As you trawl all the Financial Services forums and News Boards the debate on qualifications motors on at such a heated level.
What we are experiencing is exactly the same for any university degree. There is a strong argument to say that someone with a Law Degree from Oxford is no better or worse than someone with a Law degree from Portsmouth – similar benchmarking is set and they both end up with the same degree at the end of the day.
The perceived ‘standard’ of each institution is the only true differentiating factor.
Personally, I was ‘brought up’ in Financial Services to believe that CII was more robust that IFS and that the CII qualification would stand up better to scrutiny as rules and regulations changed. That theory has stood me in good stead so far – but the same could easily be said for IFS.
As for the argument over the ‘Chartered’ status – I achieved Chartered not because it made an iota of difference to my clients (yet!) but an absolute fundamental difference to me and my self-belief that I deliver the best advice I can to my demographic of clients.
‘Sharpen the Saw’ as Stephen Covey says and thats the best reason I can think of to strive for continual self-development and improvement in both knowledge and skills.
Amira Norris Chartered Financial Planner Blog 