More Money Podcast - Did I Pass My Exam? Find Out If I'm Now Financial Planner - Jessica Moorhouse

Episode Date: November 26, 2025

So... did I pass the Qualified Associate Financial Planner™ (QAFP®)? You know, the exam I've been working towards these past 5 years, so I could finally call myself a financial planner. Listen to this special solo episode to find out the results, plus my thoughts on the year ahead as we wind down one of the wildest years I can remember.For full episode show notes, visit jessicamoorhouse.com/445Follow meInstagram @jessicaimoorhouseThreads @jessicaimoorhouseTikTok @jessicaimoorhouseFacebook @jessicaimoorhouseYouTube @jessicamoorhouseLinkedIn - Jessica MoorhouseFinancial resourcesMy websiteMy bestselling book Everything but MoneyFree resource libraryBudget spreadsheetWealth Building Blueprint for Canadians course Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lou, Lulu, and welcome back to the More Money Podcast. I am your host, Jessica Moorehouse, and this is a special solo episode. I'm so happy to be recording this. Honestly, I've had this specific solo episode scheduled into my podcast schedule for the past month or so. It just says exam results, solo episode, but I did not know whether I was going to be able to tell you if I passed or failed, because I'm I only just got the results a couple days ago, and it could have very well been a very different episode, but I'm excited to share some very happy news. After five years of taking, I can't even remember how many courses in total, like five or six or something like that, and a lot of exams and just spending hours and hours and hours, studying, while continuing to run my business, while writing my book, always I had it in my sites to get my qualified associate financial planner, QAFP designation. And for me, I really wanted to just prove to myself that I could because I'm not a gal who went to, you know, finance school,

you know, in university, I went to film school. I went about this career in a very weird way. And it's always been a kind of a source of insecurity that, am I, you know, am I good enough? Do I know what I'm talking about? I know I know what I'm talking about. But, you know, sometimes you need that validation. And so for me, back in 2020, when the world was really weird and scary and we were locked in our homes, I decided to take the Canadian Securities course. And then once I passed those exams, which honestly don't bring me back to that time, those were the hardest exams I think I've ever taken. I'm like, okay, let's keep going. Let's see how far I can go. And then I got to a point where I'm like, let's get our QAFP. And I'm excited to share

that after taking the exam on October 7th, I passed. And you may be like, well, yeah, of course you passed. I told so many people, you know, my journey in what I was doing. And they're like, oh, you'll be fine. I'm sure you passed. And I know they probably meant that and even believed it. But guess what? I did not. I really, I truly did not think I was going to pass. because it was, I'd say, the hardest exam I've ever taken. And not just because it's like I knew this stuff, obviously I passed, but it was the time constraint. So many people were telling me, you know, before the exam, just so you know, it's going to feel like you do not have enough time. And that was true. It was me and this other guy, I hope he passed in this computer lab,

in this college. I chose not to do it at home. I want to do it in a setting that was kind of of, you know, just so I could just focus. And he left 20, with 20 minutes to spare on the clock. And I was like, really? You don't need those extra 20 minutes because I sure do. I'll take them. I was answering the final question, which I did not read and I definitely guess because I ran out of time because I had 20 seconds left on the clock before I had to submit. Otherwise, I guess I would have failed. It was intense. It was intense. I literally spent all of September as if it was my full-time job, luckily, work-wise, wasn't super busy. So that kind of worked out, destiny, I don't know. I spent all of September just studying. I, for anyone who's

interested in doing the QAFB or CFB, I can highly and personally recommend the business career college, their prep courses. Jason Nois is amazing and really great instructor. And I know I would have failed this exam had I not taking that prep course, at least for me, I really needed it. So anyway, so that is the exciting news that I passed the exam. Five years it took me to get to this point. And it feels really darn good. It feels really good. It feels really good. Especially to, and if you've read my book, Everything But Money, you kind of know some of the pushback I've had over the years being a financial content creator who didn't start out in the finance world. and also being a woman in finance, you know, I've always been, not honestly for the past couple

years, maybe it's because I've gotten older. But when I was just starting out, especially my 20s and even early 30s, I got a lot of, you know, questions being like, oh, really? Do you know what you're talking about? Or, you know, asking what's your experience? What's your education? What are your credentials? And that instead of me just, you know, feeling, oh, that's not nice, I'm just like, fine, I'm going to prove you wrong. If you don't think that I know what I'm talking about, I'm going to prove you wrong, and I'm going to get a bunch of certifications. And I have. I not only am a certified financial counselor, which I've had that designation since 2018. It was formerly called the accredited financial counselor Canada designation. It was just changed recently. But then I got my

Canadian Securities course certification and some other certifications, or like, not certifications, rather certificates while I was taking courses to get to the QA.S. and here I am now, a QAFP, B-A-FP, B-A-F-P, financial planner. I cannot wait. I know this sounds so lame, but I cannot wait to add those letters onto my name, on my email signature, on my LinkedIn, everywhere, and be able to finally call myself a financial planner because that is what I am now. I'm a financial planner. Now, you may be wondering, okay, what does this, what does this mean? Like, is this going to change anything? I've actually talked to a bunch of other financial content creators. They're like, why are you doing this again? I'm like, well,

part of it was, you know, just the personal thing. I just wanted to kind of prove to myself and to others that I could. But, you know, I am going to rethink what do, what do I want to do with this designation? Because I do have a lot more confidence and education and training expertise. Do I want to open back up working with one-on-one clients? Because I've kind of hit pause on that. was only working with, honestly, just a fair few of OG clients I've been working with for years and years and years, like once a year, basically. But, you know, for the past couple years, obviously I've been busy writing my book and doing all this other stuff. So that was kind of on the back burner. So I'm going to revisit that and see what that looks like. Also see how I can

kind of integrate some new things in my investing course, wealth building blueprint for Canadians. Something I've always wanted to integrate was doing portfolio reviews or, you know, you know, having some other kind of element where you don't just go through the course. And although there are some live elements in the course, I want to, I've always wanted to do something where you finish the course and then I can help you actually construct that portfolio. So I felt like I, even though I see people without designations have courses and do that, which to me, I don't, you know, okay, I guess you can technically, but I just never felt comfortable doing that without an actual formal designation where I was trained in this. So if I do that,

which I probably will, because it's been on my mind for a while, I will let you know. I may not let you know on the process. I might let you know on the podcast, but make sure to stay in the loop with me and all the changes that will be happening with my newsletter. Jessicamorehouse.com slash subscribe is how you can make sure to stay in the loop with all of that. What are some other things that I want to do this designation? I mean, yeah, possibly open up one-on-ones again, but in a bit of a different format than when I was doing as a financial counselor. So, yeah, those are kind of the potential things. We will kind of see what happens. But I'm very excited. This is just, yeah, it's been a long journey. It's been a long journey. Now, you may be wondering, am I going to get my CFP, my certified financial planner designation? And quite honestly, in my mind, because getting to this point and the QFP was so difficult, I would have told you no. And quite honestly, if I had failed this and had to retake it, I'd be like, no, I'm done. I'm exhausted. And plus, there are so many other things that I would love to go to school for.

I know I'm just, I'm a forever student. I can't help myself. But, you know, I was thinking, oh, after I get my QFP, maybe I'll take some psychology courses or I don't know, do a master's. I don't know. But I don't know. So the question that you did not ask when I'm asking myself, will I get my CFP? I'm not sure yet. But the fact that I passed the QAFP on the first try is probably a good sign that I could pass the CFP. The thing is, though, I would probably only get the CFP again just to prove that I could and to say that I've got it. But the actual difference between the QAFB and CFP isn't super significant for me and what I'm doing in my career.

For example, most people that get the CFB, it's because they plan on working for a firm that is going to work with high net worth individuals because the biggest difference between the designations in terms of your training, your education, is, you know, they have more information about or education focused on like trusts and corporations and high level or more specific tax stuff and things like that. Things that I'm like, I don't, that's not really my wheelhouse anyway. That's not what I care to do. I'm never, I don't ever see myself just completely changing my career in business just to focus on high net worth individuals. That's not why I kind of got into this thing. I want to help regular people like you and me so we can all flourish financially. And maybe most of us did not come for money. And so that's kind of my focus. So we will have to see. We will have to see, I don't know. But anyways, I just wanted to kind of share what's been going on. And it's exciting. And yes,

I'm going to celebrate. I mean, by celebrate what I do is like I just go to dinner with my husband and we have like, you know, a good meal. Going to the keg. That sounds cheesy too. Here's the thing. Whenever I think of like, ooh, let's go to a fancy steakhouse and celebrate. And then I like look on the website and look at the prices, even though technically like I could afford that. I just can't do it. There's still the cheap gal inside me who's like, I'm not paying that kind of money. You kidding me that much and you don't even get sides? I don't think so. I'm going to the keg.

I'm going to get a keg size everything and all that stuff. And also, when I grew up, because again, we didn't really have a ton of money. We certainly actually am like, do I have any memories of us going to the keg as a family? I don't think so. We didn't have that kind of money. So it was not until I think I was older, a young adult that if there's a celebration, the fancy restaurant you would go to is the keg. And so that's just what we're doing. And I'm not ashamed to say it.

I'm very excited to go there. Love a good little flame in y'all. So, yeah, that's what's going on with me. And I've got some, you know, we'll see what happens. Like, we're nearing the end of 2025. And this has been such a crazy year. And I feel so grateful to have had this year. I mean, there's been ups and downs.

There's been a lot of stress with everything. Not everything is, you know, sun's shine. daisies, but overall I can look back on this year and be like, holy crap, I can't believe we did all this. This is crazy. So we'll see. And yeah, maybe, maybe this also means, hmm, time to write another book. I've got ideas. I've been dabbling. Been writing some notes. We'll see. We'll have to see. But anyways, I just wanted to kind of share all of this. And I think that's kind of all I have to share about that. I'm going to make a more specific video on my YouTube channel for anyone who, again, is thinking of pursuing the QAFP or even the

CFP share more specifics as, you know, how I went about it, what the exam was like, kind of the technical stuff that you may not care too much about. So if you, but if you are, check my YouTube channel. I've got a video that I just uploaded all about that. But to continue my theme of sharing an archival episode every Thursday, I can tease what we got going. on tomorrow. And this is actually really funny. When did I air this episode? I don't have to Google it for a song. Jessicamorehouse.com slash 205. So I'm going to be resharing or we're going to relisten rather to my episode with Matthew Syriac. He was on a show September 25th, 2019, six years ago. And it's so funny. He used to live nearby me and we got together. He came

over to my house. And so we did a, you know, podcast interview. in person, which I've only done a handful of probably since like year one, quite honestly. And the episode was all about financial designations. And I just talked to him about, you know, his journey to become a CFP. And I remember telling him, I think in the episode, I will never do this. I am never going to do what you did. That seems so hard. I could never, I could never and cut tune out. Oh, here we are. Sure don't have my CFP, but I've got my QFP. And I think that's pretty darn special. So it's funny. Just never tell yourself, never, right? Never count yourself out. You just don't know what you'll end up doing. And for me, the thing that I've

always done my entire life since I feel like there was a pivotal moment sometime in my mid-20s, once I finished university was and really seeing like, where do I want my life to go is always trying to push myself and do things that terrify me and do things that I don't think I'm good at, do things that I think I'm going to fail at, because more times than not, you will actually succeed and surprise herself. And I think that's really important. So don't count yourself out. Don't fail yourself before you've even tried, you know, do that thing that you've wanted to do. And it could be anything, honestly. There's no, there's no wrong answers. It is your life. And especially now as I'm 39, approaching 40 it is just so much more I can see how much more important that kind of way of

thinking is because time is finite like there's time is running out not running out but sometimes I feel like time is running out and it's just it's going by so quickly and you really got to make the most out of your life and your time and do it on your terms and you know just kind of live live in that kind of mindset so thank you so much for listening and if you want to support me hey make sure to subscribe to this podcast if you're not already check me out on youtube jessicamorehouse slash youtube or just google youtube or no google jessica morehouse in youtube follow me on instagram at jessica i morehouse and of course make sure to buy a copy of my book everything but money since we're like in the holidays s sort of time you're thinking about maybe buying

some gifts for some loved ones nothing like giving them a book that's all about their relationship with money have some fun chats with that. So I'm going to leave you and going to see you tomorrow for tomorrow's relisten episode. Thank you so much for all of the, you know, best wishes and, you know, everything I've gone, you know, while I was studying for the exam. I really appreciate all of that positivity. It obviously worked and helped me get to this point. So thank you. And that's, have a good rest of your week. Thank you.