On October 3, several hundred Oakland residents received a free opportunity to consult with a CFP® professional during “A Day of Free Financial Planning” held at the Oakland City Hall Building in Oakland, California. Twenty-four CFP® professionals volunteered their services and met one-on-one with local residents to offer advice and guidance in today’s turbulent economy.

The event was organized as a collaborative effort between CFP Board, FPA chapters of the Bay Area, and offices of California State Controller John Chiang, Senator Loni Hancock, Assemblymember Sandré Swanson and Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums.

Local CFP® professional and key organizer, Frank Paré, kicked off the event with a welcome note to volunteers and attendees. The idea for the Oakland event came to Mr. Paré after he volunteered at CFP Board’s first Financial Planning Clinic in Los Angeles in 2006.

The morning agenda also included a roundtable presentation from State Controller John Chiang, State Senator Loni Hancock, Assemblymember Sandré Swanson and CFP Board’s CEO, Kevin Keller, who briefed the attendees on the benefits of financial planning and working with a professional financial planner who holds CFP® certification.

The event received a great deal of publicity from local media, including on-site coverage from the local ABC TV affiliate and articles in Oakland Tribune and San Francisco Chronicle leading up to the event.

The event raised public awareness of financial planning and the benefits of working with a financial planner who holds CFP® certification, the recognized standard of excellence for personal financial planning.

CFP® Certificants

CFP Board thanks the following CFP® professionals who helped make the Financial Planning Clinic a success:

• Robert E. Arnold, Jr., CFP®
• Mari Campbell, CFP®
• Michael W. Caulkins, CFP®
• Jack J. Chang, CFP®
• Scott E. Dawson, CFP®
• Sonya B. Dreizler, CFP®
• Nancy M. Hairsine, CFP®
• Gregory J. Hannah, CFP®
• Sally A. Hershey, CFP®
• Barbara Jolliffe, CFP®
• Claudette G. Klein, CFP®
• Suzanne Krasna, CFP®
• Eva L. Levine, CFP®
• Ronald A. Matsui, CFP®
• Allen W. Moskowitz, CFP®
• Laurean S. Nardone, CFP®
• Laura M. O'Brien, CFP®
• Frank E. Paré, CFP®
• Walter E. Reinsdorf, CFP®
• Bronwyn Shone, CFP®
• Cliff W. Shum, CFP®
• Jitian Tan, CFP®
• Theodore H. Tilles, CFP®
• William Tom, CFP®
• Evor C. Vattuone, CFP®

     
      View Oakland's ABC affiliate news coverage of the 2009 Financial
      Planning Clinic in Oakland on YouTube >

A Financial Planning Clinic is a special event that provides the public an opportunity to address specific financial questions to professional financial planners who volunteer their time and expertise to provide unbiased financial planning information tailored to each visitor's unique situation. All financial planners at the Clinic hold the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certification (CFP® certification) and are highly qualified to discuss your financial issues to help you find the answers you need.

At the Clinic, each volunteer is seated at a table designated for a specific financial planning topic. You decide what topic you’re interested in and head over to the appropriate table. The volunteer CFP® professionals meet with only one individual, couple or family at a time but there is no limit to the number of volunteers you can meet with.

The Financial Planning Clinics further CFP Board's mission of serving the public by upholding the CFP® certification as the recognized standard of excellence in personal financial planning. In addition to this event in Oakland, Financial Planning Clinics held in Los Angeles, Boston, Washington, DC, Miami and Detroit were resounding successes for thousands of consumers who attended, as well as for the hundreds of CFP® professionals who gave back to their communities by sharing their talents.

Financial information provided by CFP® professionals at the Clinic is free and tailored to your needs. The volunteer CFP® professionals are not allowed to sell products and services or hand out business cards or marketing materials. In other words, there are no strings attached.

CFP Board hosts and works with other organizations to organize Financial Planning Clinics to help people experience first-hand how financial planning can improve their lives and bring the expertise of CFP® professionals to people who may not normally have access to reliable and ethical financial planning information.

Any attendee who wishes to follow-up with a volunteer CFP® professional will have access to the volunteer’s name and contact information in the information package provided at registration.

The Financial Planning Clinic in Oakland follows successful Clinics held in Los Angeles (2006), Boston (2007), Washington, DC, (2008) Miami (2008) and Detroit (2009) where volunteer CFP® certificants made a positive difference in the lives of thousands of people by sharing their time and expertise to help individuals and families sort out their personal finance questions and concerns.

Learn more about CFP Board's past Financial Planning Clinics

If the enthusiastic and grateful comments from attendees and volunteers weren’t enough to validate the benefits these events provided, post-event surveys confirmed that more than 95% of attendees found their experience so rewarding that they would recommend it to others. The same percentage of volunteers stated that they would participate again.

Past Financial Planning Clinics have featured partnerships with a large number of community organizations who invited their constituents to attend the events, including AARP, America Saves, City of Miami, Georgetown University, Goodwill Industries International, United Way and University of Miami. Among the many media outlets that have supported the Clinics are ABC, CBS, NBC, The Los Angeles Times, The Miami Herald and Univision.