What Credentials Matter for Financial Advisors?

Not all designations are created equal. Jason Watt explains the ones that signal real financial expertise.

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The public’s out there, they’re looking for financial planning advice, they’re looking for investment advice. What designations really carry some oomph in your mind that you really, if you were looking what would you wanna see?

So on the financial planning side, really the CFP to me is the table stakes. And then the more advanced version of that would be the RFP, the registered financial planner. And that one brings with it now, the fiduciary obligation that comes with that’s not necessarily as clear for other financial planning professionals in Canada.

And then the other big designation that I think carries a ton of weight is the chartered financial analyst, the CFA.

Yeah. I speak for a lot of the CFA society, now I always joke with them. You had three years of very tough courses to learn you can’t beat an index fund.

It’s, And they, they always gotta roll their eyes. I think they’re sick of that joke anyway, but it is a good designation.

It covers a tremendous amount of material in an in-depth way too. That’s a tough course. If you get through those three years, you’ve learned a lot.