Sample Secondary Research Report Reviews

Secondary Research Topic – Continuing Education for Financial Advisors Continuing Education (CE) is a prevalent topic for any person whom is a professional in the

financial field, specifically Certified Financial Planners (CFPs), Chartered Life Underwriters

(CLUs), and Chartered Financial Consultants (ChFCs).

This topic is so prevalent because if a financial professional does not update their knowledge

regarding their profession, how can clients know they’ve trusted the right people with their

money? When it comes to finance, trust is the most important dynamic between client and

professional. Clients need to have the satisfaction of knowing they’ve trusted the right person(s).

Finance rules and regulations get updated by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority

(FINRA) pretty consistently. Now this doesn’t mean that it’s always new things being added for

professionals to know as it could be modifying standing rules and regulations. Financial

professionals need to update their education constantly. However, the current CE courses

required are completely satisfactory and need no change to them.

Methodology

I conducted research on the internet and used personal knowledge to better my understanding of

the process of CE for financial professionals.

The research I conducted online consisted of 4 articles written by CFPs, lawyers, and other

financial professional designations.

My personal knowledge comes from being a financial major and having connections to CFPs

with whom I’ve talked in depth about this topic.

Essential Background

There is a multitude of requirements for CE for each type of financial professional. For example,

Cussen (2018) points out that CFP practitioners must complete at least 30 hours of continuing

education every two years.

This process, in the past, was much more time-consuming than it is today as you had to go into

actual classrooms or business rooms and learn as if you were a student in high school or college.

These days, financial professionals can access these courses through the FINRA website and take

the courses whenever they have time. Once a course is completed online, the hours are reported

directly to required states or designation boards.

However, not all of it is online as Cussan (2018) states some advisors frequently attend week-

long seminars covering specialized topics or continuing earning new designations to provide

level of service their clients need.

Issues and Conclusions

As stated previously, CFPs must complete at least 30 hours of CE every two years. Now to a

student who takes anywhere from 12-21+ hours of classes every day and work a part time job,

this might seem not as tall of a task as it really is. The problem becomes that financial

professionals will work from early in the morning to the evening and might not always have time

for any extra work such as these classes. However, these professionals need to make time for

these courses or else they will lose their certifications and won’t be able to do their jobs.

Granted, this shouldn’t happen unless something completely unforeseen occurs and requires a

professional’s constant time and attention.

There are those that disagree with me, such as Kaissar (2018) says that advisors and brokers

should have to complete a minimum amount of undergraduate or graduate-level course work in

finance, accounting or economics and pass a multiday comprehensive exam. This would be

expanding the 30+ hour workload. Not only would financial professionals have to work full time

already, but then be working as a part/full time student. These current professionals do not have

that time. If this system were imposed on incoming financial professionals, then sure since that’s

what finance majors are already doing. Expecting anyone whom works full time to take a

multiday exam is not reasonable.

A financial professional should not be measured based on his classwork but his actual work.

Why does it matter if a financial professional doesn’t have a degree if can perform his duty to

clients and receive satisfactory outcomes? Continuing education is there to make sure financial

professionals know what they need to know without interfering with their jobs. If they can

perform perfectly fine with just the current continuing education courses then there is no need to

expand the work load at all.

Closing Statement

There will be plenty of people who will disagree with what is said here. However, the majority

of financial professionals will agree with me when I say that the current continuing education

requirements are fine as is. If the majority was not in agreement with me then the requirements

would have already been changed.

My call to action would be to continue doing exactly what you are doing now. There is no reason

to change anything when financial professionals already conduct their work in a satisfactory

manner.

References

Mark P. Cussen, CFP®, CMFC, AFC. (2018, February 21). A Day in the Life of a Financial

Advisor. Retrieved December 4, 2018, from https://www.investopedia.com/articles/active-

trading/072815/day-life-financial-advisor.asp

Mark P. Cussen, A. (2018). How to Keep Up With Your Continuing Education. [online]

Investopedia. Available at:

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/professionaleducation/07/continuing-education.asp

[Accessed 4 Dec. 2018].

Nir Kaissar. (2018, April 25). Voices: What financial advisors need to keep earning. Retrieved

from https://www.financial-planning.com/articles/why-financial-advisors-need-to-be-held-to-a-

higher-standard

Nir Kaissar. (2018, April 25). Bloomberg - Financial advisers need steady learning to keep

earning. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2018-04-25/financial-

advisers-need-steady-learning-to-keep-earning