In April, FP Canada announced that it is soon going to be offering Core and Advanced Curriculum in support of CFP® and QAFP™ certification. Since then, I’ve had many questions from current and former students, and a couple from prospective students, about what this means for BCC. First, I appreciate the support that people have shown. I think it’s great that so many of the people I have so much respect and care for our business.
While FP Canada’s website shows the course available for purchase, as I understand it, it’s not yet fully available. While I’ve not bought the course to ‘look under the hood’, I’ve been told that the first unit will be available in mid-May, and that FP Canada will roll out courses gradually after that.
BCC will continue to offer our instructor resources. Our recorded classes are still available, and our discussion forums that I check daily are still available. We will be running office hours for all students starting in June, included in the price you’re already paying.
We will be updating our video library and making our chapter texts into smaller, more consumable chunks over 2023 and into 2024.
FP Canada’s news is concurrent with the release of a new (and greatly improved) Body of Knowledge. The new Body of Knowledge, which starts being examinable in 2024, takes a lot of content that was not suitable for the Core Curriculum and moves it into the Advanced Curriculum. As an example, alternative minimum tax and corporate financial statements are both moved. On the flip side, living benefits insurance moves into the Core Curriculum, where it belongs.
BCC will continue offering Exam Prep. FP Canada has not publicly expressed any intent of getting into the Exam Prep space to any extent beyond offering their practice exams.
I know all the folks at FP Canada who are involved in the creation of their course material. This is an excellent crew. They are dedicated and highly skilled. They care about learner outcomes. I believe they will produce excellent materials.
We will have to be on our game to compete with them, and I look forward to the challenge. I hope all new financial planners have better learning outcomes as a result of FP Canada’s work.
