CFP Board NEEDS New Leadership • Time To Force The Old Guard Out!
Many of you know me as the voice of opposition to the CFP lite and other initiatives that could have damaged the CFP® Certification marks to the core back in 1998-1999. I think I've paid my dues in this business over the years, for those who don't know me, here's my resume... In 1999 while fighting the CFP lite initiatives, I led the Los Angeles Society of the ICFP to the national David M King award of Excellence as outstanding ICFP society of the year. Since obtaining CFP® Certification in 1993 I fought vociferously to protect the integrity of the marks and was honored for this with a front cover and 7 page biographic feature article in Financial Planning magazine in February 2000. I've always tried to walk the walk as I talk the talk. This time though, I'm walking away until enough stakeholders wake up and realize just how badly they've been hoodwinked! It's time for 72,000 Certificants to say, we've had enough! I didn't renew my Certification in July and won't be renewing unless there are huge changes in Washington D.C. Once again, the time has come to make a stand. This oligarchic Board has been so busy trying to enforce unpopular, unfair and asinine rules and regulations on a profession they don't actually regulate, they've lost sight of their obligation to protect and preserve the integrity and value of the marks they actually do own and should be regulating. Meanwhile, while claiming CFP® Certification is the "Gold Standard Of Excellence In Financial Planning", in my humble opinion they're renting it out with a licensing agreement even the lowest bottom feeding used car salesman would be proud of. Read my Article on the terms and conditions of renewal for Certificants. It's time for CFP Board to step up to the plate and take ownership, pride and potential liability for their work product, or get out of the business! The next article in this series, "A House Built On Sand", is currently being updated with new information and will be published here shortly. Keep coming back to look for more articles! Talk about lack of disclosure... Hopefully you'll be as enraged as I was...
Can CFP® Marks be rescued?
In light of their, to-date, million dollar lawsuit with the Camarda's paid for with your licensing fees, a complete waste of stakeholder money IMHO AND their insistence on prosecuting or investigating others for similar alleged infractions that have no legal basis, I'm beginning to wonder whether the marks will lose significance and stakeholders en masse in the near future. Here's what I think needs to happen to rescue the marks:
- The resignation of the current CEO and the entire Board of Directors
- The selection of a trustee to manage day to day operations until elections can be held for a new board and a new CEO can be found
- An end to the oligarchy! Stakeholders must be allowed to once again vote for their Board of Directors
- A complete revision of the code and an end to enforcement of the ideals of other self-serving organizations
- A greater emphasis on the protection and preservation of the Certification marks by firing the Ex-FINRA attorneys at the Board and hiring trademark lawyers with experience to sort out the mess
- A refocus of the direction and future of all Board activities that will benefit the mark and the stakeholders who support the marks through their fees
- A simplification and complete revision of the terms and conditions of renewal of Certification
- Let's reopen negotiations to unify the worthy designations
These are worthy and attainable goals. If you are sick and tired of all the nonsense coming out of Washington but are too small to make a stand, join together with your colleagues and let's all hire some lawyers of our own. I'm now considering crowdunding as a potential tool. If you would be interested in saving the marks and the profession but believe that CFP Board is on the wrong path, please drop me a line. If enough people show interest, I'll be happy to organize a crowdfund for legal fees to explore what can be done to save the marks from implosion. If no one shows any interest then at least I won't be wasting any more time and money on a profession that will eventually implode.
Much will be made I'm sure about the CFP Board's investigation of my firm's use of the term "fee-only". I've nothing to hide there. My firm has a separate CRD number, is separately registered and I am an IA rep for my firm. I declared my personal practice as fee and commission on CFP Board's website and in my ADV Form Part II. My firm however, is not an insurance agency in CA, does not take any commissions whatsoever and I refuse to give up a marketing advantage to NAPFA cronies influencing the Board, particularly when so many of them break the law openly in California by offering their insurance advice for a fee without a license. So, let's examine how they go about making people's lives miserable with asinine questions and non-answers when asked to provide information themselves. Here's all their correspondence and mine as well.