Currently, “there are no minimum standards of competence and ethics for those claiming to be financial planners. Some accrediting bodies have their own prescribed standards, but policy makers haven’t established anything at the state or federal level. Our work in the months ahead, charting our course and identifying minimum standards for anyone who qualifies as a financial planner, will be critical to this endeavour. »

Michael Kitces speaks

Popular blogger and planner Michael Kitces reacted to the FPA announcement on twitterstating: Notably, FPA is not committing to pursue title protection with the Securities and Exchange Commission…”at least, not yet (?).”

Instead, he stressed, the group will prioritize title protection on its advocacy agenda and explore “viable state or federal avenues,” in an effort to avoid unnecessary regulatory burden.

“However,” he continued, “ultimately, ‘title protection’ almost inevitably requires a regulator to authorize the term (so those who are not eligible cannot use it), and a regulator to enforce it (so standards and their regulatory burden are unavoidable). Is regulation ‘inevitable’?”

Kitces tweeted that “the real work comes next for FPA, deciding how to operationalize this advocacy objective into real tactics – state or federal, CFP or broader brands, etc. But applaud FPA for addressing the issue. It’s been a lonely fight, and financial planners must all align to make it happen!”