A CAREER AS A FINANCIAL PLANNER
In the world of financial advice, investment advisors, financial experts, the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® accreditation ranks foremost worldwide. CFP professionals are globally recognized due to a single standard of qualification that has been adopted in over 20 countries. South Africa is no exception and we currently have over 3000 accredited CFP professionals practicing their profession locally. The CFP ‘mark’ – or symbol of accreditation – is administered and maintained in Southern Africa by the Financial Planning Institute (FPI) as they are an affiliate of the Financial Planning Standards Board (FPSB) who maintain and administer the mark worldwide. It is important to understand that Financial Planning is a profession – just like medicine, law or engineering. As such its practitioners are required to hold a license from the SA Financial Services Board (FSB) and to maintain this as being ‘fit and proper’ in their every action. John Arnesen, CEO of the FPI explains; “South Africa has in the past been plagued by unethical and, sometimes even unlawful, financial schemes and the people that run them. In an effort to regulate the profession and eliminate as much of this as possible, our government has introduced regulations and requirements that must be met for a person to present themselves as financial planners. The FPI is the quality standards body for the profession and we recognized some time ago that locally we needed to create a career path for learners to enter the profession and have a clear method of advancement. While the CFP mark is the pinnacle of achievement, many of our 12000 members are ably providing their services to consumers at a less demanding level. We introduced the entry-level REGISTERED FINANCIAL PLANNER ™ followed by the ASSOCIATE FINANCIAL PLANNER ™ accreditations with their own standards, education and examinations.” Several universities offer various courses at the matric entry level to take the learner to an NQF 6 level. Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, University of Stellenbosch and University of Johannesburg offer the BCom (Financial Planning) whilst University of Free State offers a Bluris Financial Planning Programme - all which earn learners an invitation to become a member at an Associate Financial Planner (AFP)™ level. The programmes run over three years for full-time students and over five years for part-time students. The Damelin School of Banking & Insurance also offers a National Certificate in Financial Planning. Subjects include: Financial Planning Retirement Planning Estate Planning Portfolio Management Life Insurance Business Insurance & Medical Schemes Arnesen concludes; “Financial planning is a great career as it enables those people with entrepreneurial leanings to eventually set up their own businesses. We advise school leavers to get their B degree, spend some time in a large corporate financial services company to gain the experience needed to advance their careers, and to continue as life-long learners. It’s a profession that offers the opportunity for a financial adviser to create and secure life long wealth for their clients in a holistic way.” 22 October 2007