Maintain My Professional Designation(s)

Ethics Compliance - Introducing:  Compliance Hub+

CFP Ethics: FPAAZ is recognized as a center of excellence for CFP® Ethics education.  We credit the application of Learning Hub+ principles when delivering this mandatory content.  Our chapter was chosen to participate as a focus group in the summer of 2024, reviewing and providing commentary to CFP Board of Standards education staff on their draft updated Ethics course content.  Our feedback influenced the direction of prior and current course content toward more interactive, pragmatic material.

Annually expect at least one FPAAZ opportunity to complete your CFP Ethics course credit requirement.

Insurance and IAR/RIA Ethics:  FPAAZ supports unique Ethics content for Insurance Licensed professionals, as well as IAR/RIA Ethics continuing education. "Good People. Bad Things." leverages the Learning Hub+ adult learning toolkit - resulting in a fast moving 4 hour workshop that connects the dots between your firms' stated values and your compliance vulnerabilities.

Duty of Care Training: All CFP® Professional have a Fiduciary Duty when delivering financial advice to clients.  Along with the Duty of Loyalty and the Duty to Follow Client Instructions, the Duty of Care practice standards form the backbone of consistently professional financial advice.  FPAAZ's commitment to exceptional Governance and the adoption of Dynamic Governance systemically incentivizes a high Duty of Care in our decision making.  Following the recommended process steps in the Board of Standards Duty of Care guidance before submitting proposals for action means our volunteers are utilizing the practice standards on a regular basis.

Future planned additions to the Compliance Hub+ include a series of compliance resources not readily available elsewhere.  As more volunteers step forward to help, progress on these planned additions speeds up.  Are you interested in helping?

Professional Development - Practiced! Introducing: Professional Development+  [PDP+]

FPAAZ  created a series of 9 Workshops using the Learning Hub+ toolkit and checklists.  The 9 Workshop topics evolved from our collective effort to nurture and nourish leadership and teamwork within our community - teamwork capable of Advancing the Profession and Impacting Financial Literacy in Arizona in quantifiable ways over time.  Many (not all) PDP+ workshops also earn professional CE credit.

Do you want to be the best financial planning professional you can be?  Think you are a team player?  Earn your PDP+ certificate!

Tip:  For PDP+ Learning that Sticks, volunteer with any FPAAZ chapter team.  We literally practice what we preach.

Community Collaboration: Catalysts.  Partners.  MOU's.

FPAAZ's Vision is to be the Essential Hub of our Financial Planning Community.  Overtly seeking and providing Chapter to Chapter continuing education support and Organization to Organization collaborative learning options is a core activity.

Find Catalyst, Partner and other MOU organizations' continuing education offerings:  Community Connections calendar.

Ruh Roh!

Need CE Fast?  Journal of Financial Planning - online digital edition -  continuing education credits are available to FPA members.

Programming Journey:  The Road Less Travelled

BC (Before Covid) FPAAZ documented downward trending attendance over time at monthly chapter continuing education meetings, regardless of a consistent quality venue, topics chosen by financial planning volunteers, and well vetted presenters. 

Prior norms and force of habit weren't maintaining, much less building, future interest in attending chapter events.  Reduced registration fees, enhanced food & beverage options, extra networking time - no creative inducements reversed attendance trends.

Community engagement seemed to be diminishing, or the expectations around continuing education were changing? Small programming misses became oversize problems per survey responses.  An over zealous sponsor - buggy audio/visual - parking hassles - presenter cancellations requiring quick substitutions.  What to do with no margin for error, when something goes amiss?

The Pandemic did not create the trend...it simply accentuated and accelerated the trend.

Many chapters sought attendance critical mass by hosting less frequent, longer duration events.  This model works in some communities, though attendance and membership remain challenging for every chapter we connect with.  In AZ, two years' of focusing on quarterly Super CEvents did not reverse our downward attendance trends. 

So - we continued experimenting with our (unique) overt topic autonomy, varied gathering formats (frequency, location, pricing, structure), focused attention on financial planner lifecycles & ambitions, and the attention to Learning Hub+ rigor & engagement efforts impacting our professional community expectations.  We are still learning how to communicate these attributes effectively.

Crux:  See some AZ financial planners quarterly, or see more AZ financial planners at least once annually?

If you are curious about our chapter Journey - experimentation, discoveries, the resulting approach to Professional Development-Here's our story.