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Posted by Kevin on June 25, 2009, 5:14 am
Can someone tell me if Financial planners are regulated. I would also
like to know if they have to be licensed or so.
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Posted by on June 25, 2009, 9:28 am
> Can someone tell me if Financial planners are regulated. I would also
> like to know if they have to be licensed or so.
Kinda not really.
Anyone may call himself a "financial planner" -- including
brokers and insurance salesmen. To be a broker or insurance
salesman, one must be *licensed* (ie. series 7, etc), but
that doesn't mean that he or she knows anything about
financial planning.
One may also be a registered investment advisor (RIA) and
not be a salesperson - and provide financial planning advice.
To do that, one must basically just pass a series 65 and
register with the state or SEC.
In all these cases, the person's activities may subject to
the regulation of the state securities regulator and/or the
SEC and/or the state insurance commisioner. But there is
no required licensing specifically for "financial planning".
There are a few professional designations which require
substantial study and professional experience - things
like "CFP" and "ChFC", but they are neither licenses nor
are they regulatory agencies. All the power that the CFP
board has, really, is to make someone stop using the
designation "CFP" - they cannot shut someone down like the
government can.
--
Plain Bread alone for e-mail, thanks. The rest gets trashed.
No HTML in E-Mail! -- http://www.expita.com/nomime.html
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http://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/2000/06/14/quoting
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Posted by on June 25, 2009, 10:24 am
BreadWithSpam@fractious.net writes:
>
> > Can someone tell me if Financial planners are regulated. I would also
> > like to know if they have to be licensed or so.
> Anyone may call himself a "financial planner" -- including
> brokers and insurance salesmen. To be a broker or insurance
Here's a recent (Dec) short article in the NYT about finding
a financial planner:
<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/23/your-money/financial-planners/primerplanners.html?em>
--
Plain Bread alone for e-mail, thanks. The rest gets trashed.
No HTML in E-Mail! -- http://www.expita.com/nomime.html
Are you posting responses that are easy for others to follow?
http://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/2000/06/14/quoting
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Posted by Tad Borek on June 25, 2009, 1:39 pm
Kevin wrote:
> Can someone tell me if Financial planners are regulated. I would also
> like to know if they have to be licensed or so.
To elaborate on what BWS said..."financial planning" is a descriptive
term and someone doing anything meaty would need to hold one or more of
the following licenses, depending on what they really do (license and
some example tasks):
Investment adviser - advice about securities, where a fee is charged;
managing money
Registered representative - (stockbroker) selling securities for a
commission, such as a load mutual fund. Billing may be through a
fee-like arrangement but a RR works for a financial product distributor
(broker-dealer, in licensing parlance)
Insurance agent/broker - selling health, life, auto, disability
insurance. Some states have licenses for insurance advice as well.
Attorney - estate planning, tax advice, private placement evaluation
Accountant (CPA) - tax advice, business planning
Enrolled agent (EA) - tax advice, representation before the IRS
[the last three can also do tax preparation in states that license that
- not all do]
Note that none of these is called "Financial Planner" - again, that's
more of a descriptive term and is not a license ("CFP" is a trademark
administered by a trade association). Many states require that you
register as an investment adviser if you use the term "financial
planning" in marketing materials, but there just isn't a defined and
regulated profession of financial planning.
It's possible to do some very limited things that people might regard as
financial planning, while avoiding licenses of any type. More in the
"life growth", motivational speaker, budgeting kinds of realms. And
journalists and newsletter writers don't need licenses if that's all
they do. It's hard to do anything meaty/specific without some kind of
license though. Before hiring a planner, figure out what tasks you want
done - that will navigate you to the right type of licensed professional.
-Tad
(attorney & registered investment adviser)
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Posted by Don on June 25, 2009, 7:30 pm
> Can someone tell me if Financial planners are regulated. I would also
> like to know if they have to be licensed or so.
Perhaps the main danger faced by someone like yourself is a so-called
"financial planner" who is in reality is a commissioned sales person
for a particular financial product or products. For your best
protection, focus on the type of products that are recommended and how
the planner gets paid, rather than being concerned with titles and
designations and matters of regulation. Learn about loads and
commissions. Bear in mind that someone who charges you a fee for his or
her services may be acting in your best interests more than someone who
charges you nothing at all but collects a commission from the products
in which you invest.
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