1. 47 "Financial Planning" sessions with the newly declared bankrupts.

Financial Planning is a misnomer because Financial Planning is preventive rather than curative. Once an individual gets into financial problem through mismanagement of his finances, ignorance or greed, the need would be more "restructuring" which would be more painful or financial counselling which means a long process and mindset change of what financial freedom means.

2.  In August 2010, Wendy Wong, our committee member, spoke on the Mental Capacity Act and our Past President Mr. Leong Sze Hian spoke on the changes of the CPF rules.

3. We organised a public forum with 100.3 UFM radio station and more than 800 people turned up at the Prudential auditorium. We want to record our thanks to Mr. Philip Seah, the then CEO of the company, for the use of the auditorium.

My term as President of the Society has been most challenging and times frustrating.  We need to garner support for what we do from our members. In order to stay relevant we must have sufficient number of members and organise interesting and relevant events for our members and the public. We need to distinguish ourselves from other groups because our events are not centred on the promotion of investments, insurance and bank products.

Financial advisors need continuing education. Continuing education is not just fulfilling CPD points. Certification or high education does not mean the ability to give good advice. It is the integrity of the advisers and the influence of the peers that will enhance the quality of advice to the public.

We have appointed Intellitrain to provide professional secretariat services to our Society so that we can concentrate our time and resources to do what we do best instead of being bogged down by administrative procedures that many of us are not good at.

I need the active support of the members to make SFSP viable and our plan this year will be to triple our membership and to ensure that we have regular seminars and public events to help the public to appreciate the need for financial planning.