A new era is coming for the advisor with a prestigious designation.

Next fall it will be official—if you’re an advisor with a CFP mark you will have expanded fiduciary responsibilities in almost every aspect of your practice. And it doesn’t matter what kind of firm you work for or if it will mean you or your employer will have to dig deeper to comply.

That’s what Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards officials were reminding CFP practitioners on Wednesday night at an expository meeting in Manhattan. It is part of a series of meetings around the country to discuss how recent professional code changes, which include the redefinition of financial planning, affect the standards of CFP practitioners.

The new expanded fiduciary standard covering CFPs next year “includes discretionary authority as well as communications that would be viewed as a recommendation that the client take or refrain from taking a particular course of action with respect to a wide range of financial matters,” according to the new code.

The code expansion, adopted by the CFP Board on March 29 and due to go into effect in October 2019, broadens the fiduciary standard “to all financial advice.” What is financial advice?

The CFP professional will be covered not just when he or she is providing financial planning, but also financial advice.

“That is a significant expansion of the fiduciary duty,” said Leo Rydzewski, general counsel of the CFP Board.

Exceptions to this new expanded fiduciary rule include responses to directed orders as well as the furnishing of marketing materials, general financial advice that “a reasonable CFP would not view as financial advice,” according to a commentary on the new code provided by the CFP Board.

“This is a big win for consumers and we support these changes very much,” said Stephen Craffen, chairman of NAPFA, a fee-only financial planning group that has been pushing for a broader fiduciary standard for over a decade.

How To Apply New Rules?

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