Notes from the Executive Director

Written By: Rebecca Wiggins

Greetings from the AFCPE National Office! The 2014 Annual Research and Training Symposium in beautiful Bellevue, Washington was packed with terrific sessions, cuttingedge research, new resources and a lot of networking! Each year, the Symposium provides an opportunity to celebrate the organization’s growth. This year was especially exciting with a variety of new initiatives and partnerships to announce.

New Partnership and Program Development

AFCPE is part of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)’s National Financial Coaching Project, which requires the AFC^® designation. Additionally, we are thrilled to announce an exciting project with Better Business Bureau to develop a financial education mobile app for veterans.

Looking ahead to 2015, we are partnering with McGraw Hill Financial on a Financial Readiness Project, which will also utilize AFC professionals! We will continue to partner with organizations that can provide quality continuing education opportunities to meet your professional and educational needs. In 2014, we partnered with the National Disability Institute to help educate financial professionals on the unique financial needs of the disability community. This February, we’ll team with Credit Builders Alliance to deliver a three-part series designed to give you a better understanding of credit building as asset building strategy and provide best practices in credit education.

New Resources

Much of the year’s efforts were also focused on ways we can support your career and the field with additional resources and career paths. With the dedicated efforts of the Career Task Force, we now have a more robust Career Center with an interactive job board, career guide with information on various job titles, responsibilities, requirements and salary, as well as helpful next steps to pursuing your career.

The AFCPE Achieve online tool was rolled out during the Symposium. Achieve was created specifically for AFCPE Professionals to access tools and resources during and between sessions with clients. We believe the tool will be a strong asset to you and an enhancement to your practice.

Don’t miss the new AFCPE Member and Certification Logos and Communication Kits. These resources will guide you in sharing the value of your certification mark and membership with your clients, colleagues and employers!

The Value of Your Feedback

We value the direct feedback from members, which helps set the strategic focus for the upcoming year. For instance, last year we received a lot of feedback on the need for career support and desire for more student involvement. In response, we developed a special Student Scholarship Fund. With your donations, along with Experian’s generous support, we were able to offer 20 scholarships to students from 13 different universities! These students were invited to take part in our first Mentor Match program during the symposium. We look forward to expanding the program and continuing to facilitate these relationships among colleagues.

Exciting Announcements

Lastly, we are thrilled to announce that AFCPE is pursuing accreditation for the AFC^® through the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA). Accreditation ensures that the AFC program aligns with the best practices from an outside accrediting body and demonstrates AFCPE’s commitment to continuous quality improvement. AFCPE is proud to join respected leaders in the financial field, such as the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, by seeking NCCA accreditation.

Accreditation through NCCA will enhance the value of your designation to employers, colleagues and consumers; it sets your certification mark apart from others in the field. The AFC’s compliance with NCCA standards shows that the educational content and testing for the AFC is psychometrically sound and has been developed, maintained and governed at the highest standard. More information and changes to the current AFC examination process can be found on the website.

As you can see, 2014 was a year full of growth and opportunity for the organization. We carry this momentum into the New Year, and hope you will join us in creating more awareness for the value of our organization, membership and certification, and for the field as a whole.