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Preet Banerjee, B.Sc., FMA, DMS is a former stockbroker and financial advisor in Toronto. Information on this site is for entertainment purposes ONLY. Always seek individual professional advice before making any financial decisions.

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The Alphabet Soup of Financial Advisor Designations

November 16th, 2009 • Related • Filed Under
                                                         

I’ve compiled a list of 20 of the most common financial advisor designations and thrown them into a navigable mind map. Just click on a designation to see what it stands for. When you want to zoom back out, just click on some white-space around the objects (as far to the edges of the window as you can).

NOTE:

To use the map, first click on the “play” button to activate it. To make it easier to see, I recommend switching to the full screen mode which can be accessed under the “MORE” option on the bottom right.

If anyone has suggestions for other designations to add, just let me know and I’ll add them to the map. I plan on updating this with more detailed information in stages such as: brief study description, cost of program, and general description of the benefits of each designation.

Enjoy!

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There Are 10 Responses So Far. »

  1. Comment by Mark Wolfinger on 16 November 2009:

    I have a suggestion for one more:

    WMFNY; I want my fees. Nuts to you.

  2. Comment by Big Cajun Man on 17 November 2009:

    How about

    WTFDMMG: Where the Fudge Did My Money Go?
    CILHTF : Caught in Leg Hold Trap Fund
    YMMV : Your Money May Vanish

    I got a million :-)

  3. Comment by Cam Birch on 17 November 2009:

    That is a really good collection of designations. It’ll help in the future so I can make sure any FP I talk to actually has a real title and not just a random collection of letters.

  4. Comment by Erick on 17 November 2009:

    I like the mind map concept…any chance you could also add what courses/requirements are needed for each designation?

  5. Comment by The Rat on 17 November 2009:

    How about:

    DIYI – Do it yourself investor!
    ATFF – All those freaking fees!
    FARF – Forget about returns forever!

  6. Comment by H on 18 November 2009:

    Great post Preet.

    To be fair, there are great advisors out there with or without the alphabet soup. Preet was one of them.

    CIPM – Certificate in Investment Performance Measurement
    MTI – Member, Trust Institute
    STI – Specialist, Trust Institute

  7. Comment by Michael James on 19 November 2009:

    I just see a large white space where the map is supposed to be. Maybe some sort of security software is cleverly filtering out the map. I’m using Firefox and McAfee.

  8. Pingback by This and That: 100x ETFs, TFSAs and more… | Canadian Capitalist on 19 November 2009:

    [...] have a CLU about what FRM stands for? Preet has a nifty graphic on what different advisor designations stand for. Hint: view it on Internet [...]

  9. Pingback by Canadian Personal Finance Blog » Blog Archive » Random Thoughts: For a Parasitic Website on 20 November 2009:

    [...] created a very interesting thought map about the Alphabet Soup of Financial Advisor Designations (if you check the comments I added a few of my [...]

  10. Comment by Ink-Stained Gorilla on 20 November 2009:

    Unfortunately a line of letters after the name is not a good predictor of an advisor’s competence.

    Two designations, the little-known R.F.P. for financial planning and the CFA for portfolio management will ensure your advisor has the technical competence to offer you good advice – whether they actually do offer good advice is another story.

    The CFA is essentially a three year graduate degree in portfolio management. It’s the best investment designation out there. Brutal to obtain due to relatively high level math and a massive amount of content candidates have to absorb for the three levels of exams.

    The R.F.P. is like an amped up certified financial planning designation offered through the Institute of Advanced Financial Planning. Candidates actually have to pass a full-financial planning case study to obtain the designation. Many of the country’s strongest fee-only proponents are champions of this designation.

    I neither hold nor am I affiliated with these designations, but I can attest to the general quality of the professionals that hold them.

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