The Institute of Advanced Financial Planners says that membership for 2005 now stands at 466 members. This includes 442 professional members who hold the Registered Financial Planner (RFP) designation.

IAFP says these numbers represent a 1% decline in membership compared to 2004. While a net decrease in members may not sound like good news, such a slight drop was welcomed as an encouraging sign as the IAFP launches into its third year in the wake of challenges currently facing the profession.

“Quite a few planners retired from the business this year, and I think we’ll continue to see that over the next while. It has to do with age demographics and the increasing challenges of regulation,” says Ian Secord, IAFP president.

Other reasons cited by non-renewing members included difficulty in meeting the membership requirements of the IAFP, while some were concerned about the lack of public awareness of the RFP mark.

“We have no intention of watering down our standards, and are committed to maintaining the RFP as the hallmark of the professional financial planner in Canada. We are also determined to increase the profile of the RFP designation now that the IAFP has clearly proven itself to be a viable alternative for the planner seeking to distinguish themselves from the crowd.” Secord asserts.

“More importantly, we have welcomed 12 new members, most of whom are associates seeking the RFP designation. Associate members are committed to completing the RFP requirements within five years. Since the IAFP was established in 2002, we have granted four new RFP. designations.”

The IAFP also welcomed back five RFPs this year whose memberships had previously lapsed. “We were contacted by a number of people who were having second thoughts about the choices they made in 2002/2003. Once we were assured that these people met our professional development and other criteria, we were glad to have them back.”

Secord acknowledges that the IAFP will never be the largest planning organization in Canada but hopes it continues to attract those in the profession committed to advancing their planning expertise and improving the level of planning services to their clients. “To that end we are trying to create a professional organization that caters to the needs of the advanced planner by providing members opportunities to expand and share their expertise through tools such as our annual Symposia and RFP Forum.”

The Symposium, which takes place September 29/30, is already one third sold out. Based on verbal assurances, it will be half sold out by the end of June.