Guides and updates on Canadian licensing: LLQP, CIRO's proficiency model, CFP/QAFP and insurance careers, from BCC's instructors.
34 articles
General
In April, FP Canada announced that it is soon going to be offering Core and Advanced Curriculum in support of CFP® and QAFP™ certification. Since then, I’ve had many questions from current and former students, and a couple from prospective students, about what this means for BCC. First, I appreciate
Jason's Corner
Last month, I talked about our upcoming CE Week, featuring a variety of topics. I asked our marketing team (Alex, Liz, Devesh, and Tiffany) to put together a website to handle enrolments and promote the event. They came up with a brilliant result! The site and registration links are now
Investing
I have had several questions and conversations of late about what licensing is required to transact in securities. This article is a summary of those conversations but is not a thorough examination of securities laws. If you have questions about your own situation, you are encouraged to engage a securities
Newsletters
In the final month of our focus on risk management, I am going to pick on a pet peeve of mine from the life insurance sector. I continue to see life insurance needs analysis done like so: Samantha earns $100,000 per year, or $72,000 net of taxes. Derek, her spouse,
Newsletters
Financial Planning and Risk Management — thinking past the the three predictable risks: Like many of my students, I started my career in the insurance side of the financial advisory business. I cut my teeth teaching the LLQP and then life insurance Continuing Education courses. Probably also like many students,
Newsletters
As discussed in our March newsletter, the theme for the second quarter of 2022 is Risk Management. I’m going to take this discussion in a slightly unconventional direction. You might expect a discussion about insurance or emergency funds or even personal directives. But I would like to, instead, discuss Risk
Jason's Corner
Our CE Drive podcast continues to roll along, and I wanted to take this opportunity to give you some updates about it. I love producing the podcast ¾ I find plenty of interesting people to interview, and I hear a lot of good feedback from our listeners. All episodes are
Education and Designations
Maybe you want to start a new career or enhance your current one by adding another certification under your belt. It takes time and consideration to figure out where you want to go next in your professional career, and once you come to your decision, the next step is to
Newsletters
This year we wanted to do a bit more for charities that mean something to our staff. We asked each of our team members to select a charity that they hold close to their heart and propose it to the rest of staff. By late summer, we had several different
Education and Designations
With fall right around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about the CFP® and QAFP™ exams coming up this November. Like previous years, candidates will have the option to write their exam in-person at a designated testing centre, but they also have the option of writing their exam in
Education and Designations
We are just around the corner from a return to school, whatever that will look like. For many students (and possibly their parents as well), it’s time to start thinking about how to pay for the return to school. The Canada Student Loans program is likely the best-known financing source for students.
Newsletters
In the past, my newsletter articles have been geared towards explaining the LLQP process. But life changes for all of us with me being no exception. After 38 years in this business, I will be retiring at the end of this year. I started in the industry as a life
Financial Planning
The Income Tax Act permits the deduction of child care expenses under certain circumstances. A quick summary of those rules: Only the lower earner in the household can deduct the expenses. For a separated couple, the same rule applies receiving child support can deduct the expenses. There are some exceptions,
Newsletters
I am back this month talking about LLQP. As with all things in life right now, the LLQP process is greatly impacted by Covid-19. About mid-March, all provincial jurisdictions in Canada stopped offering the opportunity to write provincial exams. Not knowing how long this would last, we allowed people to
Newsletters
In late April, we hosted our 12th annual Group Insurance Symposium. We normally run this session live in Edmonton each April and again live in Calgary each October. This is a two-day event designed for those who make their home in the group benefits space to obtain their CE credits
Insurance and Risk Management
Since the fall of 2019, BCC’s financial planning Core Curriculum classes have adjusted to include all content from the FP Canada Institute™ Financial Planning Body of Knowledge (FP-BoK). The FP-BoK is a robust attempt to describe all the technical knowledge required of a financial planning professional. The FP-BoK includes the
Newsletters
Below is a case study I wrote for the United Way to demonstrate the value of a program they operate here in Edmonton. This is a true story – only the name of the program participant has been changed. If this type of work is interesting to you, we have
Education and Designations
I am back to discussing insurance agent licensing, but wow, we are certainly in interesting times. As an organization, Business Career College is trying to react positively and responsibly to the crisis. When we transitioned to online/digital learning for most of our programs about a decade ago, I, as a seasoned
Financial Planning
When we discuss the professionalization of the delivery of financial advice, we often discuss fees, minimum education requirements, and obligations to clients. One of the significant items missing from the discussion is a robust body of research. Four years ago, my eyes were opened to the extent to which I
Newsletters
Earlier in this edition of the newsletter, Jason shared his thoughts about the CFP Board Academic Research Colloquium. I attended that event in Washington, DC as well. This is our 4th year for that event and each time I come away with my head full of new things that I
Newsletters
Here we are in February! Every advisor’s favourite season – RRSP season! Somehow Costco and Walmart don’t have an RRSP display and have somehow paid more attention to Valentine’s Day. At BCC, though, we are acutely aware of RRSP season. February is normally our slowest month of the year, as many of
Insurance and Risk Management
Some of you may have picked up on this notice from the law firm Norton Rose Fulbright back in November of 2019: https://www.nortonrosefulbright.com/en-ca/knowledge/publications/33cf038b/prohibition-on-gifts-of-life-insurance-policies-to-charities-in-british-columbia-by-bc-residents. While I haven’t seen the source document, it refers to correspondence by the BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA) concerning charitable donations of life insurance and trafficking provisions in the Insurance Act.
Education and Designations
Now that we have spent some time looking at the LLQP program and all its various components, it will be good to look at some steps that are being taken to keep it current. Students are currently tested on material included in the 5th Edition LLQP text books. The process is that
Education and Designations
If you are on your path to the CFP® or QAFP™ designation, did you know that there are two courses you will need to complete after the Core & Advanced Curriculum? They are called Introduction to Professional Ethics (IPE), and Professional Education Program (PEP). Available exclusively through FP Canada, please note
Financial Planning
As in 2018, Business Career College was the Platinum Sponsor for FP Canada’s Financial Planning Week 2019 activities. This is our fourth year sponsoring Financial Planning Week activities; we have sponsored the Ethics Breakfast in the past as well. This major event had 3 distinct components this year: The Celebration
Financial Planning
Behavioural finance research makes it clear that we are all victims of our own biases. Dan Kahneman, who is likely the world’s leading researcher on bias, has this depressing conclusion as it concerns bias: “The odd thing is that educating people doesn’t seem to be enough, because we find that
Newsletters
It’s September, and some of your clients might be sending the kids away to post-secondary school for the first time. This can be an exciting time. I know that Canadians don’t do this as much as our neighbours to the south, but it still happens. Even if the kids aren’t
Financial Planning
Since the introduction of the TFSA, I have often heard that low-income Canadians cannot benefit from the RRSP and should be using the TFSA instead. The argument here generally hinges on qualifying for the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS). For a quick review, the GIS is paid to those who have
Estate Planning
A question that comes up regularly in class, and features much confusion, concerns RRSP beneficiary designations. I expect that most people are aware that an RRSP annuitant can name a spouse as beneficiary and achieve a rollover to the spouse’s RRSP on death. Similar rules apply to RRIFs. Common-law partners
Insurance and Risk Management
Living in Alberta, I saw much discussion of child care leading up to this most recent election. Last year, when the 2018 Budget introduced adverse consequences of building up too much passive income within a corporation, many commentators pointed out that this would hurt prospective parents who might build up
Estate Planning
I have spent a bunch of time over the past couple of months reviewing students’ Capstone course work, as they pursue the CFP® Certification. While it is not new to me, a pattern that I see is that financial advisors tend to present the avoidance of probate as a virtue.
Financial Planning
Your clients are likely rounding the corner to tax season, and gathering up receipts to support their desire to minimize their tax bills. Some of those receipts will likely include medical expense receipts. As we know, most families have relatively low direct health care costs. The things that do carry
Financial Planning
For many of our clients, February is RRSP (Registered Retirement Savings Plan) season. We don’t run a lot of classes in the last two weeks of February, and we normally see a lull in activity as advisors scramble to meet their clients’ last-minute tax planning needs. I am going to
Education and Designations
I spent much of December at various Christmas events. I must be a boring conversationalist, because I find the topic often turns to designation programs for financial advisors. Given that we have two initiatives upcoming related to the Chartered Life Underwriter program, I will take this opportunity to discuss that
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