Nerd's Eye View blog

The Latest In Financial #AdvisorTech (January 2023)

January 2, 2023 07:00 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Technology & Advisor FinTech

Welcome to the January 2023 issue of the Latest News in Financial #AdvisorTech – where we look at the big news, announcements, and underlying trends and developments that are emerging in the world of technology solutions for financial advisors!

This month's edition kicks off with the news that Envestnet has decided to enter the RIA custodial business through a partnership with Australian bank FNZ to white-label what was once the State Street RIA custodial platform of many years ago – providing Envestnet an opportunity to even more deeply integrate its front-end advisor platform to the back-end of custody for a more seamless end-to-end experience (and, potentially, a more competitive bundled pricing arrangement for a unified technology-plus-custody offering).

Notably, though, with so much of Envestnet’s existing base of advisors in the independent broker-dealer channel, it seems less likely that the company will be competing with the ‘traditional’ RIA custodians of Schwab and Fidelity for independent RIAs and wirehouse breakaways, and more against the likes of LPL and Pershing for broker-dealers that are adding and expanding RIA offerings to their increasingly hybrid platforms (and might welcome the opportunity to save on Envestnet’s software costs by adopting its RIA custodial platform in the future?). Which positions Envestnet well to grow with a unique segment of ‘emerging’ RIAs… while providing relatively little competitive pressure to the existing RIA custodial ecosystem.

From there, the latest highlights also feature a number of other interesting advisor technology announcements, including:

Docupace launches an ‘RIA Productivity Toolkit’ as it increasingly expands beyond its document management roots in a bid to become more of the back-office workflow engine of small-to-mid-sized advisor enterprises
Raymond James launches ‘Opportunities’ as the latest competitor to facilitate ‘Next Best Conversation’ insights to help their advisors engage with the right clients at the right time for the most meaningful conversations
FMG partners with Catchlight to integrate its marketing insights about the prospects on an advisor’s email list to better target content that can turn them into clients

Read the analysis about these announcements in this month's column, and a discussion of more trends in advisor technology, including:

AdvisorFinder launches a new expertise-based lead generation portal that matches prospects based not on their zip code or advisor compensation preferences, but on the advisor’s specialization or typical (i.e., niche) clientele
Modern Life raises $15M and rolls out a digitally-based life insurance brokerage solution for advisors who want to continue to offer life, disability, and long-term care insurance but with a more ‘modern’ technology platform to facilitate applications, underwriting, and in-service support

In the meantime, we’re excited to announce several new updates to our new Kitces AdvisorTech Directory, including Advisor Satisfaction scores from our Kitces AdvisorTech Research, and the inclusion of WealthTech Integration scores from the Ezra Group!

And be certain to read to the end, where we have provided an update to our popular “Financial AdvisorTech Solutions Map” as well!

*And for #AdvisorTech companies who want to submit their tech announcements for consideration in future issues, please submit to [email protected]!

Weekend Reading For Financial Planners (Dec 31-Jan 1)

December 30, 2022 01:04 pm 0 Comments CATEGORY: Weekend Reading

Enjoy the current installment of “Weekend Reading For Financial Planners” - this week’s edition kicks off with the news that the passage of “SECURE Act 2.0” has brought a wide range of changes to the world of retirement planning. And given the variety of planning opportunities created by the legislation – from the raising of the beginning age for RMDs to the ability to transfer funds from 529 plans to Roth IRAs – advisors have a significant opportunity to demonstrate value for their clients!

Also in industry news this week:

Why many clients of robo-advisors are seeking out human advisors in the current market climate
A new study shows that there is a wide gap between firms leveraging technology to enhance the client experience and those that do not treat their tech stack as a priority

From there, we have several articles on advisor technology:

A recent survey shows that many advisors at large firms are unhappy with their firm’s current tech stack and that client growth has suffered because of it
Why it is important for advisory firms to conduct an audit of their tech stack and the steps they can take to conduct the exercise
Why advisors might consider looking past some of the big names in advisor technology to find tools that can provide a better experience for themselves and their clients

We also have a number of articles on investments:

Fixed-income ETFs saw inflows this year, while their mutual fund counterparts experienced significant outflows, suggesting that the dominance of bond mutual funds could be eroding
How advisors are increasingly purchasing individual bonds rather than bond funds in client accounts
Why a higher interest rate environment could represent a ‘sea change’ for investors in the years ahead

We wrap up with three final articles, all about self-improvement:

Why working to change their mindsets might be the activity that provides the greatest return-on-investment for advisors
How to set better health goals for 2023 and actually follow through on them
Why the ability to achieve big goals starts with seemingly small habits

Enjoy the ‘light’ reading!

Kitces & Carl Ep 102: Reflecting On The Journey Of Building A Career And Business

December 29, 2022 07:04 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Kitces & Carl Podcast

For many seasoned financial advisors, the road toward building a career and a business can be challenging and rewarding. And even though most advisors would agree that the road to success involves many years of hard work and sacrifice, each advisor’s path to ultimate success can consist of massively different experiences.

In our 102nd episode of Kitces & Carl, Michael Kitces and client communication expert Carl Richards discuss the challenges they have each faced in their decades-long careers, the ways they developed opportunities for themselves to advance in their professional and personal lives, the importance of self-awareness, creating balance, and how reflecting on a career in retrospect can often provide insightful perspectives and appreciation for the present and even the future.

While newer advisors are faced with infinite pathways in the financial services industry, it can often be easy to focus solely on getting ahead professionally while putting aside personal interests and self-care. But by deliberately managing a lifestyle that focuses on work, play, and rest, younger professionals can establish a healthy work-life balance that can benefit their well-being throughout their entire lives.

One critical question for advisors to ask themselves, regardless of where they may be in their careers, is whether they are doing things today to set the stage for the kind of life that they ultimately want in the future. And while there will always be unplanned surprises, maintaining a vision based on the advisor’s values and priorities will help them make the best decisions possible to support their path.

Ultimately, the key point is that while newer advisors can learn from more experienced advisors, there is no one right path to take in an advisory career. Certain strategies for paving career paths and balancing work-life priorities will work for some but not others. However, by learning from past mistakes and staying focused on their values and priorities, advisors can ensure that they make the best possible choices for their own lives and careers. And by sharing their knowledge and experience, advisors can enrich the financial planning community by providing support and insight to others who may be facing similar challenges and victories along their own paths to success!

SECURE Act 2.0: Later RMDs, 529-To-Roth Rollovers, And Other Tax Planning Opportunities

December 28, 2022 07:03 am 4 Comments CATEGORY: Taxes

The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act, passed in December 2019, brought a wide range of changes to the retirement planning landscape, from the death of the ‘stretch’ IRA to raising the age for Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) to 72. And nearly 3 years to the day after its predecessor was passed, the U.S. House of Representatives, on December 23, 2022, passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, an omnibus spending bill that includes the much-anticipated and long-awaited retirement bill known as SECURE Act 2.0.

One of the major headline changes from the original SECURE Act was raising the age for RMDs from 70 ½ to 72, and SECURE 2.0 pushes this out further to age 73 for individuals born between 1951 and 1959 and age 75 for those born in 1960 or later. In addition, the bill decreases the penalty for missed RMDs (or distributing too little) from 50% to 25% of the shortfall, and if the mistake is corrected in a timely manner, the penalty is reduced to 10%.

In addition, SECURE 2.0 includes a significant number of Roth-related changes (both involving Roth IRAs as well as Roth accounts in employer retirement plans), though notably, the legislation does not include any provisions that restrict or eliminate existing Roth strategies (e.g., backdoor Roth conversions). These changes include aligning the rules for employer-retirement-plan-based Roth accounts (e.g., Roth 401(k) and Roth 403(b) plans) with those for individual Roth IRAs by eliminating RMDs, creating a Roth-style version of SEP and SIMPLE IRA accounts, allowing employers to make matching contributions and non-elective contributions to the Roth side of the retirement plan instead of just the pre-tax portion (though participants will be subject to income tax on such contributions), and allowing for transfers from 529 plans to Roth IRAs (with significant restrictions).

SECURE 2.0 also includes several measures meant to encourage increased retirement savings. These include making IRA catch-up contributions subject to COLAs beginning in 2024 (so that they will increase with inflation from the current $1,000 limit), while also increasing 401(k) and similar plan catch-up contributions; creating a new “Starter 401(k)” plan (aimed at small businesses that do not currently offer retirement plans; such plans would include default auto-enrollment and contribution limits equal to the IRA contribution limits, among other features); and treating student loan payments as elective deferrals for employer matching purposes in workplace retirement accounts, which would allow student loan borrowers to benefit from an employer match even if they can't afford to contribute to their own retirement plan.

Ultimately, the key point is that while no single change in SECURE 2.0 will require the same level of urgency to consider before year-end changes to clients’ plans as did the original SECURE Act or have the same level of impact across so many clients’ plans as the elimination of the stretch, there are far more provisions in SECURE 2.0 that may have a significant impact for some clients than there were in the original version, making it a more challenging bill for financial advisors and other professionals to contend with (yet providing many new potential opportunities)!

#FA Success Ep 313: Finding Rollover Opportunities By Specializing In Transitions After Layoffs, With John Stokes

December 27, 2022 07:01 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Welcome back to the 313th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today's podcast is John Stokes. John is the founder and CEO of John Stokes Financial, a hybrid advisory firm based in Irvine, California that oversees more than $400 million in assets under management*, for 1,800 client households.

What's unique about John, though, is how he has built an expertise in layoff transitions and leveraged corporate layoff workshops – that large firms hire him to come in and deliver to their soon-to-be-laid-off employees – to build a niche focus in helping employees go through their layoff transition… and capture the inevitable rollover and other financial planning opportunities that arise along the way.

In this episode, we talk in-depth about how, as an expert in layoff transitions, John has leveraged relationships with a number of large companies in California (that are required to meet a California state law mandate to notify and prepare employees for a layoff 60 days in advance) to create a niche focus counseling employees through layoffs, how John established and built his relationships with large companies by pitching the importance of understanding the rules for navigating unemployment insurance (not focusing on employee 401(k) rollovers directly) so that he could offer a truly needed value for the companies seeking to make their layoff transitions go as smoothly as possible, and how despite what is traditionally a cyclicality to layoffs the reality is that there are so many large companies in the US going through change and competition that that layoffs are inevitable… which has allowed John to achieve a steady stream of over 100 in-person workshops a year and a steady flow of new clients in both bull and bear markets.

We also talk about how during the early years of John’s career at a broker-dealer, he was inspired to work solely with those going through various stages of layoffs after he realized that he could entirely avoid cold-calling and consistently meet with hundreds of people at a time during workshops to generate a high referral rate, why John insists on not being compensated for his workshops as he feels it is his duty to provide goodwill and help people through trying times and uncertainty (knowing that, inevitably, some of the people he helps will want to engage him further), and why John takes the time to ensure he hires advisors that are motivated by their willingness to help people and greeting clients with deep empathy in order to maintain firm culture and the skillset necessary to help clients through their difficult and stressful layoff transitions.

And be certain to listen to the end, where John shares how witnessing his father go through a layoff in New Zealand after a multi-decade career at a single company, and experiencing two layoffs himself early in his career, helped John see the value in focusing on people going through layoffs because he could connect more deeply with his clients based on his own personal experiences, why the effects of the pandemic on John’s in-person meeting cadence gave him time to realize that he had an opportunity to further deepen his client relationships by providing financial planning as a value add at no additional cost (as prior to the pandemic, his client relationships had been more transactional), and why John feels it’s important for advisors entering the financial services industry to find their inner passion as soon as possible as it not only helps to develop a more specialized focus (which John feels is invaluable to surviving in the industry), but it also creates better opportunities for advisors to use their knowledge and skills for the betterment of society… and themselves.

So, whether you’re interested in learning about how John has grown and scaled his firm through a niche focus of layoff transitions, how John has leveraged virtual workshops to engage with even more companies across the U.S., or how the limiting of in-person workshops during the pandemic has inspired John to offer financial planning and has increased opportunities for his firm to grow and scale even further, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with John Stokes.

2022 Highlights — The Top 22 Nerd’s Eye View Blog Posts You Might Have Missed

December 26, 2022 07:07 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Nerd's Eye View

As 2022 comes to a close, I am once again so thankful to all of you, the ever-growing number of readers who continue to regularly visit this Nerd’s Eye View Blog (and share the content with your friends and colleagues, which we greatly appreciate!). This year has been challenging for many financial advisors as they help their clients (and their own firms!) navigate a volatile market environment (in both stocks and bonds – oof!) and inflation levels not seen in several decades. Personally, it has been a big year of change as well, with the Kitces.com platform adding new team members, rolling out a new IAR CE offering and our latest Estate Planning course, and introducing the AdvisorTech Directory, among other additions, to fulfill our own mission of “Making Financial Advicers Better and More Successful”.

We recognize (and appreciate!) that this blog – its articles and podcasts – is a regular habit for tens of thousands of advisors, but that not everyone has the time or opportunity to read every blog post or listen to every podcast that is released from Nerd’s Eye View throughout the year. As many of you noted in response to our Reader Surveys, most choose which content to read or listen to based on headlines and topics that are of interest (and skip the rest). Yet in practice, this means that an article once missed is often never seen again, ‘overwritten’ (or at least bumped out of your Inbox!) by the next day’s, week’s, and month’s worth of content that comes along.

Accordingly, just as I did last year, and in 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, and 2014, I've compiled for you this Highlights List of our top 20 articles in 2022 that you might have missed, along with a few of our most popular episodes of ‘Kitces & Carl’ and the ‘Financial Advisor Success’ podcasts. So whether you’re new to the blog and #FASuccess (and Kitces & Carl) podcasts and haven’t searched through the Archives yet, or simply haven’t had the time to keep up with everything, I hope that some of these will (still) be useful for you! And as always, I hope you’ll take a moment to share podcast episodes and articles of interest with your friends and colleagues as well!

Don’t miss our Annual Guides as well – including our list of the “9 'Best' Financial Advisor Conferences (For Scaling Up) In 2023”, the ever-popular annual “2022 Reading List of Best Books For Financial Advisors”, and our increasingly popular Financial Advisor “FinTech” Solutions Map and AdvisorTech Directory!

In the meantime, I hope you're having a safe and happy holiday season. Thanks again for the opportunity to serve you in 2022, and I’m excited to share more soon about some new initiatives we’re planning to do to support the Financial Advicer community even more in 2023 and beyond!

Weekend Reading For Financial Planners (Dec 24-25)

December 23, 2022 01:07 pm 0 Comments CATEGORY: Weekend Reading

Enjoy the current installment of “Weekend Reading For Financial Planners” - this week’s edition kicks off with the news that Congress appears poised to pass “SECURE Act 2.0”, a series of measures that will have significant impacts on the world of retirement planning. From gradually raising the RMD age to 75 to expanding opportunities to make Roth-style contributions, to increasing the annual limit for Qualified Charitable Distributions, this legislation will likely impact nearly all financial planning clients!

Also in industry news this week:

How a recent survey shows that financial advisors are increasingly attracted to independent affiliation models, with greater autonomy, higher potential pay, and the ability to build value in a business cited as key factors driving this preference
While RIA M&A activity has been red hot during the past couple of years, a survey suggests that advisors are expecting lower valuations in 2023

From there, we have several articles on advisor marketing:

Five tactics advisors can use to make the most of the online referrals they receive
How advisors can structure introductory prospect meetings to build trust and increase the chances of moving the relationship forward
Why advisors crafting their marketing message might first want to consider whether their target client needs a ‘life raft’ or a ‘sailboat’

We also have a number of articles on spending and budgeting:

Why advisors might want to consider using a client service calendar to organize the wide range of services they provide for clients throughout the year
A review of financial planning actions, from tax-loss harvesting to charitable giving, that have a December 31 deadline
How the holiday season presents an opportunity to have important money-related conversations with family members

We wrap up with three final articles, all about gift giving:

The do’s and don’ts of holiday gift giving in the workplace
How ‘regifting’ can help save money and reduce waste
Why being present during gatherings with friends and family members can be the best gift of all during the holiday season

Enjoy the ‘light’ reading!

How “Probability Of Success” Differs Between One-Time And Ongoing Financial Plans

December 21, 2022 07:06 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Retirement Planning

Monte Carlo simulations have become the dominant method for conducting financial planning analyses for clients and are a feature of most comprehensive financial planning software programs. By distilling hundreds of pieces of information into a single number that purports to show the percentage chance that a portfolio will not be depleted over the course of a client’s life, advisors often use this data point as the centerpiece when they present a financial plan. However, a Monte Carlo simulation entails major statistical and philosophical nuances, many of which might be underappreciated by advisors and their clients.

One key nuance to the use of Monte Carlo simulations is whether they are being used as part of a one-time plan versus an ongoing planning process. For example, a Monte Carlo simulation resulting in a 90% probability of success will mean very different things depending on whether a client will take fixed portfolio withdrawals throughout retirement based on the initial probability of success or whether they plan to run additional simulations over time and are willing to adjust their spending based on market performance. For the former client, because a 90% probability of success means that there is a 10% chance they will deplete their portfolio (though the magnitude of the failure is unknown), they might choose to aim for an even higher probability of success to decrease the likelihood that they will run out of money in retirement. But for the latter client, to suggest they have a 10% chance of depleting their portfolio is overstating the risk, as they are willing to adjust their spending in response to future simulations that show a reduced probability of success.

An alternative way to use Monte Carlo simulations for clients who are willing to be flexible with their spending is to consider how spending would change when using a fixed probability of success. For instance, Monte Carlo simulations show that, for any selected fixed probability of success, the maximum and minimum annual spending for a client during the course of their lifetime is remarkably similar. While initial spending levels will be different depending on the target probability of success (as a higher selected probability of success will call for a reduced initial spending amount), adjusted spending levels will track each other closely no matter the initial probability of success chosen. What is different is that those who use a higher constant probability of success will likely have a larger portfolio balance at their death than do clients who choose a lower probability of success at the start of retirement.

This suggests that, in contrast to the view that probability-of-success levels are indicative of the risk of depleting a portfolio, the probability-of-success level used when adjustment is planned for in advance is essentially akin to putting your thumb on the scale to slightly favor either maintaining current income (lower probability of success) or preserving estate balance (higher probability of success). In other words, if an advisor is going to use Monte Carlo on an ongoing basis, then the probability of success threshold targeted is more akin to a slider that adjusts the degree of preference for current income or legacy rather than a meaningful measure of the likelihood of depleting a portfolio.

Ultimately, the key point is that because the results of Monte Carlo simulations contain a significant amount of nuance, particularly if being utilized as part of an ongoing planning relationship, advisors can consider using them as an internal analytical tool but communicating the results through the use of risk-based guardrails or as a tradeoff between current income or legacy interests to help clients better understand what the results actually mean for their financial plan!

#FA Success Ep 312: Resetting Your Work/Life Balance By Getting Paid For Expertise Instead Of (Just) Effort, With Emily Rassam

December 20, 2022 07:03 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Welcome back to the 312th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today's podcast is Emily Rassam. Emily is the Senior Financial Planner for Archer Investment Management, a virtual Independent RIA based in Austin, Texas, that oversees $170 million of assets under management for nearly 170 families.

What's unique about Emily, though, is how after struggling for years at a position where responsibilities and pressure kept building (and kept deterring her from being present in her family life), she realized that she had built enough expertise that she didn’t need to settle anymore, and made it a priority to find her ideal position that not only appreciated her expertise… but would also help her build a better work/life balance.

In this episode, we talk in-depth about how, as Emily progressed in her career from working on 401(k) plans to focusing on financial planning, she faced challenges and eventual burnout while building a successful financial planning offering in a firm that was still primarily focused on 401(k) plans first and foremost and didn’t want to allocate resources away from its core 401(k) business, how, by what Emily describes as a stroke of luck in the midst of her burnout struggles, she took a chance in applying for a financial advisor position that she found at 3 a.m., which led her to her current role that pleasantly surprised her as their work culture and work/life balance priorities perfectly aligned with what she was seeking and desperately needed, and how exactly Emily determined that the firm would have such a positive work/life balance – when it didn’t advertise itself that way – by asking key questions of the firm owner during her interview process to understand their systems and processes and how invested the firm really was in its financial planning offering .

We also talk about how, in the very early stages of her career and immediately after finishing an internship for an insurance agency, Emily realized that even though the agency was already creating flyers and literature promoting her as a “financial advisor”, she was too young and inexperienced to truly take on that role, and decided to find a different more service-oriented job where she could gain more financial planning knowledge and expertise at a pace that was comfortable for her, the way that Emily eventually overcame her career-long struggles with imposter syndrome by getting better perspective on the expertise that she had built for 15 years in managing and educating 401(k) plan participants, and how Emily ultimately was able to shed the perceived notion she gleaned early in her career that advisors needed to be cold and calculated in selling their services, and realized that by focusing on the human aspects of financial planning, she could be successful and fulfill her own passion and purpose.

And be certain to listen to the end, where Emily shares how she admittedly struggled for years with saying “no” to clients and “yes” to too many opportunities and found that by advocating for herself and finding the right position that could support her (and help her set limitations for herself), she could finally create a space where she could not only thrive in her career, but at home as a wife and mother as well, why Emily believes it’s important for newer advisors to understand from the beginning of their careers that bringing value to clients does not have to be predicated on doing an overwhelming amount of work and instead can be focused on building more targeted expertise and knowledge that offers true value to their specific clientele, and how, even though Emily went through many years of struggling to find the right work/life balance, she feels it was important for her to have had those experiences because without them, she could not have the knowledge she gained and the appreciation for where she is today.

So, whether you’re interested in learning about how Emily eventually learned how to say ‘no’ to more work and ‘yes’ to a better work/life balance, how Emily leveraged 401(k) educational seminars and webinars to gain rollover opportunities, or how, by finally advocating for herself, Emily found the ideal position for her, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with Emily Rassam.

Title Protection For (CFP) Financial Planners And The FPA’s Two About-Faces

December 19, 2022 07:01 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Planning Profession

This summer, the Financial Planning Association (FPA) announced a new multi-year advocacy goal to pursue legal recognition for the title of "Financial Planner", as a means for bona fide financial planners to distinguish themselves and their services from others (who may use the title but don't actually do financial planning), to help consumers understand who is qualified to provide financial planning advice, and to raise standards for the financial planning profession by tying competency and ethics standards directly to the determination of who can hold out to the public using the title in the first place.

Yet the irony of FPA's new initiative for Title Protection is that "Financial Planner" actually did have protected status as a title all the way back in 2005, when the SEC issued a rule that would allow broker-dealers to offer fee-based brokerage accounts without being required to register as investment advisers and be a fiduciary… and as a part of the rule, stipulated that anyone who held out to the public as a financial planner, delivered a financial plan to a client, or represented that they were providing financial planning advice, would still have to be an RIA fiduciary. But a lawsuit to block the rule ultimately led to it (and the associated Title Protection for "financial planner") being vacated… by the FPA.

In fact, the reality is that in the 15 years since this Title Protection was struck down in the FPA's lawsuit, the organization has actively pursued the opposite strategy of advocating for a uniform fiduciary standard – one that would not separate "financial planners" from others who don't meet the standards to use the title, but instead would simply subject all RIAs and broker-dealers to a single standard. Except in practice, there are many important functions that broker-dealers fulfill that truly are not fiduciary or advice-oriented, such that a uniform standard just isn't feasible. Which has led to both the Department of Labor and Massachusetts implementing uniform fiduciary standards that were both ultimately struck down in court, and the SEC simply refusing to implement a uniform standard at all. Making the FPA's shift to now suddenly advocate for Title Protection a logical – albeit head-spinning – about-face from its position for the past two decades.

At the same time, questions abound as to how the FPA realistically plans to pursue Title Protection, and its noticeable abstention from mentioning the CFP marks anywhere in its discussion of its new advocacy agency, despite the fact that the FPA is the membership association for CFP professionals. The organization's own Bylaws even state that its messaging to the public and the industry should be that "when seeking the advice of a financial planner, the planner should be a CFP professional", and that "anyone holding themselves out as a financial planner should seek the attainment of the CFP mark." Raising the question of whether the FPA is also considering an about-face on its CFP-centricity, too... even as the CFP Board has announced its own Competency Standards Commission to raise their own standards regarding who can use the Certified Financial Planner title?

Ultimately, the FPA has stated that it intentionally has only set a high-level strategic advocacy goal to pursue Title Protection, and that it will spend the next 12-18 months engaging with stakeholders to determine a specific course of action, with no expectation of any legislative efforts earlier than 2024. Which means there is still ample time for the FPA to clarify its intentions and any further swings in its advocacy views. Yet at the same time, the organization's withdrawal from the Financial Planning Coalition, its noticeable exclusion of the CFP marks from its initial positioning statement on Title Protection, its unwillingness to support XY Planning Network's 2021 petition for Title Protection (ironically to reinstate the Title Protection rule that FPA vacated), and its declaration that it intends to enact Title Protection without licensing or regulation (raising the question of how the title could be protected, if no regulator or licensing agency is granted the authority to protect the title?), all suggest that the FPA may already have some plans in place… that it just isn't ready to share yet?

In the end, Title Protection is clearly a laudable goal – one that has been pursued by many industry organizations for years, even if the FPA has only recently arrived at a similar conclusion – and the FPA's willingness to take up the issue is a positive sign, serving as a potential fulfillment of P. Kemp Fain, Jr.'s famous "One Profession, One Designation" call to action. Still, though, the question remains: What exactly is the FPA's plan to pursue Title Protection, will it be able to effectively engage with stakeholders and other organizations that already have established efforts and a vested interest in the outcome, and will it be able to maintain the effort through to fruition in the midst of making 1 and perhaps 2 major about-faces in its advocacy approach?