Fundamentals & Insurance Flashcards
CODE OF ETHICS:
A CFP® professional must:
- Act with honesty, integrity, competence, and diligence.
- Act in the client’s best interests.
- Exercise due care.
- Avoid or disclose and manage conflicts of interest.
- Maintain the confidentiality and protect the privacy of client information.
- Act in a manner that reflects positively on the financial planning profession and CFP® certification.
CODE OF ETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY PRINCIPLES
Principle 1 – Integrity: Provide professional services with integrity.
Principle 2 – Objectivity: Provide professional services objectively.
Principle 3 – Competence: Maintain the knowledge and skill necessary to provide professional services competently.
Principle 4 – Fairness: Be fair and reasonable in all professional relationships. Disclose conflicts of interest.
Principle 5 – Confidentiality: Protect the confidentiality of all client information.
Principle 6 – Professionalism: Act in a manner that demonstrates exemplary professional conduct.
Principle 7 – Diligence: Provide professional services diligently.
Rule 1.3 If the services include financial planning or material elements of financial planning, the certificant or the certificant’s employer shall enter into a written agreement governing the financial planning services (“Agreement”). The Agreement shall specify:
a. The parties to the Agreement
b. The date of the Agreement and its duration
c. How and on what terms each party can terminate the Agreement
d. The services to be provided as part of the Agreement.
Practice Standard 100-1: Defining the Scope of the Engagement.
The financial planning practitioner and the client shall mutually define the scope of the engagement before any financial planning service is provided
the financial planning practitioner and the client shall mutually define the scope of the engagement. The process of “mutually-defining” is essential in determining what activities may be necessary to proceed with the engagement. This prcess is accomplished in financial planning engagements by:
- Identifying the service(s) to be provided
- Disclosing the practitioner’s material conflict(s) of interest
- Disclosing the practitioner’s compensation arrangement(s)
- Determining the client’s and the practitioner’s responsibilities
- Establishing the duration of the engagement
Terminology: “Fee-only.”
A certificant may describe his or her practice as “fee-only” if, and only if, all of the certificant’s compensation from all of his or her client work comes exclusively from the clients in the form of fixed, flat, hourly, percentage or performancebased fees.
Terminology: “Commission”
denotes the compensation generated from a transaction involving a product or service and received by an agent or broker, usually calculated as a percentage on the amount of his or her sales or purchase transactions. This includes 12(b)1 fees, trailing commissions, surrender charges and contingent deferred sales charges.
Terminology: “Compensation”
any non-trivial economic benefit, whether monetary or nonmonetary, that a certificant or related party receives or is entitled to receive for providing professional activities.
Integration Factors. Among the factors that CFP Board will weigh in determining whether a CFP® professional has agreed to provide or provided Financial Advice that Requires Financial Planning are:
a. The number of relevant elements of the Client’s personal and financial circumstances that the Financial Advice may affect
b. The portion and amount of the Client’s Financial Assets that the Financial Advice may affect
c. The length of time the Client’s personal and financial circumstances may be affected by the Financial Advice
d. The effect on the Client’s overall exposure to risk if the Client implements the Financial Advice
e. The barriers to modifying the actions taken to implement the Financial Advice.
Terminology: “Personal financial planning” or “financial planning” …In determining whether the certificant is providing financial planning or material elements of financial planning, factors that may be considered include, but are not limited to:
- The client’s understanding and intent in engaging the certificant.
- The degree to which multiple financial planning subject areas are involved.
- The comprehensiveness of data gathering.
- The breadth and depth of recommendations.
No Client Agreement to Engage for Financial Planning.
If a CFP® professional otherwise must comply with the Practice Standards, but the Client does not agree to engage the CFP® professional to provide Financial Planning, the CFP® professional must either:
a. Not enter into the Engagement
b. Limit the Scope of Engagement to services that do not require application of the Practice Standards, and describe to the Client the services the Client requests that the CFP® professional will not be performing
c. Provide the requested services after informing the Client how Financial Planning would benefit the Client and how the decision not to engage the CFP® professional to provide Financial Planning may limit the CFP® professional’s Financial Advice, in which case the CFP® professional is not required to comply with the Practice Standards
d. Terminate the Engagement.
Felony
A felony offense, or for jurisdictions that do not differentiate between a felony and a misdemeanor, an offense punishable by a sentence of at least one-year imprisonment or a fine of at least $1,000.
Relevant Misdemeanor
A criminal offense, that is not a Felony, for conduct involving fraud, theft, misrepresentation, other dishonest conduct, crimes of moral turpitude, violence, or a second (or more) alcohol and/or drug-related offense.
Regulatory Action
An action initiated by a federal, state, local, or foreign governmental agency, self-regulatory organization, or other regulatory authority
Civil Action
A lawsuit or arbitration.
Finding
A finding includes an adverse final action and a consent decree in which the finding is neither admitted nor denied, but does not include a deficiency letter, examination report, memorandum of understanding, or similar informal resolution of a matter.
Minor Rule Violation
A violation of a selfregulatory organization rule designated as a minor rule violation under a plan approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. A rule violation may be designated as “minor” under a plan if the sanction imposed consists of a fine of $2,500 or less, and if the sanctioned person does not contest the fine.
Financial Planning
A collaborative process that helps maximize a Client’s potential
for meeting life goals through Financial Advice that integrates
relevant elements of the Client’s personal and financial
circumstances.
When is a client first engaged with a CFP® professional?
a) When a written contract is signed.
b) When the client pays the practitioner.
c) When the client first relies on the practitioner’s advice.
d) When the client transfers their assets to the practitioner for
management.
c) When the client first relies on the practitioner’s advice.
Code of Ethics
- Act with honesty, integrity, competence, and diligence.
- Act in the client’s best interests.
- Exercise due care.
- Avoid or disclose and manage conflicts of interest.
- Maintain the confidentiality and protect the privacy of client
information. - Act in a manner that reflects positively on the financial
planning profession and CFP® certification.
Financial Planning: Terms of the
Engagement
• Provided prior to or at the time of the engagement (first or second
meeting)
• Include:
• The Scope of Engagement and any limitations;
• The period(s) during which the services will be provided; and
• The Client’s responsibilities.
A CFP® professional is responsible for implementing, monitoring, and
updating the Financial Planning recommendation(s) unless specifically
excluded from the Scope of Engagement.
Compensation Models
• Fee-Only • Advisor and/or Firm cannot change, or have the ability to charge, sales related compensation • Fee-Based • Fee and Commission • Sales Related Compensation • 12b-1 fees • Transaction fees • Revenue sharing • Referral fees
Under what circumstances may Alan, a CFP® professional, commingle
assets with his clients?
a) It is never allowed.
b) Only if assets are properly tracked and available to the clients on
demand.
c) Only if given explicit written authorization, properly tracked and
permitted by law.
d) Only if given explicit written authorization and available to the
clients on demand.
When does the CFP Board allow you to use “Fee Only” to describe a CFP®
professional’s compensation?
a) Insurance sales and commissions
b) Hourly rate only
c) Salary and bonus from employer
d) 12b-1 Fees
b) Hourly rate only