Talk:Certified Financial Planner

College Degree
On the CFP website, they have decided to extend the time on a college degree requirement. It seems that CFP has allowed people to take the Credential without an accredited college degree since their inception (for 25+ years). It seems that they plan to require a college education by next year.

TM symbol
The use of ™ is correctly used in this article. Please do not delete this version. &mdash;The preceding unsigned comment was added by Paradigmbuff (talk &bull; contribs) 21:55, 10 November 2004.


 * Copyright violation? Can Wikipedia advertise this copyrighted expression? &mdash;The preceding unsigned comment was added by Wetman (talk &bull; contribs) 22:09, 19 November 2004.

Copyrighted expression? Please clarify? It is my understanding that without the trademark or copyright symbols, that would violate a copyrighted expression. Therefore, I don't think I understand the question. I've had this issue come up before and was informed by another that copyrighted expressions are not used in Wikipedia. And yet, I noticed that images are copyright protected on Wikipedia. So, I'm not really sure how to answer this question either.

Just sharing a little bit of my experience with this, accredited programs are better, and do seriously consider a review provider or two or however many it takes to pass that exam. Paradigmbuff 22:33, Nov 19, 2004 (UTC)

Blanking of page without TM in title
Reason for Blanking: The title of this article is incorrectly used. The CFP Board has strict guidelines on the use of ™ which is required in this case. The same article can be found under Certified Financial Planner™. &mdash;The preceding unsigned comment was added by Paradigmbuff (talk &bull; contribs) 21:53, 10 November 2004.

Apparently, trademarks or copyrights not required for the purpose of this article. If a certificant or board member finds out that the CFP® mark has not been properly used in this article, please do not ask me to change it again. &mdash;The preceding unsigned comment was added by Paradigmbuff (talk &bull; contribs) 22:21, 11 November 2004.

(Note: This comment was modified by at 22:35, 11 November 2004. Noel (talk) 00:07, 1 October 2005 (UTC))

Copyvio notice/Article name
I've removed the copyvio notice, as it's clear that the page which was quoted as the source is actually a mirror of Wikipedia. However, I've also removed the &copy; symbols from the text, as we don't generally use them here. It may well be the CFP Board's rule that these symbols are used when the title is used officially, but that's a private issue - WP is not using the title officially, and is under no obligation to use the symbols. For that reason, the page should also be moved to Certified Financial Planner, without the ™. sjorford &rarr;&bull;&larr; 14:09, 17 Mar 2005 (UTC)


 * Support the move. Avoid special symbols in the title. Jonathunder 23:34, 2005 Mar 18 (UTC)

This article has been renamed as the result of a move request. violet/riga (t) 19:51, 21 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Cut-and-paste move
This article requires the history stored at Certified Financial Planner/history merging in when the block compression issue is resolved. violet/riga (t) 19:51, 21 Mar 2005 (UTC)


 * OK, I've done the merge.
 * There was a teensy issue, because between 21:37, 10 November 2004 and 22:09, 11 November 2004 there were two separate live copies of the article, and User: Paradigmbuff edited the other copy (as well as this one). I didn't want to merge those edits, because it would be very confusing with the two histories intermingled, with no info on which versions belonged to which 'article'.
 * However, all 4 edits by PB during that period were simply to add the same external links as they added here, and add and delete categories (as here during much the same period).
 * Also, that version of the article was a dead-end - as far as I can tell, none of the content there was used here. So, I have simply elected to leave those other versions out there in deleted-version space. Noel (talk) 23:49, 30 September 2005 (UTC)

CFP(r) with respect to retail financial services
The category Financial Services seems more appropriate. Although a financial planner may be affiliated with a bank which offers services and products described currently under Retail financial services, a planner in the United States could also be an individual Investment Adviser registered either with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) or with the individual states he/she practices in. I believe the Financial Planning Association and possibly the CFP Board as well, are working with the SEC to remove this registration requirement. The article as it is now is neutral on this point and does not address this at all. The other possibility...a planner could also be an insurance broker or agent. According to folks who have been practicing as planners in this industry for 30 or more years, the field of financial planning evolved from the insurance industry. And the CFP(r) designation is one such credential along with the CLU. One other thing, some planners can also be practicing attornies; more so in the field of Estate Planning in private practice. Then of course, you can't forget the investment brokers. In reality, I do not see why an investment broker would go through the trouble of obtaining a CFP(r) and not practice as a financial planner. I can, however, see the logic of obtaining a CFA. An investment broker is more specialized. A planner, on the other hand, covers a broader area of financial services - from insurance (life, health, home/apartment, auto, long term care) to Last will and testament, creation of trusts, Living will, power of attorney durable or not....I'm certain there are brokers AND planners who would disagree with my assessment. But I hope you understand why I believe this article should fall under the category of "Financial Services" as opposed to "Retail Financial Services". &mdash;The preceding unsigned comment was added by 65.4.74.226 (talk &bull; contribs) 16:24, 19 May 2005.

CFPs not just in USA
The CFP designation is a global designation, offered in many different countries.

FPSB has members and associate members from 19 countries. These members have authorized more than 73,000 individuals to use the CFP marks worldwide. Each organization has endorsed the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certification process as the best means of demonstrating financial planner competency and ethical behavior. Members of the Council work to promote the CFP certification marks as the globally recognized standard of excellence for financial planners.

More information on the council can be viewed at www.fpsb.org &mdash;The preceding unsigned comment was added by Sholland (talk &bull; contribs) 21:25, 26 July 2005.


 * This article gives limited geographic scope to the subject and fails to clearly state where the organisations it discusses are base. I've added the globalize tag until this is sorted. simonthebold 16:16, 1 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Still not sorted, so I restored the tag. One way to globalize the article would be to merge it with Financial planner.  Each article on its own, and a combined article would be quite a comprehensive one.  --Hroðulf (or Hrothulf) (Talk) 17:56, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Unbiased Financial Guidance
I consulted this article to determine if the designation, "Certified Financial Planner (CFP)" was a guarantee of unbiased financial guidance. It appears the designation, "CFP" provides no such assurance. However, this article does refer the reader to ten questions that a person should ask a potential provider of financial guidance. Question 8 reads as follows:

8. Could anyone besides me benefit from your recommendations? Some business relationships or partnerships that a planner has could affect her professional judgment while working with you, inhibiting the planner from acting in your best interest. Ask the planner to provide you with a description of her conflicts of interest in writing. For example, financial planners who sell insurance policies, securities or mutual funds have a business relationship with the companies that provide these financial products. The planner may also have relationships or partnerships that should be disclosed to you, such as business she receives for referring you to an insurance agent, accountant or attorney for implementation of planning suggestions.

The designations, "CFP" and "CFA" entail compliance with written ethical standards. But these standards do not preclude relationships that may constitute conflicts of interest. Fair enough. Without more, no harm done. But this article, as written, does not directly speak to third party relationships and potential conflicts of interest. I suggest the inclusion of such language that would state, as a point of fact, that conflicts of interest are not precluded by the designation "CFP" or "CFA". -- REMARKS AND PERSONAL OPINION: A search of Wikipedia for, "Certified Financial Consultant (CFC)" produced no results. I suspect this designation is in use by someone, somewhere. I don't know. But I do see a need for a designation that (by definition and enforcement) precludes any and all third party relatonships that suggest (or in fact constitute) a conflict of interst. Of course, certified unbiased financial guidance would, in most cases, require fee basis compensation. No problem here. Many financial consultants already work on a fee basis. And Doctors and attorneys do it all the time. AA266 (talk) 02:00, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

This article should clearly state that a CFP does NOT have a fiduciary responsibility to a client, as this is the whole reason this nonsense designation was developed, given all the bad press that financial advisers and the like who are not required to have a fiduciary relationship with clients have been receiving. The fact is that if you want your financial investments to be in your best interest, you need a legal fiduciary agreement. This CFP nonsense is just that, nonsense. No, I'm not in the financial business, but I do invest and my relationship with my adviser is fiduciary - yes it cost more, but is worth it, at least for me. 68.189.209.118 (talk) 04:03, 22 February 2015 (UTC)

Compensation
How is a CFP paid? I haven't been able to learn from this article whether they are paid by commissions, as are stockbrokers, or by other means. Perhaps other people are curious. Shouldn't WP answer this question?

Donfbreed2 (talk) 00:07, 21 March 2013 (UTC)
 * "Stockbroker" is a job. "CFP" is a designation (think of it as a degree). Asking how a CFP is paid is like asking how an MBA is paid: It depends on their job. - Sum mer PhD  (talk) 00:21, 21 March 2013 (UTC)

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General clean up
I have started a general clean up. Some of this material still needs work -- particularly the section on education. And, there was some material on supposed differences between the CFP in the United States and the CFP in Canada for which I find absolutely no support in the source material. I deleted the dubious "Canada" material. If a reliable source for the Canada material can be found later, then the material can be re-added. Famspear (talk) 20:07, 9 December 2016 (UTC)

The weird, unsupported verbiage regarding CFPs in Canada was apparently added by an anonymous user a while back, here:. Famspear (talk) 21:36, 9 December 2016 (UTC)