Being young is an obstacle as a Financial Planner?

[Dennis Ng]

at another internet forrum, someone asked:"is being young as a CFP is an obstacle to convince clients. What do you think?"

below are my comments:

You're in Australia right? Yes, I spoke to a very experienced Financial Planner based in Australia a few years ago. He is about 50 and told me that "the no. of grey hairs he has actually help him get more clients".

Australia is about 15 to 20 years ahead of S'pore in Financial Planning. Thus, people know that a Financial Planner are like great wines, they get better with age. In S'pore, everyday you see many fresh graduates who say they're financial planners. Well, they didn't even have much experience planning their own finances, do you think they can really help you plan your own finances?

Why? Becos a REAL Finanical Planner is not someone who is focused on selling products (that's called a salesperson), he/she focuses on the clients' interest and is supposed to be a trusted advisor, somewhat similar to the position of a Chief Financial Officer (instead of for a company, for a household instead). He will help the CEO and Chairman (the heads of the household) to find out about his/her financial objectives; analyse his/her current financial situation and finanical portfolio before recommending possible alternatives for the client to consider.

A Financial Planner will get better with more experience. Thus, the "more grey hairs help me get more clients". I have to disagree with you that if you think with a CFP you can plan your finances well, that might not be true. Becos what you learned are mainly "theoretical knowledge" and alot of information and knowledge change over time due to changes in tax and other changes.

To be able to plan your finances well and to help others do so, a person after passing CFP (in my opinion, CFP is the "beginning", not the end), he/she needs to really actively to continue to learn and upgrade himself/herself in ALL matters relating to personal finance. He/she would also "get better" with more experience dealing with different clients with different needs and different situation.

In fact, everyday I am still learning. I'm here both to learn from others and to share what I know, as I have mentioned many times. Of course, some thought I don't mean what I say. However, what's important is that I know I mean what I say.

[Samuel]

Hi,

with regards to your post dated in 2006, and also the shared notion throughout the forum that it is wise to start investing at a young age to be able to see the effects of your money growing in the long run.

Since I was 16 (in 2006), i have been investing a lot of time in arming myself with knowledge and information on the financial world, reading books, and studying Accountancy & Finance.

4 years later (2010), i have only just started investing in the markets proper. Like Abraham Lincoln once said, “Give me six hours to chop down. a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”

I took 4 years to save enough Capital, and gain sufficient knowledge before I jump into the markets to invest and I hope that within the next 3 - 5 or even 10 years, I am able to see the results of my hard work.

I say this because like Dennis, I also believe it is important to constantly learn and upgrade yourself, and that there are no shortcuts to success. When I was younger, everyday I would day dream of turning $100 into $1,000,000 overnight.

Now I have learnt never to stop learning and to also learn from the many fine investors/traders on this Forum. And ultimately, I aim to "master my finance" just like the title of this forum. Many Thanks to Dennis for his inspirational posts and dedication and passion in educating us.

[Dennis Ng]

Hi,

with regards to your post dated in 2006, and also the shared notion throughout the forum that it is wise to start investing at a young age to be able to see the effects of your money growing in the long run.

Since I was 16 (in 2006), i have been investing a lot of time in arming myself with knowledge and information on the financial world, reading books, and studying Accountancy & Finance.

4 years later (2010), i have only just started investing in the markets proper. Like Abraham Lincoln once said, “Give me six hours to chop down. a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”

I took 4 years to save enough Capital, and gain sufficient knowledge before I jump into the markets to invest and I hope that within the next 3 - 5 or even 10 years, I am able to see the results of my hard work.

I say this because like Dennis, I also believe it is important to constantly learn and upgrade yourself, and that there are no shortcuts to success. When I was younger, everyday I would day dream of turning $100 into $1,000,000 overnight.

Now I have learnt never to stop learning and to also learn from the many fine investors/traders on this Forum. And ultimately, I aim to "master my finance" just like the title of this forum. Many Thanks to Dennis for his inspirational posts and dedication and passion in educating us.

Hi Samuel,
yes, I personally discovered that when I learned to master my finances, I sort of mastered my Destiny. And I hope that I can help to educate, so that more people, including you, can learn to master your finances as well.

You're already well ahead. I remembered that until age 27, if anybody mentioned about Money or topic relating to Money, I would NOT want to speak to the person, becos during that time, I have this "misconception" that anyone who talks about Money has only Money in their minds, and I don't like to associate with such people.

So my personal Journey to Mastering My Finances only started in late 1997, when I was aged 28 then. And I took the next 12 years to achieve my First Million Dollars, by age 39, or year 2008, during the Depths of the Global Financial Crisis...

You have Time on your side, and Time is MORE Than Money actually. Becos if you lose money, you can always make it back, but if you Lost (wasted) Time, you can never turn back the clock.