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27 | O akville B eaver | T hursday,M ay 30,2019 insidehalton.com 476 Kerr Street (just south of Speers Road) 905-845-2933 www.oakvilleappliance.com COOKING AND BAKING LAUNDRY DISHWASHERS COFFEE MACHINES REFRIGERATION The all new Generation 6000 appliances provides endless combinations of cooking methods, ultimate performance and state-of-the-art user controls featuring M Touch. You will have endless combinations to fit your active and healthy lifestyle. miele.ca TION Many people who man- age their own finances can find it confusing. Try- ing to find the right advis- er can add to that confu- sion. Part of the problem is all provinces, except Qué- bec, have no rules or legis- lation governing the titles various financial people arbitrarily assign them- selves. You can call your- self a financial planner because there are no reg- ulated criteria of qualifi- cations necessary. That apparently is go- ing to change. In the re- cent Ontario budget, the province introduced the Financial Professionals Title Protection Act, 2019. There has been a lot of talk about this topic in the past however, no real progress has been made. If the government carries through with its intent it will be a step in the right direction. In order to call yourself a "financial planner" or a "financial adviser" you will have to obtain the ap- propriate credentials and remain in good standing. A financial planner is someone who helps you meet your financial goals, such as educating your children and planning for retirement. A financial adviser helps you with your investments. I strongly recommend you determine what your specific financial needs are, and then choose the person, or people, most qualified to help. Do you need help with invest- ments, planning, or both? FP Canada, formerly the Financial Planning Standards Council, offers qualified individuals the Certified Financial Plan- ner (CFP) designation. There are 9,000 CFPs in Ontario. When the proposed new legislation is passed they will still be able to use the title financial planner. Those individu- als who do not have the ac- ceptable qualifications will not. This is significant be- cause historically those who have betrayed unsus- pecting clients by calling themselves financial planners when they didn't have the qualifications, have led to many exam- ples of fraud and theft. Last fall, Advocis, an industry group re- presenting financial ad- visers, conducted a sur- vey and 91 per cent of those polled agreed they wanted legislation to reg- ulate the title of financial adviser. Over half of those surveyed thought regula- tions on the use of titles was already in effect. I strongly agree with the initiative of the Onta- rio government to regu- late the use of financial ti- tles. Peter Watson, of Peter Watson Investments MBA, CFP®, R.F.P., CIM, FCSI offers a weekly financial planning column, Dollars & Sense. He can be con- tacted through www.pe- terwatsoninvestment- s.com OPINION FINANCIAL PROFESSIONALS TITLE PROTECTION ACT, 2019 IT'S A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION, WRITES PETER WATSON PETER WATSON Column Each year, The Oakville Beaver contributes over $300,000 in support of our community Canada's award-winning newspaper is recognized as the leading source for news, reliable information and advertising in Oakville Committed to supporting our town www.oakvillebeaver.com 905-845-3824