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E-Blast News

  September 26, 2003

Table of Contents

1. From Standards to a Profession
2. FPSC Coming to You
3. Your Opinion Matters!
4. Surveying the Consumer
5. Take Your Kids to Work Day
6. In the Media
7. Building a Financial Planning Learning Centre
8. The Not-New-But-Improved FPSC website
9. Our Advertising
10. Upcoming Conferences
11. We Asked, You Answered
12. News You Can Use

1. From Standards to a Profession

The Financial Planning Practice Standards information session in Toronto October 7, 8:00 AM EDT, will be audio web cast live and later archived on our website for you to visit at your convenience. Visitors to the live web cast will be able to listen to the speakers, view the PowerPoint presentation and ask questions via an electronic question master. Afterward, e-mailed questions and comments will be welcomed until October 31, 2004. Look for the latest draft of the Practice Standards posted on our website. Watch the website for updates.

And … Once again we're asking you to tell us all about your practice, your profession, and share your opinions in our all-new annual "omnibus" electronic survey. Well, maybe not entirely new. Some questions you will have seen before and others will sound familiar, but things change. This anonymous annual survey of the largest body of identifiable financial planning professionals in Canada, (that's you) will gather aggregate findings that will allow FPSC to document industry trends and statistics that we, you, and all our stakeholders will find very interesting and hopefully, very helpful. We're using an off-site market tabulator and independent research firm to collect and correlate the information. The survey will only take 12-15 minutes to complete. And the information gathered will give us and you tremendous insight into this fast-changing ever-evolving industry. You will be able to participate in the survey until October 15. Please log on to: http://www.surveysupportonline.com:80/cgi-bin/askiaext.dll?MfcISAPICommand=StartSurvey&T1=TEST008. Thank you very much.

So just how important is financial planning to Canadians? FPSC conducted its first consumer survey in 1999 and this spring, we were at it again. Here's some of what we found out. While most Canadians believe good financial planning is very or extremely important to their overall well-being, fewer Canadians claimed to have a written plan in 2003 than in 1999 (37% from 41%). There is a significant increase in having a written plan from 1999 to 2003 among respondents 18 - 29 years (10% to 29%) and among those with incomes under $100,000 (5% to 15%). Want to know more? View the detailed results of this latest and other FPSC surveys are on our website.

The prime reason respondents of our recent Consumer Survey continued to use their current financial professional was because they were satisfied with the job they were doing (35%). Service related answers predominated as the reasons why respondents continued with their current professional. These included "good service", "friendly" and "meets my needs."

Wednesday November 5 is Take Your Kids to Work Day, sponsored by The Learning Partnership and targeted to secondary students. And whether or not you have kids of your own in school, you can still use this opportunity to reach-out to youth and share your insights as a financial planning professional. Talk to your local secondary school and offer to speak in the math, business or career classes about financial planning as a profession and the CFP® designation. We're happy to provide you with brochures and other materials. To learn more about Take Your Kids to Work Day, visit The Learning Partnership website at www.takeourkidstowork.ca.

CA Magazine interviewed CFP professionals Scott Plaskett and Ross Young on the topic of financial planning implications for same sex marriage. Rob Carrick, personal finance columnist for the Globe and Mail has written three recent columns - two focused on the survey results and one on the Financial Planning Practice Standards. You can read Rob's articles at http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/HTMLTemplate?tf=columnists/Summary.html&cf=tgamv3/common/MiniHub.
cfg&configFileLoc=config&hub=robCarrick&title=Rob_Carrick". Ann Bowman, VP Communications & Corporate Relations appeared on CP24 TV in Toronto to discuss the latest consumer survey results. And coverage of the survey has also appeared in Investment Executive (front page, October issue), advisor.ca, Advisor's Edge magazine, Globe and Mail and Toronto Sun, that we know of so far.

In our 2003 Consumer Survey, the most frequently given reasons for discontinuing to use a financial professional were that they did not need the service on an ongoing basis (19%) and that they received poor service or advice from a financial professional in the past (18%).

Our recent consumer survey revealed that the full scope of financial planning as a service and the realities of the industry are still not entirely understood by most Canadians. But they're eager to learn, especially young adults. Our new online Learning Centre currently focuses on youth and their educators. Here we've posted articles, links and resources developed by FPSC with help from several CFP professionals. But we are working on much more for many targeted audiences such as seniors, snowbirds and newlyweds. And we're asking for your help. Tell us resources you know of, send us articles you have written or make suggestions of what you think our Learning Centre should include. Contact FPSC Communications.

To see all 12 ads that we have been running in various magazines, go to www.cfp-ca.org/licensees/licensees_ouradvertising.asp.

Advocis Compliance Seminar Series
Addresses the regulations and guidelines of life insurance, mutual fund and financial planning regulators
Kitchener/Waterloo, Sept. 29
Toronto, Oct. 6
London, Oct. 20
Ottawa, Oct. 27
Calgary, Nov. 3
Winnipeg, Nov. 10
Vancouver, Nov. 24
Halifax, Dec. 1

Advisor Forum
A two-day annual conference for financial advisors.
Montreal, Sept. 30 - Oct. 1
Calgary, Oct. 28-29
Vancouver, Nov. 3-4
Toronto, Nov. 18-19
Halifax, Dec. 1-2

Advocis New Advisor Sales Training Program
A four-day program that covers goal setting, prospecting, fact finding, listening skills and closing techniques.
Kitchener/Waterloo, Sept. 30 - Oct. 3
Toronto, Oct. 7-10
London, Oct. 21-24
Ottawa, Oct. 28-31
Calgary, Nov. 4-7
Winnipeg, Nov. 11-14
Vancouver, Nov. 25-28
Halifax, Dec. 2-5

The Institute for Divorce Financial Analysts(formerly known as the Institute for Certified Divorce Planners)
Financial Foundations of Divorce
October 23-25, 2003 - McMaster University, Hamilton

Financial Planning Association (FPA)
FPA Success Forum 2003
November 1-4, 2003 - Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia, Pa.
*For the first time, FPA in partnership with CIFPs, will offer a Canadian track.

Independent Financial Brokers
Toronto Fall Summit 2003
November 4-5, 2003 - Toronto Congress Centre

Advocis
Advanced Financial Planning Conference
November 7-9, 2003 - White Oaks Conference Centre - Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON

Canadian Securities Institute
The Canadian Securities Institute offers single-day, weekend and weekly in-class seminars.

Institute of Canadian Bankers
The Institute of Canadian Bankers offers seminars throughout the year on a variety of topics.

Morningstar Training
Morningstar Canada offers a series of training sessions eligible for continuing education credits.

Strategy Institute
The Strategy Institute conferences identify challenges and provide expert solutions for business leaders in targeted topic areas.

Advocis
The CFP/CLU annual update program has been developed under the guidance of leading professionals in the financial services industry.

How financial planners can improve their value to their clients changed considerably from 1999 to 2003 according to Canadians surveyed this past spring. "Being honest" and "giving unbiased information", along with "staying in touch", "giving information on a regular basis" and "more specialized service" were the key areas suggested.

The August online CFP professional poll asked the question, "Given the current bear market, have you introduced a fee for planning as an option for your clients?" Twenty-two per cent of respondents said yes. Check out the FPSC Discussion Forums and add your two cents to the fee-for-planning discussion. Or reply to any of the other topics or start your own discussion topic.

Any CFP professional requiring a CE exemption for the 2003 calendar year may apply now. The exemption form is available on our website.

Understanding Capital Markets, a booklet produced by the Canadian Foundation for Investor Education (CFIE), and co-sponsored by FPSC, is now available. FPSC assisted with content and the booklet is available on the CFIE website.

FPSC Bulletin recently introduced you to FPSC Board Chair Garry Duncan in a shortened interview. Read the complete interview. Sign up for E-Flash. Ensure you don't miss out on something. Contact FPSC Communications to be included in the distribution.