本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛Jonathan Chevreau, Financial Post
Published: Tuesday, October 06, 2009
The first-ever "Financial Planning Week" launched yesterday with the year 2020 set for holistic financial planning to become a properly regulated profession. But despite lofty rhetoric from the Financial Planning Standards Council, the difficulty of attaining this seemingly simple goal was underlined in a panel session in Toronto where stock brokers, insurance and mutual fund sales people admitted their focus remains selling these products and finding new customers to buy them.
Gerry Matier, executive director of the Insurance Council of British Columbia, described the many roadblocks the financial industry put in his multi-decade attempt to regulate financial planning. "Few call themselves life insurance agents. The one thing they don't want to to call themselves is what they are."
Similarly mutual-fund salespeople don't put "fund flogger" on their business cards.
"We should be regulated as a financial planner/advisor but it doesn't exist," said Ted Rechtshaffen, president of Tridelta Financial Partners. He quipped his four-year old son could print up a business card and portray himself as a financial planner.
This didn't stop president and CEO Cary List from waxing poetic about the FPSC's Vision 2020: "Imagine a Canada in the year 2020 that is shaped by people, organizations and governments that value financial planning and its role in the betterment of people's lives...." (You get the idea.)
Ontario Minister of Revenue John Wilkinson-- the first Certified Financial Planner elected in the province -- sees the financial crisis as evidence of "a long overdue" need to boost financial literacy. He called on List to set standards that "prevent greed, avarice and lack of regulations to prevail in our market to the detriment of our consumers and businesses." However, the minister's message was diluted by his pitch for a harmonized sales tax.
Credit Canada executive director Laurie Campbell called for more co-operation between credit counsellors and financial planners. Once the heavily indebted are "out of debt, we can send them to you and vice versa."
Campbell is on federal finance minister Jim Flaherty's task force for financial literacy and said the message must filter down to provinces and education ministers. "We need to get into the school system desperately."
The feeling was it may be too late to educate older folk about the need for holistic financial planning, so the target should be youth 15 years or under. "We see younger and younger people with student loans and credit card debt on top of it," Campbell said, "Credit cards in the student population is growing immensely."
Bankruptcy numbers are hitting the roof and will continue until the end of 2010, she predicted.
York University's Alan Goldhar said finance grads are often disillusioned by the true nature of the entry-level jobs they find in the industry. "It's like graduating from medical school and then being allowed only to check temperatures and change bandaids." At York, 90% of those who enroll in financial planning don't take the advanced "Capstone" course, which includes real-life case studies. The reason they quit is "the industry has jobs for investment sales people, not for professional financial planners."
This was reinforced by Lee Corasaniti, who trains new recruits for Freedom 55 Financial. They are trained to take life insurance and mutual fund exams, then "prepared to build a client base," in other words sell. Clearly the transition from academic to sales training is a rude awakening.
Edward Jones' recruiting leader Yong Kim said not only is it tough for the recruits but also a challenge for employers.
"The toughest job is teaching them prospecting and selling," Kim said.
Little wonder RBC's vice president of recruitment Mark Galbraith puts equal focus on recruiting older career changers. There's a growing demand for grey hair and life experience that can provide holistic all-encompassing financial plans.
I'd argue they're also well aware of the sales nature of their chosen new career.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net
Published: Tuesday, October 06, 2009
The first-ever "Financial Planning Week" launched yesterday with the year 2020 set for holistic financial planning to become a properly regulated profession. But despite lofty rhetoric from the Financial Planning Standards Council, the difficulty of attaining this seemingly simple goal was underlined in a panel session in Toronto where stock brokers, insurance and mutual fund sales people admitted their focus remains selling these products and finding new customers to buy them.
Gerry Matier, executive director of the Insurance Council of British Columbia, described the many roadblocks the financial industry put in his multi-decade attempt to regulate financial planning. "Few call themselves life insurance agents. The one thing they don't want to to call themselves is what they are."
Similarly mutual-fund salespeople don't put "fund flogger" on their business cards.
"We should be regulated as a financial planner/advisor but it doesn't exist," said Ted Rechtshaffen, president of Tridelta Financial Partners. He quipped his four-year old son could print up a business card and portray himself as a financial planner.
This didn't stop president and CEO Cary List from waxing poetic about the FPSC's Vision 2020: "Imagine a Canada in the year 2020 that is shaped by people, organizations and governments that value financial planning and its role in the betterment of people's lives...." (You get the idea.)
Ontario Minister of Revenue John Wilkinson-- the first Certified Financial Planner elected in the province -- sees the financial crisis as evidence of "a long overdue" need to boost financial literacy. He called on List to set standards that "prevent greed, avarice and lack of regulations to prevail in our market to the detriment of our consumers and businesses." However, the minister's message was diluted by his pitch for a harmonized sales tax.
Credit Canada executive director Laurie Campbell called for more co-operation between credit counsellors and financial planners. Once the heavily indebted are "out of debt, we can send them to you and vice versa."
Campbell is on federal finance minister Jim Flaherty's task force for financial literacy and said the message must filter down to provinces and education ministers. "We need to get into the school system desperately."
The feeling was it may be too late to educate older folk about the need for holistic financial planning, so the target should be youth 15 years or under. "We see younger and younger people with student loans and credit card debt on top of it," Campbell said, "Credit cards in the student population is growing immensely."
Bankruptcy numbers are hitting the roof and will continue until the end of 2010, she predicted.
York University's Alan Goldhar said finance grads are often disillusioned by the true nature of the entry-level jobs they find in the industry. "It's like graduating from medical school and then being allowed only to check temperatures and change bandaids." At York, 90% of those who enroll in financial planning don't take the advanced "Capstone" course, which includes real-life case studies. The reason they quit is "the industry has jobs for investment sales people, not for professional financial planners."
This was reinforced by Lee Corasaniti, who trains new recruits for Freedom 55 Financial. They are trained to take life insurance and mutual fund exams, then "prepared to build a client base," in other words sell. Clearly the transition from academic to sales training is a rude awakening.
Edward Jones' recruiting leader Yong Kim said not only is it tough for the recruits but also a challenge for employers.
"The toughest job is teaching them prospecting and selling," Kim said.
Little wonder RBC's vice president of recruitment Mark Galbraith puts equal focus on recruiting older career changers. There's a growing demand for grey hair and life experience that can provide holistic all-encompassing financial plans.
I'd argue they're also well aware of the sales nature of their chosen new career.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net