A global survey of nearly 12,000 Financial Planners has ranked building trust, good communication, professionalism and regulatory compliance as the 4 most important skills Financial Planners need.

The Financial Planning Standards Board, which runs the Certified Financial Planner certification outside the United States, undertook its second Global Job Analysis Survey recently to assess the most important skills needed to be a successful Financial Planner. 

The body surveyed 11,867 CFP Professionals in 16 territories, including the UK, to find out what planners rated as the key skills.

The survey reveal the four most important skills for the "practice of Financial Planning" as:

• Building trust: Being able to show through words and actions a Financial Planner will be “fair and professional” when dealing with a client
• Effective communication: Being able to use active listening and non-verbal skills when engaging with a client
• Professionalism: Being able to demonstrate personal accountability and effective work habits
• Regulatory compliance: Being able to understand and adhere to laws, regulations and corporate compliance policies

FPSB CEO Noel Maye said: “FPSB’s research shows that CFP professionals’ practices and principles align with the interests of clients, which should provide confidence to those seeking expert advice on their financial and life goals.” 

“We are pleased that CFP professionals around the globe have embraced compliance, professionalism, effective communication and establishing relationships of trust when working with clients.”

The primary goal of FPSB’s Global Job Analysis Survey was to identify the skills required to practice Financial Planning. The aim is to use the information to help develop future courses and exams.

This year, in addition to evaluating the importance of technical skills, the FPSB also looked at the importance of “soft skills” such as coaching, emotional intelligence and so on. CFP professionals overwhelmingly responded that both technical and interpersonal skills were “highly important” to the practice of Financial Planning.

The FPSB says this demonstrates a growing emphasis by CFP professionals on the human element of Financial Planning.

The study also evaluated the importance and frequency of tasks associated with the Financial Planning process. While there was some local variation, CFP professionals around the world mostly agreed on the importance of key tasks although some tasks in the areas of tax and estate planning were rated as less important. The FPSB said this may be because some CFP professionals typically work with or defer to other professionals for these activities.

The FPSB is developing territory-specific reports of the research findings and will produce a Global Job Analysis Study report early next year.

At the end of 2020, there were 192,762 CFP professionals worldwide.