President’s Message
Dear fellow members,
There are about 300,000 financial advisors
practising in the United States.
In early 2009, a survey was conducted
by the College of Financial Planning on
15,000 CFP® holders and some 400 holders
of other professional designations. Here
are some fi ndings of the survey:
- There is a shift in the nature of advisor practice
from one that is sales-based to one that is more
consultative.
- The greatest amount of time that an advisor spends
in practice has to do with interacting with the client face-to-face.
- Financial Planning remains their top career choice
or preference.
- The predominant factor of their success in financial
planning is their communication and interpersonal
skills.
- The chief outcome of providing excellent financial planning services is a strong and lasting client
relationship.
All things being equal, the good advisor’s earnings have risen consistently year by year after attaining
their CFP qualifi cation.
It is apparent now that the nature of practice is changing and moving with the times.
In February 2009, the Financial Planning Association (FPA)
discovered in a survey conducted towards its members
that advisors are rethinking their approach to the concept
of asset allocation, withdrawal strategies and even their
core investing strategies. Will clients and advisors now
work together on asset allocation that is far more centred
on risk tolerance? Is the era of seeking out the best returns
over with? Will the situation now return to the days of
stability and simplicity of investment?
In order to equip financial planning professionals with the
necessary competency and practice standards which will
meet with the growing demands of consumers, several
FPSB affi liates, including the Financial Planning Association
of Singapore (FPAS), will be conducting a Financial Planner
Competency Survey in early 2010. This survey which is
based on psychometrics will provide fi ndings that will be
used to review the existing CFP curriculum for the purpose
of further improving the quality of the CFP examination
and certifi cation standards.
I urge all of you, CFP practitioners and members of FPAS, to constantly maintain professionalism in your work and, at the same time, pgrade your skills and competencies as this is consistent with our client-fi rst principle which we must always uphold.
Together with my colleagues in the Executive Council,
I would like to thank all FPAS members for having given
us your strong endorsement to serve the Association for a
new term at the helm.
James Sim, CFP®
President
