| When it comes to planning your financial future there are a range of experts out there who can help. But those experts all seem to go by different titles and it can be confusing trying to determine which expert is the right one to help meet your financial goals. Should you work with an advisor, a planner, or an investment representative? What do all those titles and letters behind their names mean, anyway?
“There are some differences, but to the general public they don’t mean a whole lot,” said Pam Piper, an investment representative with Edward Jones Investments in Port Orchard. However, she added, “It depends on what kind of training the person has, what they can call themselves.”
For many companies, such as Edward Jones, Waddell and Reed and Smith Barney, the titles “advisor,” “planner” and “investment representative” generally describe the same job: someone who can sell stocks, insurance, mutual funds and retirement planning tools. These professionals are all licensed to sell securities and other financial products, and are trained to suggest appropriate investment options.
The ChFC program includes all of the courses in the American College’s CFP Certification Curriculum, and builds on that knowledge with advanced coverage of estate, retirement, and financial planning applications.
There are professionals in the industry who are certified financial planners (CFP) or certified financial advisors (CFA). These designations mean that those professionals have received additional training and in some cases can perform a more detailed analysis of personal financial objectives. In the case of these certified professionals, said Piper, they usually have knowledge in wills, estate planning, budgeting and so on.
“It implies a different level of expertise,” said Piper, who is currently studying to become an accredited asset management specialist (AAMA), the next level of training in the industry. “If someone asked me if I’m a financial planner, I’d say no.”
Although certified financial planners and advisors have more training, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they can provide better service, said Piper, and the needs of most people who seek out financial professionals can be met by representatives without certification.
“I don’t have a designation, but I do a lot of the same work,” she said. “For the most part people don’t need certified financial planners, unless they are someone with a good deal of wealth who needs more in-depth expertise.”
People who are just looking for someone to help them save for retirement or select the best mutual fund to invest in probably don’t need a certified professional. Instead, it’s best to seek out a professional with whom you have a good relationship.
Qualities that Piper advises people to look for when selecting a financial professional to work with include being willing to listen to client input, being up front about disclosing fees and costs and the capacity to establish a good rapport with the client.
“I don’t care if they have all the letters in the world after their name,” said Piper. “You have to go work with the person you’re comfortable with. This is the person taking care of your money.”
According to Matt Ryan, a Bremerton CLU and SChFC, Chartered Financial Consultants, or ChFCs, constitute the most extensive education available for professionals seeking a designation in financial planning.
"More than 41,000 individuals have attained this distinction, enabling them to effectively apply a comprehensive financial planning process to their clients’ needs." | 
