<font color=red>FPA Convention</font> FPA exploring cultural, organizational changes

Marty Kurtz is trying to bring cultural change to the Financial Planning Association. The FPA is pushing a "clients first" message, complete with wrist bands and lapel buttons, and plans to push its members to upgrade the quality of advice and how they run their businesses, including developing a system of peer reviews — Mr. Kurtz, FPA president, said in an interview today at the organization's annual conference in San Diego "We want a simple message — clients first — then make sure everything is about financial planning," said Mr. Kurtz, president of The Planning Center Inc. in Moline, Ill. But the FPA faces an age-old problem — many financial planners are still stuck in a sales-first mentality, he noted. "How many people are doing true planning?" Mr. Kurtz said. “Not many.” In fact, the originators of the planning profession saw it as a better way to generate sales, he said The shift away from the sales mentality has got to continue, he said. While the FPA lost membership after the financial crisis, it is now holding steady at the 28,300-member level, he said. He thinks that number can grow, however, if the FPA defines its mission better. Retention has grown from 75% to 85% over the past year, he added. "I think those [members who were] on the cusp made a decision — they either stayed or they left," he said. As part of the cultural change the FPA is promoting, the group is in the midst of its own organizational review. "We're looking at governance and the board structure," Mr. Kurtz said, as well as how the group spends its resources. On external issues, Mr. Kurtz said the FPA still wants the Securities and Exchange Commission to oversee advisers, but acknowledged that the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. has a better shot at getting jurisdiction than the SEC does in getting increased funding to do the job. He also said the FPA is exploring whether states might be willing to regulate financial planning as a formal profession, something that looks unlikely at the federal level. In a speech to attendees last night, Mr. Kurtz laid out his vision and chided some members for revisiting divisive issues from the past, including the 2001 merger between the Institute of Certified Financial Planners and the International Association for Financial Planning , which created today's FPA. "There are still some sore feelings," he told InvestmentNews, due to cultural differences between the CFPs from the Institute and industry members from the IAFP.