Many Canadians remain disengaged from financial planning despite the challenging economic environment, according to a recent study from the Toronto-based Financial Planning Standards Council (FPSC).

Even with shrinking pensions, struggling stock markets, record highs in housing prices and low interest rates, advisors must still work to convince Canadians of the value of their financial planning services, says Cary List, president and CEO.

“Trust is earned, it is not given,” who spoke at the Financial Planning Vision 2020 Symposium in Toronto on Tuesday.

“You simply cannot expect that clients are going to trust you given the environment that we’re working in.”

At the symposium, List highlighted results from “quarterly pulse surveys” taken as part of the FPSC’s five-year long Value of Financial Planning study, which reveal the many excuses Canadians have for not engaging in the planning process:

  • 75% of survey respondents said they are too poor to warrant the time necessary to develop a financial plan;
  • 82% said they still have plenty of time to create a plan;
  • 80% have not made a plan because they don’t like numbers;
  • 86% said they didn’t have a plan because they’re not ready to retire;
  • 75% believe their registered retirement savings plan is a financial plan.

Despite the lack of enthusiasm of some Canadians, the industry as a whole is shifting towards a more planning based approach.

Products are becoming commoditized, said List, meaning that advisors cannot identify their business with only one type of product and instead have to provide options.

As well, even though buzzwords are used, he said, financial institutions, the media and regulators are starting to send out the right messages in talking about the importance of a “holistic” financial plan and the advisor/client relationship.

These changes in the industry offer hope for certified financial planners (CFP) as a profession. There is a noticeable decline in the number of sales person job descriptions in the industry, said List, even if some sales people hide behind the title of financial planner.

“There’s at least a recognition,” he said, “that the job description of sales person is simply not going to be a career of the future.”

As well, there is a growing demand for a level of professional service from the public, said List, which is good news for the CFP certification as a standard of competence and professionalism.

“Expectations of knowledge, skills and abilities,” he said, “are continuing to increase by clients, by the consumer media, by regulators [and] by government.”