Prior to the FPA Professionals Congress, the FPA is launching its first CFP® Professional Connect event, which will be an interactive workshop that deconstructs the advice process.

In the lead up to this year’s FPA Professionals Congress in Sydney (23-24 November), the FPA will be launching a new initiative – CFP^® Professional Connect – which is exclusive to CFP^® professionals and those who are enrolled in the CFP^® Certification Program.

CFP^® Professional Connect has been specifically designed as a value-added service that provides CFP^® professionals with a forum to further develop their expertise, network with like-minded professionals, and learn from each other in a collegiate environment.

By creating CFP^® Professional Connect, the FPA is seeking to create an aspirational ‘club’ of professionals, who are able to access a range of services and offerings only available to CFP^® practitioners.

Speaking about the launch of this new initiative, FPA CEO Sarah Abood says the event series is part of the FPA’s determination to provide exclusive benefits for the development and support of its CFP^® professional membership category.

“The launch of the CFP^® Professional Connect program complements the changes made to FPA memberships earlier this year. This is part of our commitment to provide more catered and customised services to each of our membership categories, to help ensure they get the most out of their membership,” says Sarah.

An interactive workshop

The first of these CFP^® Professional Connect events will kick off the day before the FPA Professionals Congress at the ICC Sydney on 22 November. The event – ‘It depends: Deconstructing the advice process’ – is a three-hour interactive workshop that deconstructs and analyses the advice process for a specific client case study. This workshop will be eligible for up to three CPD hours.

The workshop will be run by four CFP^® professionals – Louise Biti (Aged Care Steps), Adam Crabbe (Zurich), Kathryn Creasy (Capital Partners Private Wealth Advisers), and Shayne Sommer (Shadforth) – who will each bring their respective experience and expertise to this workshop.

“Unlike a lot of technical sessions, this workshop will work in reverse,” says Louise Biti CFP^® – Director of Aged Care Steps. “In ‘deconstructing the advice process’, we will be taking a case study and helping financial planners understand how you replicate real life financial planning by considering the strategies and client interactions over a multi-generational family.”

Louise says most technical sessions look at legislation, then introduce a strategy that is compliant with that legislation, outline what the benefits are, and demonstrate it with an example. However, when you’ve got a real life client in front of you, that approach doesn’t help financial planners understand how and why a strategy might work for that particular client.

Instead, the workshop will use a multi-generational family case study and pull apart different elements of that family’s situation to examine in detail: what is it that the client needs to achieve, and then how to match suitable strategies and options to enable the client to reach their particular goals and objectives. As part of this process, the workshop will also look at the importance of being able to document and clearly explain why this strategy will help the client meet their objectives.

As this case study is based on a multi-generational family, Louise says it is important that it aligns to Standard 6 of the Financial Planners and Advisers Code of Ethics, which states that planners must actively consider the client’s broader, long-term interests and likely future circumstances, like children’s education and the aged care needs of your client and their family members.

“By having a multi-generational family case study, it highlights that the advice a planner gives to clients needs to understand their family circle and the interconnecting circumstances of family members. This is particularly important when navigating the nuances of any family,” says Louise.

According to Shayne Sommer CFP^® – Private Wealth Adviser at Shadforth – by not just looking at the ‘ultimate’ or most complex technical solution to an advice situation, but by also closely examining the outside of a particular advice situation to work out which factors matter most to the clients in the case study, is why ‘It depends’ is an apt title for this workshop.

“It isn’t always the most technical solution or figures-focused strategy that is the best fit for clients,” she says. “There are many more factors to consider when putting together an advice strategy, depending on the client’s values, and their underlying goals and objectives.”

Louise agrees, confirming the workshop will involve many twists and turns, involving wealth accumulation and decumulation, insurance, aged care, as well as estate planning.

“The case study reflects a family situation that any planner may come across in their everyday interaction with clients. It’s about understanding how you need to explore beyond that particular client to look at all their family interactions, in order to give advice that best meets their needs.”

Key learning outcomes

By attending this CFP^® Professional Connect workshop, CFP^® practitioners can expect to take away with them a number of key learnings, providing them with a deeper awareness of how to analyse and better understand their clients.

Louise believes what makes this session unique is about showing planners how to understand the analysis behind the advice to understand the ‘why’, and not just what a strategy does. This includes ensuring the advice is clearly documented and justifiable in the file notes and SOA, and is not only appropriate to your client’s circumstances, but is also compliant and accurate.

“It’s appropriate that this workshop is called ‘It depends’, because there isn’t a simple answer to the case study and there never is in real life. That’s because ‘it depends’ on: what aspects of the advice process you consider; what objectives are most important for the client; what are the client’s broader, long-term interests and likely future circumstances; and how does this impact family members?

“That’s why this session will be interactive,” says Louise. “We want attendees to workshop the case study, share their experiences and challenge each other. We want planners to take these key leanings back to the office and consider how they can apply them with any clients, and not just with clients who fit this particular case study.”

Shayne adds that by deconstructing the advice process, practitioners will gain a better understanding of why and how clients can present to your practice with similar circumstances but end up with differing advice strategies that are appropriate for their circumstances.

Some of the other key learnings CFP^® professionals will be able to take away with them from the workshop include:

• How to develop your own strategic thinking to unlock any conscious or unconscious biases that you have towards client strategies and needs;
• Develop a greater appreciation of generational wealth planning and its impact on your business, even if you’re only working with one family; and
• How to take an ‘assessor’s view’ on determining an advice strategy, and outlining how the strategy developed suits the specific needs and objectives of your client.

A practical, hands-on workshop

For CFP^® professionals attending this inaugural CFP^® Professional Connect event, they can expect an enjoyable, practical and hands-on session.

Facilitated by a panel of experienced CFP^® practitioners, who represent a diverse spectrum of the financial planning landscape, the workshop will help planners to increase their level of professionalism and application to the FPA Code of Professional Practice and the Code of Ethics

“I believe this workshop will help financial planners to become more deliberate with how they provide advice and enhance their client value proposition,” says Louise.

Shayne agrees: “Four unique points-of-view will analyse and discuss not only an appropriate strategy, but the process underpinning developing strategic advice and highlight how these perspectives can enhance your advice process.”

CFP^® Connect – It depends: Deconstructing the advice process – is only available to CFP^® professionals or those who are currently enrolled in the CFP^® Certification Program. The workshop will take place on 22 November at ICC Sydney, prior to the FPA Professionals Congress. The cost is $375 and includes refreshments and a networking cocktail hour. To register, go to the FPA member portal: portal.fpa.com.au