205 Who Can You Trust? Financial Designations Explained - Matthew Siwiec, Founder of Friendly Financial Coach & CFP Candidate

I'm back! After taking some time off this summer, I am so excited to be back with Season 9 of the Mo' Money Podcast! With 4 years under my belt, I can't believe how much this podcast has evolved...and grown. Over the summer I crossed the 1 million download threshold, and currently I'm at 1.1 million total downloads! That's a ton of amazing people like you listening to the show, how crazy is that!? To kick off season 9 of the podcast, I thought this would be the perfect episode. One thing I hear often from listeners is "I want to work with a financial planner, but who can I trust or how can I find a good one?" If you've listened to several episodes of my show, I am not a fan of going to the bank and working with their advisors because they ARE NOT giving you unbiased advice. They work for the bank, and no matter how they are compensated (salary, commission, both), they are incentivized to sell their bank's financial products first, and advice second. That's why I'm such a big fan of fee-only financial planners. Although you do have to pay money upfront to work with them, and sometimes they can be expensive, they are UNBIASED because they do not work for a financial institution. They are being paid to advise you, and they shouldn't be pushing any particular financial products on you, nor should they be able to sell you anything besides their services. So, I knew the perfect guest for this episode, my friend Matthew Siwiec, founder of the Friendly Financial Coach. He just finished his CFP exam (which is no easy feat) but has been in the financial advisory industry for over a decade and now works as a fee-only financial planner. More Info About Financial Designations in Canada Financial designations explained by the Investment Funds Institute of Canada Understanding financial certifications by IIROC Financial designations explained by Advocis Financial designations explained by Canadian Securities Institute Info About Becoming a Financial Planner Path to become a Qualified Associate Financial Planner (QAFP) Path to become a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) Path to become a Personal Financial Planner (PFP) Info About Becoming a Financial Counsellor Path to become an Accredited Financial Counsellor Canada (AFCC) Follow Matthew Siwiec FFCoach.ca Simple Money Podcast Twitter: @F_FCoach Facebook: Friendly Financial Coach For for full episode show notes visit https://jessicamoorhouse.com/205