Certified Financial Planner is a designation, a professional certification for financial planners provided by CFP Board. You get an authorization to use the designation if you meet the education and examination qualifications along with the right experience and ethical requirements and paying the fee. You get formal recognition for your expertise in the fields of financial planning, taxes, insurance, and estate planning.
How to verify the authenticity of CFP’s Credentials?
You cannot do business with a financial planner or an advisor without knowing and verifying their credentials. Your financial assets are, and you cannot take any chances with it.
The first step to knowing about them is asking what agency is associated with them for business. It would either be the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) or the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). If it’s the former, then the advisor is going to have some license or several licenses. If it’s SEC, then the advisor will feature on their website where you can check out the details about the person and the firm. You can ask about their professional designations and cross-check them with their website, and you will know if they possess the credentials they tell you about. Some people use credentials they do not possess. You don’t want to associate with such people, because it can be perilous.
It is quite necessary as many people buy fake credentials to look knowledgeable and use deceptive sales practices on you. It’s unfortunate that people fall in the trap of these things a lot nowadays. Your safety is in your hand, and hence, you should be careful before taking each step.
Why is it important to verify the credentials?
In today’s world, everyone is responsible for their financial lives. A Certified Financial Planner helps you to manage all your business assets. It’s essential that he is having your best interests in mind, and has complete knowledge of his field. He or she should not be an imposter who bought a degree to lie about things and plays with the hard earned money of people. It’s challenging to
differentiate because these people prepare well if they are planning to fool you. They also mostly target seniors.
You need to be aware to not sign anything without adequately verifying and cross-checking things from a trusted source. Because there are no strict regulations that control these things, many unethical people, get away with these practices.T hey even know which is the right target spot, where people are unaware and won’t go into the details of verification. Also, because there is no simple and easy way to check credentials yet, not as quick as one moment, so they take undue advantage of that.,
The official websites do provide a lot of tabs to keep a check on what is real and what is not. You should also never go on face value or show of certificates that can be made by anyone. Beware, go by your instinct and not take any step unless you are sure.
