Note: The MoneySense Find A Qualified Advisor tool is a paid service for advisors in partnership with the Financial Planning Association of Canada. Members of the association must be an accredited CFP, R.F.P, F.Pl or QAFP.
What’s the difference between the types of advisors listed in the tool?
The Find a Qualified Advisor tool allows you to search for advisors by Qualifications, Location, Services, Specializations and Payment Model.
A note about location: Maybe you’ve already tried searching for “financial advisor near me” or something similar. Many advisors now provide services virtually, so you don’t necessarily need to find an advisor in your own town or city.
The advisors listed in our tool provide different services and have different specializations, and they have a variety of financial planning designations. In addition, they charge for or get paid for their services in several ways. Here’s how to understand these criteria:
Services
The advisors in our directory may provide some or all of the following services:
- Financial planning: These advisors can evaluate your current and future financial states and provide a comprehensive financial plan with recommendations to optimize your situation while taking into account your goals and values. A financial plan can also focus on a specific goal or circumstance, such as planning for post-secondary education funding, debt repayment, financial planning as part of a separation or divorce, risk management or retirement, to name only a few examples. See below for a list of different financial planning designations.
- Investment planning and implementation: These advisors can provide specific investment recommendations and implement them by investing your money for you. To provide investment planning and implementation services, an advisor must be licensed by the investment regulatory body in every province and territory where they provide services, and they must manage money through an investment dealership.
- Insurance planning and implementation: These advisors can provide specific insurance recommendations and implement them by selling you insurance products. To provide insurance implementation services, an advisor must be licensed by the insurance regulatory body in every province and territory where they provide services.
- Mortgage/lending implementation: These advisors can provide specific mortgage and lending recommendations and implement them for you by arranging mortgages, term loans, consolidation loans and other forms of credit. To provide mortgages, these advisors must be licensed as mortgage brokers or mortgage agents in every province and territory where they provide services.
Specializations
The advisors in our directory may specialize in specific types of advice or services—such as cross-border or international financial planning, socially responsible investing, business succession planning or retirement income planning.
Qualifications
The advisors in our directory are all members of the Financial Planning Association of Canada. In accordance with FPAC membership requirements, they all have at least one of the following financial planning designations: