Peter Dougherty of BISSAN Wealth Management is known as ‘the financial planner for Americans in Spain’. Maybe one day he might be called ‘the Doctor of financial planning’.
Peter doesn’t wear a stethoscope. He’s much more likely to have a financial calculator. Nonetheless, as Mr. Dougherty points out: “both the medical and financial planning professions start with an examination to be able to make a diagnosis. For doctors, that’s reading our x-ray or MRI; for financial planners it’s looking through our financial documents. And selecting a financial planner has similarities to choosing a doctor. We can see this if we replace ‘doctor’ with ‘financial planner’ in these questions:
1. Does the doctor have special training or certifications?
2. Is the doctor part of a registered medical group?
3. Has the doctor kept up to date on the newest medical practices?”
#1. Does the financial planner have special training or certifications?
Spain’s European Financial Planning Association (EFPA España) has certified …