Financial planners may have been looking to the exit door following the introduction of new education requirements but their anxiety is unwarranted, according to Mentor Education.
The group’s founder and managing director, Dr Mark Sinclair, said many mature age planners took the matter of new academic qualification requirements to heart, believing it would be a “draconian impost” on their time, and a slight on their professionalism and track record of ethical provision of advice.
“For a number of senior planners, the regulatory academic requirement deadline coincided with their planned exit to retirement – so the timing fortuitously provided the catalyst to move into succession mode,” Sinclair told industry events and dealer group professional development days.
Instead of calculating the years to retirement and exit at the end of 2023, Sinclair laid out the time and study framework for a degree:
- There are 12 units in a Master of Financial Planning at the University of Notre Dame;
- A planner would get an average of four exemptions (credits), while some would receive six exemptions;
- Each unit would be undertaken over three months while planners could study each unit in succession of four per year;
- The eight units, required on average, can be completed over two years;
- Planners have until 2024 to complete their study (6.5 years from now);
- Planners can add advice areas such as aged care; and
- Each unit would provide up to 50 continuous professional development (CPD) points.
Sinclair added that while balancing the demands of pursuing further education while maintaining the advice business could be daunting, feedback has thus far been that it had been beneficial for advice practitioners.
“Although there continues to be small pockets of resistance and negativity to the academic and professional industry standards, the reality is they herald the start of a new and exciting era for the advice sector,” Sinclair said.
“The long-term benefits will be measured in significantly heightened levels of consumer trust and confidence and the standing of financial planners as highly respected professional practitioners.”
