FPA AWARDED FOUNDATION GRANT: The Financial Planning Association has received a $252,468 grant from the Foundation for Financial Planning - the largest grant ever given by the foundation.
The grant will help sustain the FPA's National Financial Planning Support Center, which provides pro bono financial planning assistance, and also help expand the FPA's current pro bono program to include low-income individuals and families, disaster victims, and individuals who have received credit counseling or declared bankruptcy.
The support center was founded in 2001 to provide assistance to families impacted by the events of September 11, but has since expanded its reach to hurricane victims and military families, including reservists and members of the National Guard. The foundation's grant has allowed the support center to complete a military benefits guide for those families.
CFP EARNINGS SOAR IN '04: 2004 was a good year for certified financial planners, as the median earnings for CFPs across the country rose 56 percent, to $219,000, according to a survey conducted by the College for Financial Planning.
Meanwhile, 54 percent of CFPs reported that their annual income is derived via a combination of fees and commissions, while 29 percent reported that their income was a result of fee-only planning services.
The results were part of the College for Financial Planning's "2004 Survey of Trends in Financial Planning." The poll is conducted among holders of the CFP designation who also are members of the Financial Planning Association.
But with added income also comes extra work: The majority of survey respondents reported that they drafted an average of 30 financial plans over the past year, compared to an average of 21 financial plans in 2003.
TIBURON SEES HUGE OPPORTUNITIES FOR PROVIDERS IN CONSUMER WEALTH: Tiburon Strategic Advisors, a market research and strategy consulting firm serving the brokerage and investment management industry, reported that U.S. households control $17 trillion, or nearly 75 percent of all investable assets in the U.S. - thereby creating a wide opportunity for financial services companies.
In the 14th in a series of research reports on the future of the wealth management industry, Tiburon found that the aggregate $17 trillion figure has the potential to balloon to $30 trillion by the year 2010, while retirement plans, endowments and foundations would be controlling the remaining 30 percent.
The report also found that the values of consumers' holdings of equities and homes are now roughly equal, at about $12 trillion. In 1990, for example, the value of consumers' homes outweighed their equity holdings by a margin of $9 trillion to $4 trillion, while from 1998 through 2000, consumers' equity holdings increased to $14 trillion, while their home values increased to $11 trillion.
The Tiburon report said that the 76 million members of the Baby Boom generation now account for one-third of the total U.S. population, and that demographic presents large opportunities for financial services companies over the next two decades for several key reasons:
* The onset of peak earnings and savings years;
* The imminent approach of retirement and liquefaction years;
* Longer lives; and,
* Other factors, including increased contribution limits, wealth transfers, Social Security privatization and the estate tax repeal.
The IRA rollover market is booming, according to Tiburon. As Baby Boomers retire and liquefy their 401(k) plan balances and other illiquid assets, many are projected to roll those assets into IRA accounts. The IRA rollover market is expected to grow from $127 billion in 1999, to $467 billion in 2010. After 2010, another source calculated that $500 billion will roll into IRA accounts on an annual basis.
The share of U.S. households in their savings-intensive, pre-retirement years is expected to increase from 29 percent in 1990 to 36 percent in 2010. Two-thirds of Baby Boomers will retire between now and 2013, and 46 million Baby Boomers will retire before 2013.
