AIMR Reaches Out

Why all the hoopla and why now? AIMR Senior Vice President Ray DeAngelo says consumers view advisors’ credentials as important, but have trouble differentiating one from another. “It’s really an education campaign as much as it is a persuasion campaign,” he explains. While AIMR dabbled in a limited advertising campaign last year directed at the consumer, this year marks AIMR’s first full-scale effort. Ads are now running in the US and Canada; eventually they’ll run throughout the world. AIMR also is holding a conference on private wealth management in Phoenix Mar. 11-12, featuring speakers including John Philip Coughlan of Charles Schwab and advisor Natalie Choate. Information on the conference is available at www.aimr.org.

Does this mean that AIMR is positioning the CFA as a rival to such designations as Certified Financial Planner (CFP) or Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC)? DeAngelo says the campaign is more a reflection of “where our members already are, rather than a large influx of our members moving into that field.” He adds that “not only is the CFA able to offer appropriate investment advice, but he or she can also serve the function of a kind of trusted advisor.”

An internal AIMR survey indicates that 37% of AIMR members now see high net worth consumers as their primary clients. That figure will undoubtedly grow, says AIMR President Thomas Bowman. “As baby boomers move toward retirement age and they require personal asset management, the role of the investment professional managing high-net-worth assets will increase,” he says. AIMR is making every effort to insure that those investment professionals will have “CFA” after their names.