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| Your guide to IFA qualifications | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
作者：arbing 机构来源：中国金融理财网 点击数： 更新时间：2006-3-9  |
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Your guide to IFA qualifications Inroduction If ever there was a doubt about the fact that we are ultimately responsible for our financial future, the doubt should have evaporated by now. Barely a day passes without new research showing that we can no longer rely on the state or even, increasingly, on our own employers to provide for us in retirement. A similar picture emerges in relation to protecting ourselves against unemployment, ill-health or life-threatening diseases, ensuring long-term care if we should become frail, or finding the right mortgage for our needs. These questions often require, among other things, financial solutions to difficult problems, setting and meeting goals. All that, plus finding the right financial product to help us ensure a better quality of life. Financial advice becomes increasingly necessary Hardly surprising, therefore, that the role of independent financial advisers (IFAs), has become increasingly important in recent years. As the number of investment, mortgage, pension, protection and insurance products multiplies and financial decision-making becomes increasingly complicated, more and more of us are turning to an expert who can guide us through the maze. Finding a local adviser is relatively easy. IFA Promotion, the organisation which promotes the benefits of truly independent financial advice, holds the details of around 9,000 IFA firms throughout the UK on its database. IFA Promotion’s latest development is another step forward: visitors to www.unbiased.co.uk and callers to IFA Promotion’s hotline are now able to ask whether an IFA possesses certain specialist qualifications. The range of qualifications is extensive. But what does each of these qualifications actually mean? How do you compare the value of one with that of another? To help you decide what you should be looking for, a list of virtually all the relevant qualifications IFAs are likely to have, and what they mean, can be found in this guide. What is the point of all these qualifications? Let’s say you have contacted IFA Promotion and you have been given details of an AFPC-qualified adviser, who also has another Alphabetti Spaghetti list of initials after his name. The chances are you may still want to know more about the value of all these qualifications. Here are some questions you may want to ask – and some of the answers you should be looking for. What are these qualifications about? Nowadays, all financial advisers are required by their regulator, the Financial Services Authority to pass examinations known as the Certificate in Financial Planning (CFP) or equivalent before they are allowed to provide financial advice. The CFP and its predecessor, the Financial Planning Certificate, are basic level qualifications. From there it is possible to go further, in much the same way as someone with ‘A’ levels can go on to obtain a degree, an MA or MSc, and eventually a PhD or DPhil. The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority are responsible for the National Qualifications Framework. As a result of this the CFP is defined as a level 3 qualification. What qualifications does IFA Promotion hold details of? IFA Promotion provides details of most major ‘incremental’ qualifications awarded to IFAs. If you are using IFA Promotion’s online service, links through to each awarding body’s website are provided (on the ‘useful links’ tab) so that you may also find out more about them and the qualifications they offer. Does IFA Promotion record the basic CFP qualification you mentioned? And if not, why not? The CFP or equivalent qualifications are not recorded. This is because it is taken for granted that every adviser on the list already holds the qualification. What the system does tell you is what qualification(s) an adviser has in addition to the CFP. Are qualifications important? As we all discover from time to time, having letters after your name is no guarantee of intelligence, professional ability or decent service. It is also the case that many extremely good and talented IFAs have become so because of their many years’ experience in the industry, not because they obtained a qualification. However, there is often a correlation between a good adviser and a commitment on their part to learn as much as possible about a particular subject. Often, this commitment expresses itself in a willingness to test this learning by means of various exams, which allow those who pass to claim various “designatory” letters for themselves. More and more advisers find that having additional qualifications helps keep them up to speed on personal finance topics. Indeed, many awarding bodies insist that to keep those precious letters after their name, advisers must maintain records of continuous learning, or continuous professional development (CPD). Having an extra qualification also helps reassure clients that their adviser takes professional knowledge and continuing education seriously. Why are there so many letters? Isn’t it all just too confusing? It’s true that there are lots of letters that many people find confusing. Part of the problem is that different organisations have been allowed to create exams for various parts of the financial services industry. This means it is sometimes difficult to compare like with like when trying to assess qualifications. But it’s also the case that in recent years, many of the exam bodies have tried to create similar quality levels to each other. In other words, despite the differing letters, certain types of exams are more or less the same standard as each other, in much the same way as a degree from Birmingham is more or less the same as one from Norwich, Bradford or Southampton. Are there some exams that are better than others? Not really. There are some that are more advanced, and we try to indicate where this is the case. It’s more a question of which qualifications are relevant to your needs, rather than simply finding someone with the most qualifications. Am I likely to receive better advice from someone with more qualifications? It’s not guaranteed. Having letters after your name does not automatically lead to great success in any branch of life. But generally, someone who is prepared to put in the many hours needed to learn about a subject, even pass an exam, is showing a higher level of commitment than others who don’t make the effort. If I find someone with relevant qualifications, what else should I be looking for? In education terms, you should be looking for someone with an additional commitment to continuing professional development. This means the willingness to spend several hours a month in further learning to learn as much as possible about financial services. Outside of qualifications, you should be choosing an independent financial adviser on the basis of a range of other factors, such as location, how you get on with the adviser and whether they charge fees or take commission. Full details are contained in IFA Promotion’s Independent Financial Advice for Consumers guide available free by visiting www.unbiased.co.uk or calling 0800 085 3250. List of advanced IFA qualifications
For further information on the subject contained in this guide, please contact your IFA. If you do not already have an IFA, our ‘Find an IFA’ hotlines and website enable you to confidentially search for a list of IFAs in your local area. You can search for an IFA based on a whole host of criteria (including product, qualifications, gender and payment options) so you can be sure you’ll find an IFA that meets your precise requirements. If you are looking for advice on personal finances call the IFA Promotion Consumer Hotline on 0800 085 3250. If you are looking for financial advice for your business call the IFA Promotion Corporate Hotline on 0800 085 3251. Alternatively, for both services visit our website at www.unbiased.co.uk Published consumer guides available: • Independent Financial Advice for consumers • Independent Financial Advice for businesses • Mortgage guide • Tax efficiency guide • Pension guide • Investment guide • Get saving guide • Protection guide Downloadable consumer guides available: • Financial log book • Inheritance tax guide • ISA guide • Surviving an economic downturn guide | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
