More Money Podcast - From the Archives: Relistening to Matthew Siwiec Share Who You Can Trust in the Financial Industry

Episode Date: November 27, 2025

Back in 2019, I swore in this podcast episode with Matthew Siwiec, CFP, that I'd never become a financial planner. Cut to 6 years later, and here I am eating my words as a financial planner. But the main reason I wanted him on the show back then was to talk about who you can actually trust in the financial industry, given the alphabet soup of designations that make it hard to know who is actually on your side, and who is just trying to make a sale.This episode originally aired on September 25, 2019.To find the original show notes for this episode, visit jessicamoorhouse.com/205Follow 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 Podcasts. This is your host, Jessica Moorehouse. And welcome back to another re-listen episode. One of my, you know, here's some of my favorite episodes from the archives because we're celebrating 10 years of the More Money Podcast, which is too long. That's way too long. But here we are. We're still here.

We're still here. And for this episode to kind of join with yesterday's special solo episode where I shared the results of me and the QAFP exam and all the things that happened surrounding that. So make sure to check that out. I thought it would be apropos to re-share this episode, episode 205, with Matthew Siouxek. So now he is a CFP and he came on the show. This was season nine back in 2019, September 2019 is when we recorded this. And he lived nearby. He came over to my house. We did a really fun in-person podcast episode together, really about financial designations in Canada. And obviously, since this was six years ago, a lot has changed in the financial

industry. For example, some of the organizations like IROC aren't a thing anymore. What's it called, though? I have to Google that. IROC. What's it again? It's became, aha. Okay, so back in In 2020, IROC, which stands for the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada, say that five times fast, merged with the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada, MFDA, to form the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization Zero. This is just one of the many changes that have happened in the financial industry since we've chatted with each other. But I wanted him on the show back then to discuss, you know, different designations, different

titles that you see around who does what? And honestly, I feel like this should be something that I either do another new episode on the podcast or maybe a YouTube video because I think there's still so much confusion when it comes to, wait, are you an advisor or advisor, you know, and what does that mean? And who can actually give me financial advice in Canada? What is regulated? What's not regulated. Spoiler alert, most of the finfluensers online have no credentials, but a lot of them, I mean, I'm not naming name, but, you know, some of them are giving financial advice, and they shouldn't be. And there's just not a lot of oversight, and it's kind of the wild west a little bit still, just because it's all so new. But when you are looking to work with a professional one-on-one,

you definitely want to know what's your background, what's your experience, what are your credentials. And so we talk about. that he has the CFP and we kind of talk about his journey and it is just kind of funny that I remember talking to him and thinking there's no way I'm ever going to do like do all that I think because it was just a reason that I got my certified financial counselor designation previously called the accredited financial counselor Canada designation and so I'm like I don't want to do more school and well cut to 2020 and then continue doing school for the next five years. So you're going to, I think, learn a lot from this episode. But also, if you ever have

any questions about, hey, you know, what does this designation mean? Or I was thinking about working with this person. Maybe I found them online. But I can't find out what their designation is. Or I don't understand. I don't know what those letters mean. Shoot me a DM on Instagram at Jessica Imorehouse. Email me, Jessica at Jessicamorehouse.com or just go to Jessicamorehouse.com slash contact, let me know. I'll be happy to help and explain these things because, again, me going through so much school and now having two designations, I am more than happy to kind of shed some light because it is confusing. It's unreasonably confusing. So always happy to help. Anyways, with that, let's get to that interview with Matthew. Welcome, Matthew, to the Mo Money

podcast. So excited to have you in studio. Thank you for having me, Jessica. We've been talking for, well, we've known each other for a while. But I feel like every time we do chat, you know, just hanging out, it's really about kind of one topic that we always like to talk about, which is designations in Canada. And I've never done an episode on this. And I get a lot of questions from either people, you know, reaching out to me being like,

I think I want to become a money coach or a financial planner. What are the roots to take? Or just people asking, I want to work with someone. But what, how do I know if they're legitimate or they're, you know, they do actually have creative. credentials, like, what do I look for? I think there's a lot of confusion about different types of designations. A lot of people give themselves their own titles. And also, then there's like Canada versus the U.S. because we have very different rules. So that's why I'm having

you on the show. So we can get into nitty gritty. So people after this episode will know exactly what they should look out for in terms of if they want to pursue a designation or if they want to hire someone. Perfect. Sounds good. And so let's first start off with a little bit of your background, because you've been in the financial space for a while. Yeah, it's been too long. Too long. Yeah, so it's been over 15 years where I've been in the financial industry. Wow.

Yeah, that's double what I've been. Like I'd say, yeah, it's a while. So what brought you into this sphere? Do you always like finance? Yeah, so I mean, I always was interested in economics and stuff like that in high school. And then I just kind of stumbled into the banking world. You know, when I was in high school, you know, becoming a teller seemed like a pretty cool idea. I know, actually.

And everyone else was like doing retail and stuff like that. So someone essentially, you know, gave me an opportunity. And I'm like, yeah, I'll take that. And then I've kind of just been, you know, ruling in that industry for a while and just been kind of finding my niche over the years. So you worked for a bank for a few years. And then you decided to leave that and do your own thing. Yeah. So I actually worked for a few different banks.

Okay. And, yeah, I was there. I worked in the actual, the commercial or I guess the like the retail banking sector for probably about. 10 years in total. Oh, yeah, that's a few years for like a decade. Yeah, it just flies by, though, I can tell you that. And yeah, so I started as a teller. Then I worked as a senior financial representative, which is essentially like a retail advisor. Yeah. And I left that, I left that industry because I was unhappy with the sales practices that were being implemented. I mean, I'm sure a lot of the listeners have read about or heard about stories or unfortunately

even dealt with it themselves. But, you know, over time, I just wasn't, you know, happy doing that. So I decided to, you know, kind of go on my own and offer unbiased guidance. So basically you were tired of having to push certain products when you're like, I actually just want to advise? Absolutely, yeah. Yeah, that is the whole problem with the banks. Yeah, unfortunately. Which makes sense.

And that is why me and a bunch of other, you know, personal finance voices out there are very much, like, if you want to get advice or if you want to get help, you should find someone who's fee only who is not affiliated with a financial institution. If you want that unbiased information, 100%. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So you decide to make the leap to work for yourself as a financial planner. What were the steps?

Because I know this is how we're going to kind of talk about designations. Did you know, okay, I guess that means I'm going to pursue the CFP or did you consider other designations? Yeah, so it was a very big, I had quite a few different routes that I was contemplating taking. Okay, what were those routes here? So, I mean, one of them was taking a master's in finance or economics. Oh yeah. And also I was thinking about doing CFA. Right. The chartered financial analyst. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And CFP. So I was at a point where I wasn't really too sure which road I wanted to take. And, you know, over time, I, you know, kind of decided which one was most applicable to me. And I guess we'll talk more about that later. But one of the most important things that, you know, must be considered before going upon one of these routes is, you know, what benefits you in the best way possible. Yeah. Now, just talking a little bit more about, we mentioned CFA and CFP, CFP, just we're going to mention that a while. It means certified financial planner. Why were you looking at the CFA and what exactly is that? Yeah, so certified finance analyst. It's, I mean, it's, I would say a bit of, it's a more rigorous course. Right. Yeah, here it's really tough, actually. Yeah. I would say it's probably one of the hardest of all the qualifications. Yeah. And that is more for. I would say more for back end type of like like analyst work.

Right. So if you want to become like someone that, you know, manages a, you know, some sort of a portfolio or something, that would be a step to get to that route. Well, you know, certified financial planner would be more, I would say more face-to-face contact and dealing with individuals directly. Absolutely. Absolutely. Okay.

So we know that you decided CFP was the right route for you. So much has changed in the past like year or two. It's honestly hard. for me to even kind of keep up. So what were the steps when you decide this is the route I want to take? What were the steps in order to get that designation? Because there's so many different routes. And it's not, it's very confusing in my opinion. Yeah, it's very confusing. And you'll find with all the qualifications, the pathways can be a little bit convoluted. Yeah. And it's, you know, it takes a lot of time and effort just to understand, you know, the various different paths

that are out there. But for myself, particularly, I actually started taking the first course about 15 years ago. So I actually started it when I was still in school. And that was the Canadian securities course. Yep. And that's kind of, you know, deemed to be like an entry level financial course, obviously very complicated. But it's usually the first step that's taken. So that's actually the first course that also needs to be taken for, for many of the CFP paths. Yeah. And after that, you had to take a couple other courses. So there were two other ones that you needed to take. All those courses would have exams as well attached to them. And then once you're done those courses, you're then eligible to take the first level exam, which is the FPSC Level 1 qualification. And that

exam is a four-hour intensive exam. Yeah, it was pretty gross. And most people that I spoke to after the exam actually didn't even finish it. Oh my God. How many questions? I think it was 100. Yeah, but just probably not just multiple choice kind of thing. Those ones. were all multiple choice. Oh, they were. Yeah, but it's the kind of thing where like, you know, it's not like where there are obvious. Right. Yeah, it's basically picking the one that's the best answer. Oh, I hate that. It was bad. Yeah. Yeah. It's like when I left it, I felt like I had like left a whirlwind. And you're like, I don't know what happened. Yeah. You're like there's a world outside of here. Yeah, four hour exam. Yeah, that's been a while since I've done anything like that. So it sounds like you

studied hard and you passed. Yeah. Yeah, I passed that one. Yeah. And so, so that's not. So that's not you finish all that. How long did that take you actually to get to that level? Yeah. So, I mean, once I decided that I wanted to take that pathway, it was two years to get to that. Wow. And of course, I had done the CSC course beforehand. So that like that path would have probably been three years for some of that hadn't taken it. Wow. And that's just the first level. That's just the first level. And so level two, what did that look like? Oh. Yeah. Harder. Yeah. So what you then had to do after. you passed the exam is you had to do a capstone course. And a capstone course is actually

it's a written response. Essentially, you're given case studies that you have to like write full case study responses to. So there are multiple different ones that you need to do. And it essentially climaxes and you have to write like a 40 page financial plan for for a case. Oh, 40 pages. Yeah. What the hell is going on in that financial plan? That sounds really, that's a novel. Novela. Yeah, it was pretty crazy. Wow. So, yeah, so that was definitely time consuming.

And you had to, you know, include all the math and stuff like that in the appendix. So, yeah, so that was, that was fun. And as we were talking about before, right after I finished or just before I finished it, I found out the actually the CFP path changed. Yeah. So, yeah. So now it's actually different for everyone that wants to take it. So like starting in 2020, totally no rules.

Yeah. New rules rather. Yeah. So that's super fun, which is why I have not. pursued any of it because I'm like I always kind of just like once in a while look into it there's because there's a couple different like roots you can take in order to get to the level one and then and then and then I read that all the change the rules were changing in 2020 I'm like then I'm not going to bother to look at this until 2020 so I can firmly understand what the

hell these rules are it's just yeah it's just really yeah not hard so I know one of the changes they're also making too is I think as of 2020 20, you need to have a bachelor's degree in order to pursue this. So I think a lot of people have some feelings about that I've been seeing online. They're like, well, that's not fair and all this stuff. And it's true. My film degree has nothing to do with me becoming a good financial planner. But I don't know.

Why do you think that they're changing that? Why do you think they made that rule? Yeah. I mean, it's really hard to say. Yeah. I mean, it could have been out of complaints. Right. Or maybe there is, they're concerned with maybe the pass rate for the

exam. So that may be something to help filter people out. So, you know, they, you know, don't struggle further on. You know, you don't waste a year or two until you realize that it's not the right thing for you. But it could also just be, you know, protectionism, right? So I know that, you know, in our industry, you know, they're very protective of titles. Yeah. So that could be something as well to, you know, to kind of, you know, prevent the inflow of individuals that have qualification. No, that's true. And that's, that's one thing about the CFP, which is why I've always kind of flirted up the idea of pursuing it is because it is the most kind of world renowned designation in terms of like financial planning like you know in the u.s they have that designation it is kind

of worldwide and so when someone has that designation you take them seriously you're like oh okay you must you worked really hard to get that you probably know what you're talking about um and and usually when i like am kind of recommending out people depending on what they're looking for I usually like make sure they have like a CFP or at least like the the level one designation or something like that. But there's a couple other designations out there that have been around for a little bit, but I think also people don't know a ton of them. So I don't want to ask you some questions if you know any of them. So one of them that I feel like has only been around for a few years because they started promoting it, I feel like in the subway. I'm like, oh, what is that?

Is the Canadian Securities Institute have this one called Personal Financial Planner. Have you heard of that one? Yeah, yeah. It's actually been around for a little longer. It's been around for a while. Okay. It was something that I never really knew about, but then, yeah, just a few years that I kind of learn about. It sounds very similar to a CFP, PFP, but it is not the same. If you come across it, was that one of the things that you thought, maybe I'll look into getting that myself or no? I did, yeah. So I did look at taking it. And actually, the pathway that I took a lot of the course, like a lot of them were actually through CSI, the Canadian Security Institute. That's like one of the major educational bodies where they provide these courses. And, A lot of the courses that I took are actually the same path to get that designation. But, I mean, I kind of figured that if I'm taking that path, I may as well go for the CFP. So with the PFP and CFP, can you do both? Is there any benefits or drawbacks to doing both? Because I am sometimes one of those people that fantasize of just like collecting a bunch of designations.

Because for so many years, people were like, why shouldn't we listen to you? I'm like, because I've got all the designations. But that's just ridiculous. But anyways, can you do both? And should I? No, probably not. Yeah, I mean, technically you can. But I wouldn't really recommend it.

Because I haven't seen many people with both. There's probably a reason for that. Yeah. And I mean, like, well, I guess we'll talk a little bit more about it later on. But once you have a certification or designation, there are certain continuing educational requirements you have to make. So like for my course, the CFP, you have to do 25 hours of continuing education every single year, right? And you would have to do continuing education with the other

designation as well. So that amount of time would be quite a commitment. And also with all of those qualifications, you typically have to pay annual fees as well. Right. And the benefits that you get out of having, you know, multiple acronyms beside your name, you know, it may not fully make it valuable enough to do it. That's true. That's true. And yeah, even for the designation that I have accredited financial counselor Canada. There's continuing education credits and then also an annual fee. So yeah, if you kind of keep on getting designations, it can be a lot of money and also a lot of time.

And I'm not sure if very well you could do a bunch of continuing education and be like, oh, this counts for this designation and this one. I don't know. They may have some specific girls. Be like, no, that's not how it works. Yeah, they may not allow it. It's very specific. Yeah, exactly.

So, yeah, for the PFP, I will say in my person, opinion. Like when I've done research, I'm like, oh, because I like did one course through the CSI's like financial services advice. It was like the first financial course I took. I don't know why I chose that one. It was definitely for like bankers. But it was actually quite interesting. I'm currently enrolled in the Canadian Securities Institute. And then I'm like, oh, then I just need two other courses and that get this PFP designation. But then as I've been doing research and talking to people, no one really knows that one, especially when you compare it to a CFP. The CFP is way more, I think, has a little bit more weight to it.

And also, it seems like the only people that really have the PFP are bankers, like people that work for financial institutions. So I'm like, that's something else to kind of think about. It's like, do, you know, a lot of fee-only planners have a PFP? If not, then maybe that's something that you should think about. You know, it's like you've kind of got to consider what are other successful financial planners doing? Like, what kind of route did they do? So, but I mean, you know, if you want to do a PFP, go crazy.

Go ahead. But, yeah, I don't, I don't, I don't. know too many people with it. I'll say that right now. Yeah, the CFP is usually the choice that people make. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So I touched on me having a designation that no one knows about the AFCC. I got some questions like that. For me, it was because I didn't actually have plans to become a financial planner like full time and have my own firm or anything like that. I think that's awesome. But I'm like, that was never my goal. My goal was always to do something as part business, but not my whole business, which is why I liked the idea of this program, the

AFCC. It is way bigger in the States. It's very tiny in Canada, which is why no one's heard of it. But I run into, and you may run into this as well, you talk to people and they're like, I'm a money coach. And you're like, oh, so like what are your credentials or like, where did you go to school? And they're like, no, just like started coaching people about money. What are your feelings about people that have this money coaching business practice and they don't have that kind of background or education in it. Yeah. So, I mean, it does frighten me a little bit because, you know, in my many years of being in the industry, I have come across it several times where people that, you know, they would be in a complete different industry and they're just like,

oh, you know, I'm just thinking about doing this. And you're like, okay. But there's so many details behind it, right? So yeah. Yeah. That's where it gets. really complicated and you know if you start like exploring like tax situations and stuff like that like an individual that's not formally trained would would not be able to give you know adequate advice unless they did a lot of research on the side yeah but even then it would be really complicated so it's yeah it's very challenging and I think for the person that's you know thinking about doing that like it's it's not necessarily bad that you're doing it but it's always important to improve upon your skills right yeah because I mean obviously you're doing it

because you have a passion for it. So improving upon those skills by taking courses and then further down the line through getting like a designation is something that will, you know, will help build that practice, right? Yeah. And there's no reason why your business can't change along that path as well. Yep. So, you know, for someone that's maybe, you know, that's, you know, in that situation where

they're thinking about doing it and they're not, you know, they don't have, you know, as like educational background yet, you know, there's certain areas of finance where they can focus on with like cash flow management, that kind of stuff. Or like accountability. I've seen a lot of that, which is helpful. Yeah, it's just one of those things where I had the idea of becoming a money coach before I had credentials. But I actually didn't offer any kind of services like that until I did get some because, well, A, I didn't want to give the wrong advice or information, even though I had been, you know, self-studying for so many years. And I will say from my personal experience, I am glad I did that.

I learned actually a ton from the program I did. it did and also now it's like you know kind of like yourself it's like I've got this designation there's a whole group of other people that have this designation there's a conference that we all have to kind of go to because that's how you can kind of get all of your um continuing education credits in like one weekend which is really great and also you're part of this community so you can talk to each other about like your clients and just learn from each other and share resources which so I'm like that's invaluable um so I'm sure you feel the same way with like now you're in this group of other CFPs that have this designation you can kind of

talk about your experiences and share all that. But it's just one of those things. So if you're listening and you're thinking of like working with someone, my personal opinion is make sure you understand their education, their credentials, their background, because I feel like I would never work with a personal trainer for my fitness if they didn't have any like train, like proper training. Like you don't want to mess up your health. So why would you trust someone that, oh, no, I'm good with money or I read a lot of books so I can help you to. I'm like, oh my God, I wouldn't want that, but just something to be aware of, right? So that's something like even on, I've got a recommendations page on my website, and I have that very clearly. Like,

here are some of my, you know, these are people I know. I think they're really highly esteemed, so I think they're great. But just do your own due, you need to do your own due diligence. Like, don't just take someone's word for it. Make sure you fully understand where they're coming from, what their education is, what they kind of offer and stuff like that. Absolutely. you know you're going to be paying this person money to help you you want to make sure that they actually know what they're doing yeah yeah yeah and uh canada is a bit of a weird market for finance like financial planning and guidance yeah is that there's very low regulation behind

the titles that are used there are yeah you wouldn't believe so many some of these like titles i see is like money coach for sure i see that very that's common but some of them i'm like money empowerment coach i'm like i'm not a hundred percent i understand what that means Like, that's something you made up. Like, I think maybe that's just about, you know, making you more financially confident or something. But I don't know. That's just me. And I'm probably just like, I think because I did go through a program now, I'm just like, I don't understand the people that didn't go through some sort of education.

Yeah. And yeah, and with the titles, people, well, the governments in Ontario right now, they actually had to pass a bill to protect the titles, financial planner and financial advisor. Because, right, there was this, I feel like in the news a few years ago, this story that was like there's all these financial institutions that these people were calling themselves a financial advisor. But one was with an O, one was with an E, you can trust one and not the other. And then, I mean, to the day, I'm like, I actually can't remember which one's the good one. And it's just like, so wait. And then also financial advisor is different than the financial planner. And it's, it is kind of a mess.

Like, how could someone keep all this information straight? Yeah, it is very confusing. And that's why designations are so helpful. Yeah. So, I mean, I guess we'll go down that route a little bit further. But in economics, it's essentially something called signaling. So the idea with signaling is that you have two parties and there's, you know, one party has more information than the other. So a signaling, so in this case a designation indicates to the other party that that person has, you know, some baseline education or training behind it.

So it is very helpful to have that. designation because it shows someone that you're dealing with or someone that you want to deal with that, you know, they've at least gone through these steps to, you know, to gain this knowledge and education. Absolutely. Exactly. Okay. So, so you were able to finish level one and you just finished level two recently. Yeah, I just finished the exam. So that one was six hours. Oh my gosh. Yeah. That's crazy. Yeah, it was quite something. And actually, I think the hardest part was the very uncomfortable chair that I was sitting in. Isn't that the worst? Oh, you're like, or if you have to, like, go pee and you're like, but then I'll have less time for the exam.

yeah there's no there's no sympathy for bathrooms oh no oh gosh so what was your experience like and are you so now you're done how does that feel yeah so i mean it feels great to be done yeah it actually took over two months to get the results back what yeah it was crazy so there's a point where like you know you kind of like flip flop back and forth you're like what if i failed yeah oh gosh yeah because the final exam is uh only part of it is multiple choice okay and the majority of it is actually writing responses oh so what I found doing like practice exams is that you could type in anything and if it doesn't meet their specific guidelines like it you know it's not accepted and you know when you're doing

multiple choice I felt like it's easier to know if you did yeah good or bad yep but when you're doing written answer you're like it could be anything I hate those I much prefer multiple choice or a true false situation with the one like please just write this like paragraph I'm like I can write about anything and that's good or bad. Yeah. I yeah. Oh gosh. That's terrible. Yeah. So it was it was nice to be done. I was definitely happy the day that I received that email. Good, good, good, good. I know before I hit record, we're looking at how many people in Canada have the CFP designation and it's surprisingly not a lot because I think it is so rigorous. So I think a lot of people kind of fall off. So it's again, it is kind of something to be said when you have that designation. It's like, oh, well, it's not an easy one to just

get. No, it's not. No. And it took you, in total, how long from start to finish to get it? So, I mean, excluding the, you know, the CSC course. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Probably about, I would say about two to three years. Yeah. It's a long time. It is a long time. How did you find, and you're also obviously working at the time to make a living. How did you find the time to actually squeeze into study? Oh, it's so complicated. Yeah. So what I did, what I learned after doing the first examined, a good piece of advice probably for everyone is, is actually condense all your notes. Right.

So what I did was I went through all the old notes and I turned everything into point form. So it saved me a lot of time in the future. And I think my point form notes turned out to be like 200 pages or something. Oh my God. So you can write a book on how to do the CFP. Exactly. Yeah.

And that's just point form. Oh, my God. So, yeah. And I mean, it's helpful for the future too. So even like when you're done the program having those notes, like you could just do like a word find and you'd be like, you know, what qualifications you need for this. Yeah.

So, yeah, no, it's, it was, I would definitely recommend that because for the CFP, there, there is no official textbook for the final course. Oh, really? Yeah, so it's just based on like, whatever you have. What? Yeah. That's crazy. Yeah, yeah, it's pretty wild.

Oh, I did not know that. That's interesting. Yeah, there's a whole industry behind the scenes that essentially, you know, provide that course. Right. I didn't take it myself because I didn't want to pay more than the actual course itself. Right. Right. But, you know, for someone that, you know, may not feel comfortable doing self-study like I'm fortunately able to do, I'm taking one of those courses is a good idea.

Yeah, for sure. No, I actually had a friend, not for the CFP, but for she, I mean, she's a genius because she did the CFP in like record time. Like it's crazy. She's based out of the state so it is a bit different. But she was also then pursuing the CFA because she's a genius. And she, yeah, like she's like, it's so arduous. I think she also wanted to get that done within a year. And she was. able to do it because she's so smart and but she did um because i think it is like a lot of self study but then she also did this other specific training intensive in new york or whatever to help her pass or whatever and um yeah she said it was actually like so worth it but yeah it depends it's that's the tricky thing with lots of these things there's a lot of self-study i know like for the cp like depending there's like there's courses or you can take in class like through a college or something like that and then some not like for what i did for the a fcc it was all self-study so they just mail you textbooks it's old school they give you notebooks and textbooks nothing's

online which i actually really liked it kind of brought me back to like my university days but it was all self-study and uh all they're like you have three years so make sure you get it done within three years otherwise you have to like pay again and start from scratch and uh yeah it was actually very difficult to give myself these deadlines and restrictions and sometimes what i would do was you have to book your exam yourself. And even though I did it actually, like, you can do the exam like in a college with a proctor and all that, or you could actually do it in your home and your computer, but you use, you still have a proctor with this. There's a company called Proctor You. So there's someone looking at you doing the exam online for like two

hours or whatever. It's so weird. And sometimes I would get in trouble like, excuse me, stop touching your pen or like, or like sometimes I'd just like bitch it a lot or I'd talk to myself. They're like, no talking. And I'm like, I'm in my house. No talking. But sometimes what I do is I book my exam before I was ready for it to give me some motivation, be like, you better start studying because your exam is in a month. Then I just cram.

But I'm probably the worst person when it comes to exams. Like, I'm that person that writes the essay the night before or cramps the night before. So somehow I passed. Some hour past. Yeah. So that's awesome that you were able to get that. What are your plans now? now that you, and you say, so it's not even done though. Like there's this, the thing is it's not just about passing the exam. It's also about getting those hours in. You want to talk about that, the experience that you have to have to? Yeah. So it's not even hours. It's actually years. Sorry. It's a year. So how do they calculate. Yeah. Oh, for me. I'm like, it makes almost more sense to get the hours. Because then you're like, this is how many clients I've worked within how many hours years. You're just like waiting. You're just ticking and you're waiting for that time to go by. Yeah. So it's supposed to be years of full time hours.

Oh, full time. So you do, so you do technically have to do like 40 hours a week for like three years. Yeah, they say 37.5. But I mean, that's like, you know, break. Damn. That's a lot. It is. Yeah. So I mean, I'm fortunate in that sense where I've, you know, I have been working in the piece of long. So it's not an issue. But yeah, no, I'm stuck with the whole like bureaucracy right now because I've just been overwhelmed with projects and stuff like that. So I have to fill in a whole bunch of like forms that I have to get signed by prospective clients. So not prospective clients, but existing clients and stuff like that. And I'm kind of. kind of in the process of doing that right now. And then once that's done, then I then need to submit it to the board. And then they give me the final approval. Yeah. Talking to you does not make me want to do the CFP anymore. I'll tell you that, Ryan, because I'm like, all of that does not really job with my path. I just wanted the credentials.

Maybe in the future. Who knows what my life will be. But yeah, it just sounds like so much work. But worth it. Yeah, that's exactly it. So, I mean, I guess it depends on what your goals are. But what I can say is that going through the process, I have learned a lot of information.

You know, I had, you know, when I started this course, I'd been in the financial industry for over 10 years, right? But going through these, you know, two, three years of intense education, like I feel like I learned so much more and more details. I know this is like a big question, but what were some of those things who were like, I didn't know this before taking this path? Yeah. So, I mean, I found that before I was giving more general advice.

Right. Well, now I could give more specific advice where you could be like, this is. you know how much money you need for retirement like right determine that so before you'd be like oh you know like rsps like you know pensions this is how they work this is how you know how it gets processed like you would give more general advice but now you could give more concrete answers yeah and also just like other random piece of advice that you'll just be like in the meeting and like it's funny because like actually when I meet with people just like I have all these like little like ideas that just keep on flicking like this would be good for them that would be good for them

so yeah so you always get like you know other little ways to help you know help their situation yeah no that's key that is key now I guess yeah the other kind of question is when you are working with clients like what kind of what can you help them with as a CFP pretty much everything yeah yeah the whole you know any kind of like personal financing like personal finance planning yeah besides selling you cannot sell them products and you can't manage their portfolios of investments? Yeah. So you have to be licensed to do that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I guess it's also important just to talk about that too because I know that confuses a lot of people. Yeah. Lots of people and even me in the past have been confused by this and you work with a fee only planner CFP or someone with

another credential like no one can manage your investment or like unless they have that specific license like you mentioned. And also you may not actually want them to in my opinion. There's so many great routes to invest now. You may not need someone to do that. for you. Exactly. Yeah. Because a lot of the time, those people that can do that, I feel like they're still somehow connected to a financial institution or investment firm. So they have their kind of, you know, ideas and biases. So yeah, they absolutely do. You know, not discounting the recommendations. No. Yeah. But yeah, they definitely do have like specific sets of products that they can offer, you know, maybe like internal, you know, reports and stuff like that kind of direct them

towards certain areas. So that's, that definitely is happening. Yeah. And I mean, we're fortunate enough to, you know, have, you know, new systems and companies and stuff that are offering like robo, like, robo advising portfolios and like, you know, self-directed trading accounts that are, you know, basically free. Yeah, exactly. We're at a moment where it's, it's never been easier to invest on your own. Exactly. So if someone, you know, is willing to, to take the time and effort to, to go down that path, you know, there's, there's really no reason not to. Yeah. And I know what lots of fee only planners do is they're like I cannot advise you on your investments but what I can do is do an audit of what you're currently doing and answer any questions and kind of help you know

what you're doing which sounds like sometimes that's all you want you're like I just need someone to tell me if this is what I should be doing but not like tell me specifically what products to buy yeah is that kind of what you could be doing or yeah absolutely yeah yeah yeah very often people are stuck in high fee mutual funds yeah no we can say it okay we don't have I don't work with high fee mutual fund companies that is one of the things I'm like I get offered all the time like can't do it you know my I'm all about robo advisors and DIY investing can't do it I can't yeah and you have to be careful of mutual fund portfolio funds yeah yeah yeah yeah essentially mutual funds and mutual funds that's just gross yeah no ever I feel like especially if you've been listening to the podcast for

a while you know you know what's up don't do it don't buy these high fee mutual funds are not good man no um so what are your kind of next step now. Yeah. So, I mean, once I get this, you know, get these educational, or not educational, but the, you know, the proof of employment, then I'm going to have the designation. And I'm going to take a big long look at where I want to be come mid-October when all this is done. Yeah.

I have some big presentations coming up at like the, through the library system. That's awesome. Yeah, I love the library system. They're great. Yeah. If anyone's not using it, please do. Yeah. Oh, my gosh, right?

So many, like, so many great free resources. Oh, it's so incredible. And for finance, too. Like, they actually, some, like, it's, you know, it's all based on which municipality you're, you're listening from. But, you know, they offer free streaming services. I know the Toronto Public Library system, they have template wills that you could actually go for free.

Yep. And powers of attorney. Like, it's just, it's incredible. Yeah. Exactly. But right now, because you are trying to get that, those years of experience, you are taking on clients. Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So I'm also just doing like, you know, guiding individuals out. And I'm also doing, you know, side project podcast when I... Yeah. Yeah, tell me a little bit about where people can find you, if they want to chat with you more about your financial planning services and also your podcast. Yeah. So, I mean, I guess you could find me from my website.

So www.fcoach.com. That would be the one place. And, you know, my email, phone number, all that stuff's there. Awesome. Podcast is, I guess, available in all resources. You could probably better comment on that. I will link it in the show notes, don't you worry. And it's called Simple Money Podcast.

Awesome. Yeah, the idea is that I try to, to try to keep the episodes as short as possible. So that's the way that I do. Yeah, like bite-sized. Yeah, exactly. And I'm hoping to start the next series in October. Yeah. We'll be looking at, you know, helping individuals with disabilities.

Wow. You know, focusing on, you know, tax credits and financial steps that, you know, that are available to them. Awesome. Which unfortunately aren't very well publicized. Well, thank you so much for coming over and chatting with me. I think so many people listening will get a lot out of this. And we definitely, like, I think, debunk some myths and inform some people. Well, thanks for having me.

And that was my episode, archival episode, with Matthew Syriac. So just a little update about Matthew. He is no longer, I know I kind of promoted a bunch of stuff I think in that episode. Like he had a website, ffcoach.ca. He had a podcast, got all the Simple Money podcast. Yeah, those don't exist. As I'm like clicking the links, I'm like, those don't exist anymore. His podcast stopped running in 2021. And that's because once he got his CFP, he got another work opportunity. So he's thriving. Actually, it's been a minute since I've talked to him. I'm a terrible friend. So I should really send him a message to see how things are going. But he now is a client service advisor for the Ontario Pension Board. He's been there for four years. My God. So yeah, he kind of stopped his, he had his own business working with clients. minds one-on-one is a fee-only planner. But he's kind of put, kind of closed that down in November 2021, likely because he had this new work opportunity, which seems to be suiting him very well.

So that's what he's doing. So if you want to hire him, he doesn't do that anymore. But if you are ever looking for a fee-only financial planner, a QAFB or CFP, I'm not currently opening that door to new clients yet. Again, I'm going to see how that works. I need some time just to reflect. And I feel like the end of the year is kind of a great time. So I'm not going to launch anything or announce anything until the new year for whatever changes. However, I get questions all the time. Hey, I'm looking for a financial planner, a fee-only financial planner specifically. Do you know anybody? I do. I, you know, first off, you can find them easily on my website. I have a list, a running list under favorite things. So go to Jessicamorehouse.com and then right at the top, there's a thing that says favorite things right

next to my newsletter. Please subscribe. And if you scroll down, you will find a list of financial professionals that I recommend. So if you need an accountant or if you're looking for an investment coach, those are people that teach you how to invest, be only financial planners and counselors, other professionals. So if you're looking for an insurance broker, a business lawyer, or if you are looking for a wealth management firm, so you do want someone to do that for you, yeah, I've got them all listed on my website if you're looking for that so yeah thank you so much for listening also too yeah if you did want to check out the original show notes though i don't know if they're going to be as helpful anymore just go to jessicmorehouse.com slash 205 but a lot of the links don't

work going to have to clean those up because matthew's no longer doing what he was originally doing back in 2019 he is doing something very different um but i will tease what's happening oh my gosh i'm very excited very excited for next week, next Wednesday. You know who I have on the show? After 10 years of having the podcast, I've got the one and only David Chilton. And I sent out an email a few weeks ago asking people, hey, tell me what question you have for David Chilton and I will ask. So, yeah, I think actually I'll have already recorded that episode by the time this episode air. So don't tell me what you're going to ask him. It's too late. You should have been on my email newsletter list, but David Chilton, the one and only is going to be on the show.

His book, The Wealthy Barber, he updated it, and now it's out in the world again, and I'm excited to talk to him about that. He was the first personal finest book I ever read, so what a cool, full circle moment for that. So look forward to that, and yeah, I guess that's it for us. I will see you back here next Wednesday with that episode with David. Until then, have a good rest of your week. See you then. The More Money Podcast would not be possible without.

the amazing talents of podcast producer Matt Riteout, who you can find at MRABCanada.com.