Many people are under the impression that certified financial planner are people who help with business planning, stretegy and management at multinational companies. This is hardly the case in reality. For any money problems in normal, everyday life, a certified financial planner would be the best person who might be able to assist you. Retirement planning and maybe even general financial problems are things for which you could use the assistance of a certified financial planner.
So what is the difference between a certified financial planner and any normal financial planner? There is indeed a big difference. It’s easy for anyone to claim that he/she is a financial planner but not everyone can claim to be a certified financial planner unless they are certified from the Certified Planner Board of Standards.
As far as educational qualifications go, you need to have a basic college degree in order to become a certified financial planner. The tough call is that you need to master integrated financial planning which includes 100 topics under it. So obviously the path is not all flowery and easy. The exam that you need to pass in order to qualify as a certified financial planner is a tough ride too. It has 10 hours worth of multiple choice questions. The case problems in the exam will test on your ability and talent to use your knowledge in a situation that calls for use of financial planning. So it is not something that you could merely pass because you study, but you all need to have a bunch of practical skills.
A good certified financial planner must have the ability to understand the needs of the client, should be able to come up with creative solutions and must have the foresight needed in order to ensure that the needs of the client are fulfilled. A certified financial planner in short should be a real expert on the subject of finance in general.
With the recession and the inability of financial planners to predict the crisis and take steps to avoid it people seem to have somewhat lost faith in financial planners in general. Therefore, you may want to re-think pursuing this career right now. So maybe there should be more prevision and transparency in financial liaisons and as experts on this domain certified financial planner certification should be very much required in this effort to create a better, more sound financial system.