Website Offers Consumers a Path to Financial Confidence and a Voice in the Call for Stronger Consumer Protections

Financial Planning Standards Council launches FinancialPlanningforCanadians.ca

FinancialPlanningforCanadians.ca features:

• A path to financial confidence when unexpected life events occur.
• A compelling video that explains the gap in current consumer protection—and why consumers need to take action now.
• An opportunity for consumers to help influence positive change by having their say.

TORONTO, Oct. 1, 2015 /CNW/ - Starting today, Financial Planning Standards Council (FPSC) is offering Canadians the chance to access helpful, supportive information from the Canadian experts in financial planning standards. FinancialPlanningforCanadians.ca, a commercial-free consumer website, is dedicated to helping consumers through information, education and product-free advice.

The need for unbiased financial planning advice has never been stronger. In Canada, excluding Quebec, anyone can call themselves a financial planner without regulation, leaving Canadians confused and at risk—in fact, half of Canadians think financial planners are already regulated. Canadians deserve better.

The site's launch features a video that explains the gap in consumer protection in clear, easily-relatable terms, and during the month of October, consumers across the country can help influence change by adding their voice to the growing call for reform through participation in a short opinion poll (open until October 31). FPSC will release opinion poll results to government, regulators and media in time for Financial Planning Week (November 15 to 21)—just as a panel of experts appointed by the Ontario government will be reviewing input on the need for reforms.

"For twenty years, FPSC has helped protect consumers by creating a rigorous financial planning certification and oversight structure, but it remains voluntary. Consumers have had to protect themselves through education and making informed hiring choices," says Cary List, President and CEO of Financial Planning Standards Council. "The new site will not only arm consumers with critical information, but it gives consumers a chance to help us advocate for stronger government protections."

FinancialPlanningforCanadians.ca is divided into three easy-to-navigate sections:

• Life Happens confronts the sometimes messy reality of our day-to-day lives and the often long-term impact that unexpected events have on financial health. "Life Happens" contains articles that speak directly to the situations many Canadians face, such as unexpected job loss, death of a loved one, caring for the financial well-being of aging parents, family breakdown or managing the reality of a child born with special needs.
• Here's the Plan™ helps Canadians take positive planning action, arming them with the right information and tools to make informed choices. These articles will show how a qualified financial planner can make the difference between feeling out of control and having a path to financial confidence, and helps Canadian consumers better protect themselves.
• Make Your Voice Heard directly addresses the lack of consumer protection and the current public policy debate. Here, Canadians can find out more about this important consumer protection issue by watching a short video, and make their voice heard through participation in a short opinion poll between October 1 and 31.

"We urge Canadians to get involved now," continues List. "We are asking consumers to complete a short survey that will inform our outreach to elected officials in the coming months."

Cary List, FPSC's President and CEO, is available for comment on the website and its purpose, the current policy debate and the lack of consumer protection for those seeking financial planning.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• Opinion poll results will be collected between October 1 and October 31, 2015, and will be released to government, regulators and media in time for the launch of Financial Planning Week (November 15-21).
• On September 21, FPSC contributed a formal submission to the Ontario government's review of policy alternatives related to the regulation of financial advisors and planners, asking the Ontario government to codify in law the professional certification structure, governance and oversight mechanisms that already exist in practice, but that are currently voluntary for the more than 9,000 CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER^® professionals in Ontario, and make them a requirement for all who wish to claim financial planning as their own. 
• During Financial Planning Week (November 15-21), an integral part of Financial Literacy Month, FPSC is pleased to welcome Ontario Minister of Finance Charles Sousa as a keynote speaker at the Celebration of the Profession Dinner on November 17. Media are invited to attend.
• A Matter of Trust: Protecting Canadians' Financial Futures provides a summary of the regulatory framework being proposed by the Financial Planning Coalition, whose mandate supports statutory requirements for financial planners in the public interest.
• FPSC and the Institut québécois de planification financière (IQPF) recently published the
  first-ever set of unified financial planning standards, Canadian Financial Planning Definitions, Standards & Competencies.

ABOUT FINANCIAL PLANNING STANDARDS COUNCIL

Financial Planning Standards Council (FPSC) is a not-for-profit organization that develops, promotes and enforces professional standards in financial planning through CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER^® certification. FPSC's purpose is to instill confidence in the financial planning profession. As a standards-setting and certification body, FPSC ensures CFP^® professionals and FPSC Level 1^® Certificants in Financial Planning meet appropriate standards of competence and professionalism through rigorous requirements of education, examination, experience and ethics. More information is available at fpsc.ca.

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SOURCE Financial Planning Standards Council

For further information: or to request an interview, please contact: Tania Freedman, Director, Public Relations & Corporate Communications, Financial Planning Standards Council, P: 416.593.8587 ext. 235 | 1.800.305.9886, E: tfreed[email protected] | www.fpsc.ca | www.financialplanningforcanadians.ca