And why a small discount made me a better financial planner
If you are looking for a financial adviser, you will quickly notice that our industry loves an acronym. We collect letters after our names as if they are going out of fashion.
But there is one set of letters that sometimes matters more than the rest: CFP®.
That stands for Certified Financial Planner®. It is the global gold standard for our profession. But if I am completely honest with you, my journey to getting those letters was not driven by a grand, lifelong ambition. It was driven by the fact that I am a Northerner who loves a bargain.
Let’s rewind to early 2019. I was living in Cape Town at the time. I had just finished my Diploma and travelled back to the UK to sit the Pension Transfer Specialist exam. When the email arrived in February to say I had passed, I breathed a massive sigh of relief.
That was it. I was done with exams. No more late nights studying.
Then, I received an email from the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (the CISI). They were promoting the CFP qualification. I cannot remember the exact wording, but it essentially said that if I signed up that week, they would knock a fiver off the price.
Being from Wigan, my instincts kicked in. I signed up immediately.
What followed was not quite the quick win I had anticipated.
Life happened. Between illness, a global pandemic, and moving countries twice, that “bargain” qualification took me almost two years to complete. But in 2021, I finally received the confirmation. I was officially Michael Yuille CFP®, Chartered Fellow (Financial Planning).
And looking back, it was hands down the best and most enjoyable qualification I have ever done.
So, why should you care about my exam history?
You should care because the CFP® qualification fundamentally changes how an adviser operates. A lot of financial advice is purely transactional. It focuses on selling a specific product or managing a single pot of money.
The CFP® process is entirely different. It forces you to look at the whole picture. It is about understanding your life, family, goals, and cross-border complications before we even look at a spreadsheet.
When you work with a CFP® professional, you are working with someone who has been rigorously trained to build a comprehensive, integrated and holistic, joined-up plan. We are tested on how all the moving parts interact. When you are navigating the tax rules and residency quirks of the UK, France, the US, and South Africa all at once, you need someone who sees the whole board.
It means you get qualified, compliant, and human-centred advice rather than just a sales pitch.
A lot of work goes into those three little letters. But for the peace of mind they bring to my clients, they were worth every penny of that discounted entry fee.
If you want to experience the difference a proper financial plan can make, feel free to reach out.
