Required Continuing Education and Licensing Regulations – Debated
Not long ago, I was talking to an acquaintance of mine at the local Starbucks here, and he was going after many financial planning type degrees, and taking lots of ongoing education classes in order to fill up his business card with lots of letters next to his name. There was a method to his madness because he wanted to sell financial instruments and products to various investors who he would be advising.
This brings up a long standing debate; are you sure it makes sense to spend all the time it takes and continuing education to get those letters next to your name, are you sure it will help you in your career? And mind you it doesn’t have to be financial planning as it could be any profession, and also realize anytime you get a license there are more regulations to deal with and more restrictions place upon you. There is also more scrutiny, and chances that you might make a mistake, or be accused by someone of not following the rules, whether such accusations are factual or not.
You see, it appears to me that the only reason that licenses are issued is so they can be taken away if you don’t follow the rules. Unfortunately, you don’t know the future rules that may come forth, because regulations in the United States are quite unpredictable and are causing conflict, and even job losses due to the uncertainty principle.
Take my acquaintance here for instance who is studying to be a financial planner – did you know between 2006 and 2009 the SEC made one new rule in his industry every single week on average? One year the average was one new rule every 4-days. Imagine that, your ongoing education and licenses subjects you to future over-regulation bureaucracy.
At some point you have to ask yourself; is it really worth it, is it really good help me make more money, or is it just going to complicate my life, my profession, and my future earnings. This is something I’d like you to think about before you spend lots of money, and lots of time in your ongoing education process. Please consider all this.