Financial Planners Standards Council Tip Sheet

August 1, 2002 Toronto - Summer is here, school is but a distant memory, and everyone is taking advantage of a glorious weather. While it's a time of celebration, it's also a time of preparation for the coming year, or years. Certified Financial Planner® (CFP®) professionals encourage young people to begin investing as soon as they start working. Articles geared towards youth, savings and running small businesses can be an informative editorial, summer column or feature story, and reliable sources are easily accessible through the Find an Expert feature of Financial Planners Standards Council's website.

Summer also means...

* Here comes the bride… Unfortunately the price tag can be staggering. That's why financial planning is an integral part of organizing a wedding as well as a marriage. A consultation with a CFP professional can help both the bride and groom down the right 'aisle.' Presenting the consultations as a unique gift, a necessity for a successful marriage or in a series about weddings can add a new twist to summer wedding articles.
* Vacation… Are your readers wishing they had a cottage, a boat or were travelling this summer? Any of several hundred CFP licensees from FPSC's Find an Expert can provide all kinds of practical tips on how to make those dreams a reality.
* The life of an artist… Performers spend the summer practicing their art at summer stock, jazz festivals and comedy tours, but how do these aspiring artists survive? Financial planning with a licensed CFP professional can ease the right-brain so that artists can focus on their creative left side. Areas of interest include affording contract work, the need for long-term planning and international revenue laws.

Financial Planners Standards Council (FPSC) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to benefiting and protecting the Canadian consumer by establishing and enforcing education, examination, experience and ethics requirements for financial planners who choose to earn the CFP designation. There are currently more than 14,000 planners licensed to use the CFP marks in Canada, and approximately 70,000 CFP professionals in 17 countries around the world.

You can locate reliable sources for these stories on the Find an Expert page of FPSC's website (www.cfp-ca.org).