Video transcript:
Chris Benson, CPA/PFS
Principal, LK Benson & Co.
The CPA is the most well-positioned to offer these services because we have the trust of the general public. We have the code of ethics that we live by and we work by.
So especially in a field like financial planning that is fairly new, you know, much newer than other professions out there, it’s rapidly changing. The investment world is rapidly changing. Some of the strategies behind financial planning and retirement withdrawals and, you know, even what retirement means to clients now is changing. So you have to stay up with what’s going on in the industry, and CPAs historically have done that because we are used to that on the tax side.
Brooke Salvini, CPA/PFS
Principal, Salvini Financial Planning
One other thing that a CPA financial planner brings and adds value to the client relationship that isn’t often there in the general financial services world is that we are inherently fiduciaries. That’s our CPA culture. So, you know, I bring that to the client relationship even if they aren’t asking for it and they don’t know about it.
Lori Luck, CPA/PFS
President/Shareholder, CLS Financial Advisors
The value of being a CPA financial planner is that, I like to say, that we are sort of the cross or the intersection between somebody who knows a lot about business and somebody who knows a lot about personal financial issues. And because we have that training from becoming a CPA, and because we have that extra training of learning about personal finance stuff, we understand the terminology of the business world. We understand the employee benefit plans that maybe an executive might run across. We understand the retirement plans that a sole proprietor, entrepreneur might need to have. So we can bring all those pieces together.
For more information on personal financial planning, visit aicpa.org/pfp
