Comments on: The Alphabet Soup of Financial Advisor Designations

By: Ink-Stained Gorilla

Ink-Stained Gorilla — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:58:16 +0000

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.

By: Canadian Personal Finance Blog » Blog Archive » Random Thoughts: For a Parasitic Website

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:52:03 +0000

[...] 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 [...]

By: This and That: 100x ETFs, TFSAs and more… | Canadian Capitalist

This and That: 100x ETFs, TFSAs and more… | Canadian Capitalist — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:40:37 +0000

[...] 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 [...]

By: Michael James

Michael James — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:42:50 +0000

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.

By: H

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:16:24 +0000

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

By: The Rat

The Rat — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:20:41 +0000

How about:

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

By: Erick

Erick — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:10:12 +0000

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

By: Cam Birch

Cam Birch — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:26:07 +0000

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.

By: Big Cajun Man

Big Cajun Man — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:52:50 +0000

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

By: Mark Wolfinger

Mark Wolfinger — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:17:37 +0000

I have a suggestion for one more:

WMFNY; I want my fees. Nuts to you.