A new blog video post by financial planner Tim Maurer makes an interesting point - the very essence of our 6 step financial planning process includes a conflict of interest that we as financial planners must navigate: that while gathering information and setting goals may be the most important step for a client, it's not the step where we get paid.
If you've been watching your email lately, you may have noticed that the CFP Board has been soliciting your input about a potential public awareness campaign to support the visibility of the CFP certification marks for the general public. Well, apparently the input has been gathered, and board is considering its next step - an 80% increase in the annual cost to maintain your CFP designation to help fund the new campaign.
We often evaluate the quality of a conversation by its activity; the pace of the back-and-forth banter can be used as a barometer of how engaged someone is in the discussion. Given our tendency to find comfort in sustained dialogue - thus the phrase "awkward silence" - I was very struck to see the following profound tweet: "Get comfortable with silence. Some of the most important things clients say follows silence."
Most planners think of college planning as accumulation planning – contribute to a 529 plan, invest properly, and start spending in 5, 10, or 15+ years; and if you don’t earn much income nor have a lot of wealth, you can apply for need-based financial aid. In reality, though, it’s never too late and you’re never too wealthy to keep doing good planning for college funding… but the strategies are different!
Read More...
It is a popular trend these days in financial planning to talk about all the ways our clients behave irrationally, supported by a growing base of research in "behavioral economics" that demonstrates how our hunter/gatherer brains are ill-equipped to cope with today's complex world. We tend to talk about these behaviors in the negative, but what if we could use some of our irrational tendencies to our benefit, instead?
Financial planning has long witnessed an unfortunate “gap” between practitioners and academia. As the stereotype goes, the practitioner community to too focused on strategies, techniques, and application, while the academic community spends too much of its time on research that is too basic or too abstract. Well, at the Academy of Financial Services meeting held in conjunction with the FPA’s annual convention, that gap appears to be narrowing, quickly.
