Next year I will mark thirty years in this industry. I worked my butt off from the very first days, earned my CFP the hard way back in 2001, and now I have to go back and be reprogrammed because someone has arbitrarily decided my qualifications are "too old". I have kept up with all training requirements, met all industry standards and have successfully run my own practice for over seventeen years now. Nobody can tell me why my CFP is less valid than someone who earned it three years ago, when I did all the semesters, all the study and all the exams to qualify. The FPA have thought enough of it to send me certificates, notifications and bills for the past 20-odd years, and they kept telling me it was the highest qualification I could have. Thanks however to all the 'professionals' who think I am not worthy of any sort of exemption, and need to take over 700 hours away from my clients to keep a license that I earned nearly three decades ago.