The Financial Planning Institute of Southern Africa (FPI) engages students at the UJ Professional Body Expo
The Financial Planning Institute of Southern Africa (FPI) visited the University of Johannesburg (UJ) on 27 September during its UJ Professional Body Expo to spread the word of financial planning as a profession and had meaningful and impactful conversations with the eager students.
We take our mandate seriously as a South African Qualifications Authority registered professional body offering professional designations that are registered on the National Learning Registered Database. Our stuff spent the day interacting with the students taking them through relevant information relating to a profession as a financial planner and advisor. The goal was to make financial planning and advice attractive by making clear the benefits of choosing it as a career, as well as to encourage young people to play their part in creating a financially secure future for South Africa.
The FPI professional designations of REGISTERED FINANCIAL PRACTINIONER™ (RFP™), FINANCIAL SERVICES ADVISOR™ (FSA™) and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® (CFP®) were explained in detail to the students, who showed quite a lot of interest in the profession. The FPI is the only institution in South Africa to offer / responsible for overseeing these designations, and our staff played their part in fulfilling our responsibility of ensuring that we promote the profession of financial planning and advice in our ongoing quest to ensure that the profession occupies its rightful place within professions in the market.
The requirements for the professional designations are:
RFP™
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- FPI Recognised NQF 5 qualification OR NQF 5 Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA)-recognised qualification
- 1 year working experience
- Pass the FPI Professional Competency Examination (PCE)
FSA™
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- FPI Recognised NQF 6 or 7 qualification OR NQF 7 Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA)-recognised qualification
- 2 years’ work experience or 1-year mentorship under an FPI professional member
- Pass the FPI Professional Competency Examination (PCE)
CFP®
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- Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Planning or BCom Hon in Financial Planning (NQF Level 8)
- 3 years’ working experience or 1 year under mentorship of a CFP® professional
- Pass the FPI Professional Competency Examination (PCE)
The overall message to the eager students was that if they are passionate about the financial planning profession, have the willingness and drive to aspire to excellence in everything they do, will always act in the best interest of the clients and be honest, consistent and transparent and always take pride in what they deliver to clients and consumers, then this was the right profession for them.
As part of the FPI’s vision to make professional financial planning available to all South Africans, we run the Young Financial Planners Organisation (YFPO) programme, which is a member-led FPI community, to create a professional space where aspiring financial professionals can interact with peers and also receive mentoring from established financial professionals. This forms part of our overall vision to make professional financial planning available to all South Africans.
FPO seeks to recruit into its ranks young people who aspire to work as financial planners and advisors and inspire the young generation of CFP® professionals. Mentorship is an integral component of the YFPO programme. Aspiring financial professionals can receive direction and support from experienced financial professionals, pertaining to aspects of their professional development including encouragement around how to prepare for, and pass, exams. This environment is suited for guiding aspiring professional planners and advisors on their journey and be able to receive mentorship from established RFP™ professionals on the steps and input expected and experience and educational requirements needed to progress from being RFP™ professionals to being FSA™ professionals and to eventually be CFP® professionals.
Ultimately, the community of young financial professionals will be playing an increasingly important role of bringing professional financial planning and advice to all sectors of the society. Younger members of society and consumers can feel confident to reach out to these young and competent financial professionals for advice in order to plan a brighter future for themselves. Ultimately the South African consumer will receive improved access to quality financial planning.
