This could be the beginning of fierce debate. Our story “Canadians have goals but lack game plan” has received some impassioned responses from the members of the industry.

At the heart of the debate is the findings of the recent HSBC study “Tomorrow, Today” which revealed Canadians are uncertain about attaining their financial and life goals.

One industry veteran placed the blame for this uncertainty squarely on Canadian advisors, accusing them of not providing clients with the information they need in order to be confident in their financial futures.

“If an investment salesperson wants to call him or herself an ‘advisor’ or ‘financial planner’, then they must provide that service and update it annually,” says David Christianson of Wellington West, in Winnipeg. “If the client is falling behind, they need to be made aware of that fact and adjustments [must be] made to the plan. If they are tracking ahead of plan, then let’s let them know that and help them enjoy the improved quality of life that comes with fact-based confidence.”

At its core, he argues, financial planning involves creating accurate, reasonable projections of future retirement income that can be produced from a client’s resources at some set point in the future. But advisors seldom give their clients a clear financial plan they can understand, he says, and seldom update clients on their progress. An informal poll he conducted with readers of his weekly newspaper column formed the basis for his allegations.

“It’s no wonder they are so nervous about their situations and so vulnerable to scary headlines in the media about the economy and the markets,” says Christianson.

Calling it a huge weakness in the services being provided by the advisory community, he says its members “are not taking seriously their responsibility as financial planners or true ‘advisors’.”

“Any advisor or financial planner [who] does not understand each of his clients’ most cherished goals and who is not regularly administering and updating the plan that he or she created for each client is essentially committing fraud when they use terms like advisor or financial planner.”

Christianson urges them to be honest and let the clients know that they are investment advisors, insurance professionals or other product specialists, but acknowledges that it may not be practical for many advisors.

It is difficult to provide any financial planning or extra services over and above recommending funds when seemingly large investment assets produce very small annual recurring revenue, he says.

(09/16/10)