How Suze Orman Scammed The World (2016)

Actually, I believe that in order to BE a financial advisor you should be REQUIRED to be a CFP.

(Advocating that one becomes an expert in the financial business via a rigorous educational curriculum and exam process BEFORE EVER being allowed to talk to a client... will no doubt make me super popular around here!!!)

I dont disagree that we need a higher bar for entry. Especially for the "financial advisor" arena.

However, the CFP is hardly the end all be all of designations. The ChFC is a more intensive & comprehensive course than the CFP is. Last I checked, the ChFC has 9 courses compared to 7 with the CFP, and there is only 1 CFP course that is not in the ChFC curriculum.

The CFA is a tougher and longer exam than both the CFP and ChFC combined.


But here is the thing. In most states you cant call yourself a Financial Advisor without having a 65/66 or a certain designation. And the 65 is no cake walk when compared to the 6/63.


Requiring a certification by a private business to do state regulated work is a slippery slope that leads to privately held entities having WAY too much regulatory control.


Then there is the fact that different designations are created for different areas of the business. The CFP makes you a specialist at nothing. It is a generalist designation that gives a small amount of general knowledge about a lot of different things. Im not putting it down, just stating facts.
 
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Most of the advice Dave R. hands out is good. Some of it is bad.

I don't see that as being much different than many other licensed advisors out there. If you can fog a mirror you can get a license to be a financial advisor... all you have to do is pass some rather easy exams.

But DHK is right about Suze. She is a CFP and that is another kettle of fish. They don't give that away... you don't get it by fogging a mirror... it is basically a college education in finance and it is not easy.

CFPs should be held to a higher standard.

Actually, I believe that in order to BE a financial advisor you should be REQUIRED to be a CFP.

(Advocating that one becomes an expert in the financial business via a rigorous educational curriculum and exam process BEFORE EVER being allowed to talk to a client... will no doubt make me super popular around here!!!)

I only disagree with the before ever talking to a client there is more than just book learning. I think a journeyman status would be good.
 
I only disagree with the before ever talking to a client there is more than just book learning. I think a journeyman status would be good.

I agree. There is no exam that fully prepares you for this job. Best way is to learn on the job with an experienced agent. That is why career shop used to team up new agents with experienced ones to work cases.


It would also be impossible to get many designations (including CFP) without prior experience in the industry since it requires 4 or 5 years experience first (or it used to I think)



But the same is true in any profession. Being licensed does not mean you know what you are doing. A college graduate with an engineering degree is not qualified to construct a bridge or building. Once they have a few years experience under a PE, and then get their PE, THEN they are qualified to work on their own.

The regulatory environment for us is different than engineers or similar professions. But the basic principle of getting experience under someone else holds true. I did not work on my own in my first year, at minimum I would have an experienced agent review my recommendation in relation to the situation.
 
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I hold the ChFC designation (which incorporates the entire CFP curriculum)... and from what I can recall... the curriculum didn't cover ANYTHING about managing credit, how credit scores are calculated, utilization factors, etc.

One would think a CFP should know this stuff, but it's not even part of the curriculum. So as I'm hearing Suze talking about using a DEBIT card to create a CREDIT score... it shows how vastly over-rated she is, on matters about building credit.

Many years ago, I was a moderator on a credit discussion forum and I've picked up quite a bit about that subject, especially because I was working at a bank at the time. But yet, it's not part of "financial planning".

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There are simply some areas of personal and business finance that can only come from experience and exposure to various circumstances and different backgrounds.
 
For me, the hardest part of attaining the CFP designation was the comprehensive exam. With a 35%ish fail rate and asking you to actually apply all of the information from the previous six courses, it is not for the faint of heart.

It is the only exam that I've ever taken where I truly didn't know if I passed or failed.

The actual courses/tests are no harder than 101 type college econ courses. It is taking those 1000s of pages of text and knowing how to utilize it in actual case studies that is daunting.

What's interesting, is that the final exam has only been around for the last 20-25 years and they have been making it more and more rigorous every few years.

So...depending on when you actually got your CFP (I have no idea when Suzy got hers but she's been in the business for 35+ years) the standards may have been different.
 
Regarding the 4 to 5 years of work experience for the CFP designation, does being insurance licensed only count ?

Or does only securities licensed work experience count ?

What about having a BS in Finance ?
 
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