Senior Specialists and Advisors
Rogue Designations
Senior Citizens: Beware of Rogue Financial Service Professionals
Most experts say that you should look for someone with credentials when shopping for Financial Services such as insurance and investments. For example a senior citizen looking for long term care insurance does a search on the web and find over 80 agents with the following designations and credentials.
- Certified Senior Specialist (CSS)
- Certified Senior Consultant (CSC)
- Certified Senior Advisor (CSA)?
To make it more confusing, over half had two of more of the three designations listed above.
Question: How do the consumer make sense of this. How does a consumer decide which designation empowers the agent to help them make suitable choices for consumers or are they cheap and deceptive marketing devices. The three designations above have been investigated by the
US Senate Special Committee On Aging. The reality is that there are some rogue designations in existence that give the appearance that those using them are specialists in the finances of older Americans. These programs are not designations; they are educational programs, often presented in hotels over a two or three-day period. This activity should raise red flags by consumers.
The following designations are not in question and were not investigated.
- Certified Financial Planner (CFP)
- Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC)
- Personal Financial Specialist (PFS)
- Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
- Chartered Investment Counselor (CIC)
- Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU)
- Financial Services Specialist (FSS)
- Life Underwriter Training Council Fellow (LUTCF)
"Senior" Specialists and Advisors
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission –SEC Alert
Some Financial Professionals use designations that imply that they are experts at helping seniors with financial issues. Many seniors, however, don't understand the sets of initials that may follow the names of these financial professionals or the meaning of the titles - such as "senior specialist" or "retirement advisor" - they use to market themselves.
The education, experience, and other requirements for receiving and maintaining a "senior" designation vary greatly. In some cases, a financial professional may need to study and pass several rigorous exams - after working in a designated field for several years - to receive a particular designation. In other cases, it may be relatively easy in terms of time and effort to receive a "senior" designation, even for an individual with no relevant experience.
If you want to find out more about a particular professional designation, check out the "Understanding Investment Professional Designations" page on the
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority - FINRA's website. The page provides the education and experience requirements for many professional designations. In addition, you can find out whether the granting organization for a particular designation requires continuing education, offers a public disciplinary or investor complaint process, or provides a way to check the status of a financial professional. Keep in mind that the neither the NASD nor the SEC endorses any professional designation.
Even after doing some research, it may not be clear to you whether a professional designation represents legitimate expertise, a marketing tool, or something in between. That's one reason you should always look beyond a financial professional's designation and determine whether he or she can provide the type of financial services or product you need. It’s good common sense to evaluate the background of anyone with whom you intend to do business - before you hand over your hard-earned cash, and to ask a lot of questions.
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Jim Robinson posted on Thursday, July 21, 2011
Tags: Professional Designation, Professional Certification, Accreditation, Credentials, Insurance Credentials, Financial Planning Credentials, Financial Planner Designation
Posted in: Financial Education
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