The Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI) is encouraging the UK financial planning community, led by CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERTM professionals, to sign up to 7 - 11 October national Financial Planning Week #FPWUK to offer pro-bono guidance for consumers and highlight the life-changing value of financial planning.
The annual CISI campaign, which aims to encourage UK consumers to benefit from a free, one-hour, confidential financial planning session, is an opportunity to showcase to the UK public the professionalism of CFPTM practitioners and highlight the relationship-based focus of the process. With the primary aim being to help people organise their finances to achieve specific life goals, the campaign seeks to help consumers build financial confidence, combat anxiety and stress about money and deal with life’s challenges around day-to-day financial decisions.
The campaign in 2018 was a significant success with over 90 firms offering surgeries across the UK and nearly 1 million hashtag impressions recorded on Twitter.
Financial planners throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are encouraged to:
- Join the campaign to help highlight the real benefits of financial planning
- Consider offering one-hour free consultation surgeries, either in person, via skype or over the phone for members of the public
- Take part in “Ask a Planner” online sessions and offer written responses to individual’s queries
- Provide talks to local schools across the country to share the merits of the financial planning profession as a career
Jacqueline Lockie CFPTM, Chartered FCSI and CISI Head of Financial Planning said: “Our financial planning community understands the importance of Financial Planning Week to raise awareness of the role of qualified financial planners in helping people from all walks of life, not only the wealthy, and of all ages, to think ahead and plan for their future. This is our chance to demonstrate our planners’ social responsibility credentials for all consumers to understand the real benefits having a financial plan can bring them. We will start off with participating in IOSCO’s World Financial Planning Day as part of World Investor Week on 2 October and then focus on UK Financial Planning Week to help consumers here.”
Martin Ruskin CFPTM, Chairman, CISI Financial Planning Forum said: “As Financial Planners we hear and see first-hand what the gap in advice really means for the general public. There are so many people out there who might have a pension, but they don’t have a plan - this national campaign gives our financial planning community a chance to help those who might not have or may never even consider seeking help. We see it as a chance to really make an impact and a difference to people’s lives and to help encourage the public to start thinking about how they plan to achieve their dreams. Plus, it is so easy to get involved, and can be as simple as sharing the main messages on your Facebook or Twitter accounts”
The highlights of CISI’s Financial Planning Week in 2018 included:
- 90 participating firms
- Total campaign impressions 5,019,4018
- FP Week webpage visits: 14,516
- #FPWUK impressions: 933,633
Financial planners who are members of CISI Financial Planning Forum and wishing to sign up to CISI Financial Planning Week should go to
cisi.org/registerfpweek
CISI Financial Planning Week this year is preceded by World Financial Planning Day
2 October, organised by IOSCO (International Organisation of Securities Commission) as part of World Investor Week and supported by the Financial Planning Standards Board Ltd (FPSB). These are global campaigns to raise awareness of the importance of investor education and protection and will encourage 181,000 CFP professionals in 27 countries to join together to help.