Financial planning needs to become a greater part of Canadians’ lives, and advisors must be part of a collective effort that inspires this change, Cary List, president and CEO of the Financial Planners Standards Council said on Monday.

The FPSC launched the first annual Financial Planning Week with a conference in Toronto. Speaking at the event, List said too few Canadians are engaged in financial planning.

“Far too many Canadians don’t have any financial planning at all in their lives,” he said. He noted that a study currently underway by the FPSC has shown that the incidence of Canadians utilizing the services of any financial advisor is very low at all levels of society, and the incidence of Canadians undertaking financial planning is even lower.

“The impact of this void – this lack of financial planning – has hit Canadians hard this year, more acutely than ever,” said List. “We face an immense need to ensure Canadians be better prepared and more in control of their financial wellbeing.”

He noted that even when Canadians do seek financial advice, many are unsure of what type of advice to look for, or what types of questions to ask.

The FPSC has established a series of goals intended to enhance financial planning in Canada by the year 2020. Some of the goals include ensuring every high school graduate has experienced some introductory financial planning curriculum by the time they graduate, and ensuring Canadians are able to clearly distinguish financial planning from product-based investment advice.

In addition, the FPSC is advocating changes to the regulatory environment to restrict who can call themselves financial planners to those who are qualified through a professional designation.

“The regulatory environment must recognize that financial planning is separate and distinct from, yet complementary to, product-based advice,” said List. “A regulatory environment that supports this distinction will help the financial services industry as a whole, and thus Canadians, to support and value financial planning so that it can be integral to Canadians’ lives.”

The organization is also working to ensure there are a sufficient number of duly licensed, competent and ethical financial planners across Canada.

Members of the industry have an important role to play in promoting financial planning in Canada, according to List. He called for a greater number of advisory practices to engage in comprehensive financial planning.

“We need to encourage viable business models that will support financial planning in its truest sense,” he said, “models that are based on a fiduciary standard, which is the standard upon all professions are built, but that still are able to produce fair and reasonable profits.”

IE