What does a Piece of Furniture Have in Common With REAL Financial Planning?

Like a stool, a comprehensive nancial plan can be your support. But nancial planning is only as valuable as the people providing it. The National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) believes those providing nancial planning services need to be comprehensive in their advice, display a high level of competence, and always act in a client-centered manner. These qualities make up the three legs of the nancial planning stool and should be the foundation of the relationship. Here is why these qualities are important:

Comprehensive

Comprehensive
Financial planning is not done in a vacuum. Professing to be a nancial planner while only reviewing your investments or insurance doesn't stand up to the NAPFA standard. A NAPFA nancial planner will develop a short and long term plan that includes estate planning, education funding, tax planning, cash ow/debt management, retirement planning, investments and insurance. If the professional serving you is not addressing all of these areas, you are not receiving truly comprehensive nancial planning.

Competent
Competence in nancial planning is not measured by how many clients someone has or how many assets are under management, but rather by the knowledge, experience, and skill set that the professional possesses. NAPFA insists that our NAPFA-Registered Financial Advisors acquire the Certi ed Financial Planner TM (CFP) designation. We also make a commitment to be the leaders in nancial education. NAPFA standards have continuously been the most rigorous in the industry for 30 years!

NAPFA-Registered Financial Advisors work in strict accordance of a duciary standard. Our standard binds advisors to their clients and allows them to make recommendations that are truly in the best interest of those they serve. Many nancial advisors proclaim to have their clients best interest in mind, but conveniently forget when it comes to thinking about their own interests rst. NAPFA takes consumer advocacy a step further by requiring our NAPFA-Registered Financial Advisors to ALWAYS work in a Fee-Only capacity. Only a NAPFA professional working in a strict duciary standard can truly make this claim. The Fee-Only structure is the best way to align compensation with clients needs, foregoing any and all commissions and referral fees.

Client-Centered

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ent-Centered Cli

Competent