The financial planning sector is very competitive, with a wide scope of clients who are looking for some professional advice regarding a range of financial issues. Trust is an integral aspect of financial advice and planning and here in Australia, the go-to certification is the CPF, Certified Financial Planner.
Financial Advice Association Australia
The FAAA is an organisation that every financial planner should join; there are many benefits for members, with many powerful learning tools and let’s face it, clients want advisers who have the best certification. Check out their website to discover the many benefits for FAAA members.
CFP Certificate
To obtain CFP Certification, you must work your way through 4 units, then a final unit consolidates the content and gives you powerful tools to help you achieve your client’s goals.
Here is an overview of the CFP units
- Unit 1 – Ethics and professionalism. Develop effective presentation strategies, identify and analyse the aspects of duty of care and fiduciary care when giving financial advice. Develop an understanding of mandatory requirements of Regulatory Guide 175 and be able to synthesise them when providing financial advice.
- Unit 2 – Strategy development. This unit concentrates on strategy development, how to develop robust strategies, how to critically evaluate any potential issues in the client’s circumstances. How to develop a line of questioning to ensure a complete understanding of the client’s position and the ability to clearly explain strategies to the client. Applied structures when evaluating strategies including all entities; explaining the implications of various taxation strategies.
- Unit 3- Post work scenarios. How to develop strategies for retirement planning and how to assess the client’s current circumstances; assisting the client in identifying long-term goals and setting short-term objectives.
- Unit 4 – Portfolio construction. Identify and the key steps within the advice process of building a portfolio. Collect, Analyse and process client information in order to offer the best advice to the client.
On-demand learning allows you to choose the course content you need, with the added flexibility of online learning; you are allotted 12 months in which to complete each unit. Some learners are already CPF certified yet wish to redo a particular unit, which is available to fit in with your schedule, or you might wish to combine units with your master’s degree.
People who are looking for financial advice and planning pay attention to the qualifications that a financial adviser possesses and by contacting FAAA, you can take the first steps to acquiring CPF certification.
