CFP professionals submitted a whopping 28 articles on budgeting to be considered for the December Feature Article of the Month in Learning Centre on the FPSC website. Our editorial advisory committee has chosen Effective Budgeting Puts You in Control by Cherith Cayford, CFP. The committee has also selected several other articles for the budgeting section of Learning Centre. Unfortunately, we can't post all that were submitted.
We're all taking a break for the holidays so January's feature will be selected from articles already submitted. February's feature article will address RRSPs. The due date for February Feature Article submissions is January 15. Submit articles to Blake Glendenning at bglendenning@cfp-ca.org.
On February 19, 2005, thousands of people across Canada will be. Building on the success of last year's campaign, FPSC's expanded radio campaign includes eight hour-long talk radio shows in seven cities during this year's RRSP season. The programs feature local CFP Brand Ambassadors and are supported by promotional transit posters and 30-second radio spots on affiliated stations. And thousands more listeners will plug into the stations' websites for the audio-streams, making this a truly national campaign. Stay tuned for more details to come in January's E-Blast News. In the meantime, have a look at what the campaign looked like last year. See, "CFP® Ambassadors Hit the Airwaves" in FPSC Bulletin, Winter 2003 and "CFP® Ambassadors: All for One …", Spring 2004.
Each of you who took the step to hold the CFP credential - put the CFP marks on your cards, letterheads and lapels - represent more than your own professional expertise and ethical commitment, more than your organizations. You are already CFP Brand Ambassadors. You represent everything the CFP credential signifies, including the 16,000 plus community of professionals defined by it. And we are all benefiting. Want to do more? Want to be a CFP® Brand Ambassador who is trained to deliver powerful, memorable messages that support FPSC's work on behalf of the entire community? Want to be a savvy communicator who delivers key messages through media interviews, group seminars and speaking engagements? Well, FPSC's VP Communications & Corporate Relations, Ann Bowman and FPSC's Media Relations consultant, Eileen Chadnick of Chadnick Communications are taking their Brand Ambassador Development (B.A.D.) "Message & the Media" Training Program to four more cities in the New Year - the end of January and early February 2005. If you think you can devote a day to honing your message delivery skills at a session in Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg or Halifax early in the year, send an e-mail to Liz Ptak at lptak@cfp-ca.org.
The Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) recently established new regulations regarding written disclosure of conflicts of interest. Section 16 of the new Ontario Regulation 347 (effective Nov. 1, 2004) requires agents to provide clients with written disclosure of conflicts of interest.
If you are a CFP professional licensed as an agent under FSCO, we would like to draw your attention to FPSC's position regarding conflicts of interest, which are consistent with the new O.R. 347
In the CFP Practice Standards, FPSC defines conflicts of interest as follows:
"Circumstances, relationships or other facts about the CFP professional's own financial, business, property and/or personal interests that may, as it may appear to a reasonable observer, impair the CFP professional's ability to render disinterested advice, recommendations or services."
Practice Standard 100 requires that the CFP professional disclose all conflicts of interest to the client in writing.
The Practice Standards are entirely consistent with the principles-based approach to conflicts of interest and the requirement to disclose such set out in O.R. 347. CFP professionals are already required to abide by the FPSC Code of Ethics.
Through adherence to Rules 103, 202, 401 and 607, as well as Principles 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6, CFP professionals should already be fully compliant with the principles of O.R. 347.
are certification marks