CFP Board Financial Planning Competency Handbook - Board CFP

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relative to the career track of the individual with years of financial planning practice. Just as important, this part outlines the contexts in financial planning practice in which these competencies are needed. It is not enough to merely know a particular area; the practitioner must also know when to utilize such competencies in a given context or scenario.

      The second part of this book, Chapters 71 to 77, explores what a financial planner actually does in practice. Based on the steps of the financial planning process, this section outlines the action performed by the financial planner as well as the rationale for such action. These chapters then outline some of the techniques utilized in practice. Finally, as with each concept, vignettes outline the contexts in which such actions would be necessary and appropriate given client situations or professional rules of conduct. The vignettes in each chapter follow one specific case through each step of the process, highlighting the need for this process relative to one specific context.

      Part Three provides an opportunity to expand financial planning research and practice into related disciplines, exploring the theory and implications of psychology, marriage and family therapy, behavioral finance, and others. In each of these chapters, the hope is for the diverse audiences of this book to gain insight into their particular areas: for the researcher to think about new lines of inquiry that will expand the body of knowledge; the practitioner to think about the implications of these disciplines and develop new tools that bring them into practice; and the students to make the connection between this new theory and its connection to practice as they aspire to become the next generation of financial planning practitioners, faculty members, researchers, or a combination of all three.

      Finally, Chapter 88 offers a vision for the profession of financial planning, examining the changing demographics of the client and financial planner, future areas of research within the discipline, and the evolution of the role of the financial planner.

      PART ONE

      The purpose of this first chapter is to provide an overview and the rationale of many of the sections of this book.

      Part One outlines much of the theoretical content of financial planning, exploring what the practitioner needs to know in order to effectively serve the client. Each of the chapters focuses on one specific topic area of financial planning, allowing the reader to use this book as a reference either throughout a given program of study or throughout practice.

      The diagram at the beginning of Chapters 2 through 70 provides a visual representation of how a particular topic relates to the content areas in financial planning. A short paragraph below each of the diagrams provides a general analysis of many of the main connections relative to a given topic.

      For example, a given topic may have specific connections to three or four content areas across the discipline of financial planning.

      Students and faculty are encouraged to use these diagrams to facilitate dialogue in the classroom or online learning platform regarding how the particular subject area impacts others across the curriculum. Faculty may consider going around the different illuminated topic areas, discussing specific instances or circumstances where these content areas are related. Faculty teaching within a financial planning program may find it beneficial to review many of these diagrams with the objective of making explicit connections across the curriculum. Whether students are new to financial planning or have years of experience, providing key examples of how content areas are interrelated can help further the student’s understanding of key concepts within financial planning practice. With regard to practice, given the diversity of positions within financial planning, practitioners are encouraged to use this connections diagram as a reminder of the interrelatedness of financial planning content areas.

      CHAPTER INTRODUCTIONS

      The opening of each chapter provides an overview of the topic as well as historical background of the topic. This overview is meant to provide a basis for how this topic sits within personal financial planning. The content in this area is not meant to replace the specifics that come from a standard textbook. Rather, it is designed to provide a framework for the topic relative to financial planning practice.

      STUDENT-CENTERED LEARNING OBJECTIVES BASED ON CFP BOARD PRINCIPAL TOPICS

      The notion behind the development of student-centered learning objectives is certainly not new to higher education, but it is part of a significant shift in the development of learning experiences across all disciplines. The shift is from an input-oriented curricular design to a student-centered outcomes approach where theoretical content, learning experiences, and assessment are based on predetermined student achievement benchmarks. As Toohey suggests:

      A teaching strategy is.. a plan for someone else’s learning, and it encompasses the presentations which the teacher might make, the exercises and activities designed for students, materials which will be supplied or suggested for students to work with, and ways in which evidence of their growing understanding and capacity will be collected. 15

      The purpose of student-centered learning objectives is to develop concrete benchmarks for students relative to content. These objectives, developed by academics and practitioners from across the profession and validated by a separate group of faculty and professional peers, can assist with not only determining what a student should be able to do relative to content, but also how to assess whether the student has acquired the necessary skills under the correct context.

      Each of the chapters in Part One of this book contains a section devoted to student-centered learning objectives. These objectives are designed to outline what the student should be able to do relative to the particular chapter topic. Practitioners are encouraged to examine each of these outcomes to determine their own effectiveness relative to the topic area. Whether working in the field of personal financial planning or a related discipline, practitioners can benefit from a better understanding of their own effectiveness relative to these important concepts in personal financial planning. It may be that if the practitioner self-identifies areas of specific weakness in these objectives, he or she may decide to enroll in a continuing education program that can assist in improving efficacy relative to this topic.

      Students enrolled in personal financial planner preparation programs are encouraged to examine these learning objectives not only to determine their own levels of preparation for entering the field of personal financial planning, but also to better understand the requirements associated with their particular programs of study. Although each program is different, the topics contained in this book have been determined by faculty and practitioners to be integral to personal financial planning.

      Faculty teaching in personal financial planning courses or related fields of study are encouraged to explore these objectives to determine appropriate program and course outcomes, learning experiences, theoretical content, and assessment measures. Some faculty teaching in related fields may have students enrolled in their courses who aspire to become personal financial planners. Although some faculty may not be personal financial planners themselves, their content is critical to preparing future practitioners and thus necessary in the program of study. Faculty in these related disciplines are encouraged to examine these outcomes to learn how their content directly relates to personal financial planning and perhaps explore ways of making their course work more directly applicable to financial planning if at all possible.

      Higher education in many countries is evolving toward a more student-centered approach to instruction, meaning that it is no longer the objective of a unit, course, or program of study to merely cover a list of topics relative to a specific discipline. Rather, the success of instruction is dependent upon whether students are able to achieve at a predetermined benchmark relative to a unit, course, or program of study.

      Assessment has become a driving factor in higher education reform around the world. Institutions, and therefore faculty, are asked to document student achievement relative to concepts and subject matter. The development, identification, and utilization of these objectives provide a template for faculty when developing student assessment tools. These objectives can assist not only in determining student achievement and placement, but also in assessing instructional effectiveness at the unit and program

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Susan Toohey, Designing Courses for Higher Education (Buckingham, UK: Society for Research into Higher Education and Open University Press, 1999).