Throughout the month of October — assuming you live in or near a participating city — you can get free financial help from a CFP as part of the CFP Board’s “Financial Planning Days.” In short, volunteer CFPs are providing extended workshops on a wide variety of topics.
Many of these “Financial Planning Days” will take place on Saturdays throughout the month, though there are evening workshops in some locations. I’ve never been to one of these so I can’t comment from personal experience. That being said, the topics do look quite useful.
While it’s easy to be skeptical about such things — and I’m nothing if not skeptical about just about everything — they do set the right tone with this program in saying “there are no strings attached — volunteer financial planners will not sell products or services, give out business cards or take down names.”
If this sounds interesting or useful, then click through and check out the list of 2012 events. There aren’t any around here, but maybe there’s one near you.
This is a way the profession gives back to their communities. In Florida, CPAs do the same thing twice a year – they offer FREE financial advice/planning to the general public – and there really are no strings attached. It’s just professionals volunteering their time and knowledge.
~Florida CPA