Book your place at the CISI Financial Planning Conference 2017
Being a bit of a tennis fan, I look forward to Wimbledon each year not only for the matches but also for the discussions and debates. As an advocate of pure financial planning, I liken the tennis debates to the financial planning world at the moment.
There are a number of young (under 30) players all showing great aptitude to take the crown. Then there is the ‘old guard’, a term I have also used, who continue to dominate and have the best all round game.
A player who has been on the pro circuit for 17 years beat Rafa Nadal. One of the old guard you might say, that only few rated and gave a voice to but one who had worked hard, listened and learnt to improve himself.
In this respect, Wimbledon has lots of similarities to the financial planning profession.
A number of younger professionals are showing themselves as hard working and enlightened individuals with a goal to improving the quality of financial planning advice, as well as stepping forward to help develop the profession as well.
Meanwhile, the old guard, whom some are discounting as on the way out, have continued to learn and develop themselves and now have a more rounded ‘game’ than ever before. No one stays the same. We all try and develop ourselves whatever our age and irrespective of our time in the profession. We expose ourselves to new and different ways of thinking; we continually challenge ourselves and others.
We have a collective responsibility to engage with others and learn new things as much as our time allows
Some will understandably not want to get involved or learn from afar. Just because some are not active in a particular debate doesn’t mean they aren’t watching or learning.
I was reading about what’s happening in the US. The CPF Board/FPSB have partnered with several universities to investigate the art of financial planning with scientific rigour. The universities have created financial planning laboratories where, under controlled conditions, real clients are assessed for their responses and understanding of the financial planning process. The early results are interesting and will undoubtedly help us all develop our understanding of how clients relate and digest the planning process and how and why they engage a planner.
In order to keep the profession developing, we have a collective responsibility to engage with others and learn new things as much as our time allows. Let’s get out there and meet new people; open our minds to developing ourselves and our profession. Let’s look at things differently and not judge the new shining lights or those more established in the profession, but challenge each other to do our bit. After all, the result might just be better, more cost-effective advice to the public as well as recognition of our profession as a profession and not an industry churning out products!
This article first appeared in Money Marketing. Republished with permission.