Why retaining your professional designation is crucial to you and your business and what primary and secondary benefits are available to you as a member of the FPI:

Primary Benefits
The FPI strives to be relevant and pro-active in the industry and has many benefits for its members.  Apart from receiving value adds such as magazines and other tangible benefits, the following should be regarded as the most important, although intangible, benefits of being a member:

1. The FPI is able to add value to its members’ practices, by enabling the member to use the FPI’s marks as designation, by providing the member with an opportunity to obtain Continuous Professional Development (“CPD”) and by providing a Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility in terms of which a member can be distinguished from other advisors in the industry.
2. It is to the abovementioned value adds that the FPI has undertaken great measures to ensure that the RFP™ mark, the AFP™ mark, the FSA™ and the CFP^® mark are clearly identifiable and well known to the public, that the Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility remains enforced and meet the standard of local and international legislation, regulations and policies and that the FPI remains on the forefront of CPD developments.
3. The FPI’s Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility has recently been subjected to amendments to improve consumer protection in the financial planning industry. We believe that this will increase the public’s demand for financial planners who bear the FPI’s marks and financial planners who adhere to the Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility.
4. In respect of its CPD provision the FPI has submitted an application to the Financial Services Board (FSB) to have its members exempt from the FSB’s CPD requirements. Approval of this will mean that the members of the FPI will only need to meet the FPI’s CPD requirements.

Secondary Benefits

1. Exemptions from certain Level 2 Regulatory Examinations for CFP^® professionals.
   
2. Focused technical communications to keep you abreast of the rapidly changing financial planning.
3. Access to Continuous Professional Development (CPD) opportunities via the annual FPI convention, regional FPI events, FPI-accredited CPD providers, FPI’s e-CPD platform
   and negotiated discounts at industry events.
4. Quarterly subscriptions of the FPI Magazine, The Financial Planner.
5. Access to regular legal and technical information and communications as well as free annual subscription to the LexisNexis online monitoring tool valued at over R2000!
6. Access to a wealth of information and solutions to your business needs through associations with value chain partners and a wide range of industry products and services.
7. Support for the financial planning profession with volunteer representatives in regional and Industry Sector Groups (ISG) committees who are actively engaged with government, industry bodies and key stakeholders on your behalf on various industry and legislative issues.
8. Commissioners of Oaths ex officio status for CFP^® professionals due to the professional designation they hold. Read more...

Benefits of FPSB Affiliation

1. Member rates/discounts at international member country events. Facilitation of cross border practices and certification.
2. International benchmarking for curriculum, assessment, CPD, experience, Codes of Ethics, Conduct and Practice Standards.
3. Access to international research, trends and information sharing with FPSB member countries.
4. Global communities of interest to interact with international colleagues and peers.