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Regarding other entities connected to the Financial Planning profession and its communities, we have, for example, expressed praise for the lobbying talent of the FPA, and respect for the CFP Board's promotion of the financial planning profession. We find a problem, however, inasmuch as neither group willingly, if ever, solicits or responds to the opinions of their respective communities. IAQFP Board Members, and others, have upon occasion effected some change to CFP Board & FPA policies, but only against absolute resistance and intimidation by these entities. Many find this unacceptable, resulting in a search for meaningful alternatives. Most agree there needs to be a unification of the Financial Planning community, and that is why one of the first steps we undertook, along with asking other fellow CFP® certificants to add their voices to ours, was to have the CFP Board consider, and then advise us, regards the qualifications of ChFC's (another designation identifying Financial Planners) as compared to CFP® designees. We had about one year of reasonable discussion with the CFP Board on this subject, when, to our pleasant surprise, they finally acknowledged that the ChFC exams, but in their view only prior to 1991, were “equivalent” to the CFP® exams to that date. The other requirements of ethics and experience were also equivalent. We therefore logically asked, for the sake of professional unity, to simplify things for the public, and to expand the CFP® enrollment and budget, that the CFP Board thereby recognize these equivalently qualified individuals by granting them CFP® certification. After all, they were not invalidating certifications of pre-1991 CFP® designees, with whom pre-1991 ChFC were now acknowledged by the CFP Board as being substantially equal, due to our rather through and concerted efforts. So, why not do the logical and ethical thing; namely, confer use of the CFP® designation to all such ChFC? The CFP Board refused to even consider the irrefutable logic of our suggestion, or to dialogue on the matter ever since. We had also tried to work with the CFP Board on other matters that would benefit all concerned, like remaining problems with their adapted usage of CFP® Practitioner, Practice Standards, trade mark issues, and their perceived steps to be appointed SRO/PRO of the profession, etc. What we wanted through all of these attempts was to have the CFP® credential grow through accepting and recognizing all those who could prove equally qualifying criteria. Further, we wanted to prove that reasonable certificant's voices could & would be heard and considered (IAQFP Co-Founders, and the Board of our original predecessor organization, the Concerned Planners Group, were all CFP® certificants). The CFP Board’s failure to fairly & openly address these various issues again proved conclusively their lack of interest in the opinions of stakeholders. Same has been the experience with the FPA, who rarely if ever, pole all of their Members on matters of importance or downright controversy, and then, when approached, have been shown to ignore members concerns. Still determined to see our profession grow, we approached the American College, who issues the ChFC designation to assist us, since in addition to their own designations, they show considerable emphasis in promoting the CFP® courses. They refused to even answer our letters, or those of the many ChFC who joined our 2002 "Call to Action e-mail campaign", an effort that provided copy notices to both the American College & the CFP Board. We, quite frankly, found that to be alarming, and so we also tried to approach the membership organization of so many ChFC, the Society of Financial Service Professionals (SFSP), but also to no avail. The realization that each of these organizations refused to consider the opinions of their designees made it obvious that another route was needed in order to take advantage of designees much needed and respected experience & knowledge (it is interesting to note that over the years a substantial percentage of the various CFP Boards regularly consists of no Financial Planning designation holders, and too that they have never held certificant-wide open Board nominations, thus making all of their so called Board "elections" highly suspect). We would have preferred to work with the CFP Board, American College, SFSP, and the FPA, but all effectively refused. Thus it was that we, seeing a dramatic need on behalf of the future of the Financial Planning profession, created a solution of our own. Our goal: ONE PROFESSION - ONE DESIGNATION. Since this could not be accomplished with existing designation organizations, we, on 4/1/2003, publicly introduced our own: “QFP - Qualified Financial Planner” designation. QFP is the one & only designation representing the entire Financial Planning profession. We then immediately recognized all ChFC & CFP® designations and invited those who had earned these credentials to join us to help in developing a unified Financial Planning community under one new and unifying credential - QFP. We developed Bylaws & Articles of Association that emphasize the openness and respect for the voice of every individual Member in all of our decision making, founding a true Membership organization, determined to seek out the best and most effective ways to serve both our Members, and the public we all strive to best professionally & ethically serve. We then began researching other credentials of those who called themselves “Financial Planners.” Our research concluded that the PFS designation, issued by the AICPA, proved it too met equivalent standards to ChFC & CFP®. As of this writing, we recognize all three as equally qualified to be granted the QFP designation, and then, in September 2003, we concluded that those earning The American College's MSFS & the College for Financial Planning's MS degrees (both with a Financial Planning concentration),were also equally qualified and to be accepted by IAQFP, thereby further condensing the "designations alphabet soup" from 5 down to 1, and unifying the Financial Planning profession under QFP. First and foremost - ONE DESIGNATION. This does not encourage the dropping of CFP®, ChFC, PFS, MSFS, MS, or any other designation, any more than various credentials of specialization in medicine encourage the dropping of MD. Indeed, additional designations are further indication of qualification, or areas of specialization, but effective immediately, the public need only look to one designation (QFP), instead of 5 or more, as representative of one who is duly qualified by exam, education, ethics, and experience as a Financial Planner. The result of our research and efforts is a simplifying of the "alphabet soup" of financial planning designations (5 down to 1 unifying QFP designation), and the creation of a clear distinction of two separate fields of endeavor from one another; namely, financial planning, from the more generalized and far broader field of financial services, with its hundreds of designations. Additionally, we have recognized, on an honorary basis, limited individuals whose background, experience and various other credentials, all combined, prove them to be qualified beyond the requirements that these other designations demand. This proven tradition of honorary conferment, is followed by many higher educational institutions worldwide. There are undoubtedly many more that we may find in the future; however, such research is terribly time consuming and costly, thereby placing us in a position of being unable to pursue many of these at this juncture. We also later expanded by offering two levels of Membership thereby making access easily affordable to everyone; namely, "Premier" ($100 dues, full Voting Rights to include both a verification & locating listing in the QFP Registry) and "Basic" (upon initial introduction, and for only a few months, the dues for "Basic Membership" were $10, but provided no Voting Rights; however, this was modified in June 04 to $75 dues, with Voting Rights, and to include a name only listing in the Registry). April 7, 2004 IAQFP issued a national Press Release authorizing the immediate use of the QFP designation to anyone having earned one or more of the underlying designations we recognize as equally identifying a Financial Planner. We did so without requiring any of these awardees to join IAQFP. By doing so we have brought about full realization of the ONE PROFESSION - ONE DESIGNATION ideal. We shortly thereafter announced a FREE, name only, verification listing to all such persons. All that is required now is for each of these duly credentialed Financial Planners, that we estimate at about 100,000, is to add the QFP to their list of designations and the simplification of the "alphabet soup of designations" will be achieved for the public. Henceforth, persons of the general public will only have to seek out a QFP to know who's who. Of course, if these Financial Planners want the benefit of a place where their voice is respected by an equal Vote, and a place where the public can both verify and find them, then they too can join IAQFP and gain a more complete listing in the QFP Verification Registry of Qualified Financial Planners. It was in 6/2001 that two of us started what, in 1/2003, became IAQFP. Seven others were soon to join us, and we were effectively on our way. Our first efforts covered over two years of trying to get the help of the established groups with all their power, position and money, but their refusals to even consider our opinions, and their often overt efforts at marginalizing us ultimately failed when we made the decision to move forward on our own. Since 1/1/2003, with a zero budget and a handful of Members, we have been occupied with some campaigning and a lot of structural formation, yet, as of the end of 2003 Membership had grown to over 200 Members with new Members being added regularly. Let us be clear, we do not insist that QFP become the one, nor the only designation of Financial Planning, and we are also not determined that IAQFP be the organization of Financial Planners; however, we are determined that there be unification culminating in ONE PROFESSION - ONE DESIGNATION, represented by an organization that is run and controlled by and for its' Members and that respects its Members by full disclosure and an equal Vote, and that is dedicated to better meeting the Financial Planning needs of a much deserving public. All indications tell us that we are the only ones pursuing this goal, and in such a democratic manner. How long will it take? That depends entirely, as do all of our decisions and activities, on how quickly the Financial Planning community wants the same things. Their immediate Membership could make this possible now. Meanwhile, we will keep fighting for these goals on behalf of all those concerned about the future of this laudable profession. We hope that this "IAQFP, and the QFP Designation - History of Unification of the Financial Planning Profession & Its' Professionals" will give all a different perspective of IAQFP, of our unifying QFP designation, and of our clearly transparent actions & intentions that are shaped to bring about the best possible environment in which Financial Planners are easily and rightly recognized by and for the public. We welcome the input and perspectives of fellow professionals, and the public we serve. [Last updated: 11-16-04] |