CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER certification is the most widely recognized financial planning designation in Canada and throughout the world and is considered the standard for the financial planning profession. CFP® professionals have demonstrated the knowledge, skills, experience and ethics to provide holistic financial planning strategies and solutions at the highest level of complexity required of the profession, and work with their clients to build a financial plan so that they can Live Life Confidently™. CFP professionals must hold themselves accountable to FP Canada for their professional conduct.In my career in public policy, I have worked as a strategist and communicator for federal and provincial party leaders, in war rooms and party headquarters, and as federal spokesperson for Canada's largest taxpayer advocacy organization. After graduating from the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University where I majored in finance and economics, I worked on Parliament Hill as an advisor to two federal cabinet ministers. I later worked in business magazine and book publishing before going into the investment business.I earned the designations of Certified Financial Planner and Chartered Investment Manager while working at some of Canada’s largest independent investment dealers. In my full service investment advisory practice, I provided equity and bond trading advice as well as options derivatives trading advice for a high net worth clientele. I was the financial markets columnist for the Vancouver Sun, Canada's fourth-largest daily newspaper by circulation. My analysis and commentary has appeared as well in the Globe and Mail, National Post, the Financial Post, the Toronto Star, the Toronto Sun, the Ottawa Citizen, the Calgary Herald, and other major publications across Canada.As a fee-for-service financial planner, I do not recommend or sell specific investment or insurance products, nor do I accept referral fees from financial service providers. Instead, I begin with clients to conduct a comprehensive financial assessment, so they understand where they stand financially. We identify pressing and poorly-understood financial issues, and we develop a concrete and effective plan to address them. This assessment covers investment portfolio allocation, tax issues, cash flow requirements, long term goals, and the performance assessment process.