharing their time and expertise to help individuals, couples and families sort out their personal finance questions and concerns.

The Detroit Clinic has already received a lot of attention from local media and community organizations who wish to extend this opportunity to their constituents, and we expecting a large consumer turnout at the Clinic. We appreciate all of the CFP® professionals who have volunteered to assist with this event.

Save the Dates: CFP® Certificant Connections Coming to Midwest, October 20-21

Mark your calendars and plan to attend the upcoming CFP® Certificant Connection receptions and meetings coming to Minneapolis, St. Louis and Chicago later in 2009. For information on the current schedule, visit www.CFP.net/certificants/connection.asp or contact CFP Board at events@CFPBoard.org.

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
5:30 - 7:00 p.m. (Central)
Details coming soon

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
8:00 - 9:30 a.m. (Central)
Details coming soon

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
5:30 - 7:00 p.m. (Central)
Details coming soon

Employment Opportunities at CFP Board

CFP Board has employment opportunities for a Chief Financial Officer in our Accounting Department, a Director of Professional Alliances in our Communications and Marketing Department, an Insurance Counsel in our Professional Review Department, and a Registered Program Manager in our Education Department. If you or someone you know is interested in contributing to CFP Board’s mission to benefit the public by granting the CFP® certification and upholding it as the recognized standard of excellence for personal financial planning, we invite you learn more about available employment opportunities at www.CFP.net/aboutus/jobs.asp.