As part of an ongoing campaign to make financial planning more a part of Canadians' lives, Financial Planning Standards Council (FPSC) spearheaded Canada’s first Financial Planning Week in October 2009.
The goal of the Week is to raise awareness and invite a call to action to all stakeholders to collaborate and enact meaningful change for the benefit of all Canadians. Similar weeks have been held in Quebec and the U.S.A.
As the standard-setter of financial planning, FPSC has been at the forefront of the financial planning profession since 1995. "We are in a unique position to highlight the need for and contribute to a heightened effort to enact change for all Canadians. Every stakeholder - individuals, industry, regulators, educators and others - needs to be part of the solution," says Cary List, President & CEO, FPSC.
THE HEART OF FINANCIAL PLANNING WEEK: VISION 2020
Our vision is that by the year 2020, Canada will be shaped by a nation of people, organizations and a regulatory environment that:
- Values financial planning;
- Shares and assumes responsibility to ensure the financial planning needs of Canadians are well served;
- Has a viable financial planning profession that ensures broad access to competent, ethical financial planners, for those who need professional advice.
Financial Planning Week uses the following items as guiding principles for its activities and discussions. By the year 2020, we hope to see that:
- All high school graduates have experienced some introductory financial planning curriculum by the time they graduate, and thus are able to make better-informed decisions about their finances;
- There is a regulatory environment that restricts who can call themselves "financial planners" to those who are qualified through a recognized professional designation that has enforceable standards of ethics, practice and competence, and that requires ongoing professional development;
- Industry responsibly promotes financial planning, and clearly distinguishes and values financial planning as more than just product advice;
- Canadians understand the distinction between investment product advice and financial planning, and recognize the value and appropriate place for each;
- There are a sufficient number of duly licensed, competent and ethical financial planners across Canada who can be counted on by all Canadians seeking professional advice to help guide them towards their life goals.