The Week That Wasn’t (but was supposed to be)

                Some of you may remember the popular TV news magazine program from the 1960s that predated “60 Minutes” called “This Was the Week That Was.”  Well, for me, this felt like the week that wasn’t, even though it was supposed to be.  This is to say that six weeks ago today (December 17^th) I got an email from Oakland University that changed my entire life plan and sort of put everything else on hold for the next month as I tried to figure out what was going on and how I was going to manage.  

               The email from OU was an announcement that the Certified Financial Planning program (CFP) had been completely revamped and now could only be taken once a year and would begin February 3^rd with the Taxation segment of the program.  If I did not take it, I would have to wait another year.  Then once again my whole life changed on January 19^th when I went to the CFP orientation.  So this was the week my new life was supposed to begin but didn’t.  Then something else happened this past Monday February 1^st that changed everything again.  Yes, existence has been in a bit of turmoil this past week.

                But let’s begin at the beginning.  As I’ve already explained repeatedly, my seven years of executor work inspired me to pursue a career change in investments.  I received my MBA 34 years ago and enjoyed a rather fruitful career in corporate finance in the 1980s and then continuing in entrepreneurship since then.  Though I ended up spending my career on the Main Street side of business, even back at the University of Southern California (in fact I would say as far back as Aquinas), I’ve been fascinated with investments but had never received much encouragement.  Every few years or so, I’d investigate leaving the Fortune 500 and pursuing portfolio management but was always told, even at the ripe old age of 30, that I was already too old for that option, that investment firms wanted young blood that was untrained so that these youngsters would be eminently moldable.  They wanted kids they could train from scratch and even at 30, with a decade of management experience AND college AND an MBA behind me, no one would want me.  Even if they did, I would have to start by spending a few years working the phones and calling gullible doctors and lawyers to sell them cheap stocks and bonds that the brokerage firm needed to unload.  I had hoped I would be the one doing the research and selecting the investments and was told no.  I would be the one on the phone selling useless investments to people who knew nothing about it, and all because the firm had bought too many of these useless things in the first place.  Needless to say, that was definitely not what I wanted to do. 

                One thing I did not realize until a decade ago, one thing they never mentioned at USC or anyplace else I had been in my journey as a financial analyst and manager, is that the MBA had an expiration date.  After the age of 50, they don’t want to hire you anymore, and this age-bias was something I found in abundance at that time, being unable to even get a call for an interview.  I started noticing this just shortly before turning 50 and then when I started making inquiries to fellow MBAs, I found they were experiencing precisely the same issue.  By the time I was 55, not a single one of my colleagues whom I had graduated with either from Brother Rice, Aquinas, BU, or USC, were still in their careers. Every one had been forced into an early retirement by the age of 55, no doubt encouraged by the Great Recession.  These included friends from both Brother Rice and BU who had taken the MBA at such venerable institutions as U of M, Stanford, Harvard and Wharton, had enjoyed brilliant careers in either the computer or automobile industries, and were still forced out by 55.  Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on one’s perspective), I was spared all this due to Dad becoming ill and then being swamped with executor duties from age 51 to 58.  During those seven years, my duties allowed me to be blissfully spared the new reality that I could no longer use my MBA to secure employment.  I was aware of it but happily was not required to deal with it. 

                Four years ago next month as I was preparing to sell the house on Erie, I saw an announcement in the Oakland Press that OU was offering an orientation seminar for the Executive MBA.  Of course, I knew I was no candidate for that program since I already had the degree but I also assumed that the business faculty would be there and could answer the vital question that had been swimming in my head for nearly a decade.  I had an MBA from a top business school and 35 years of management experience, none of which was any longer marketable.  So just what were my options?

                I have probably already written about that fateful day in March 2012 when I traipsed over to the OU business school and presented my case to the faculty advisors there and who took all of 30 seconds to jump to their CFP program as by far my best option.  No, I would not have to sit on phone banks and sell a bunch of loser stocks.  I would be an advisor being schooled on a vast array of investment vehicles and would be allowed (in fact under ethics rules required) to choose which ones were in a client’s best interests.  Because of the MBA, I would be excused from the bulk of the two-year program.  In fact, I would be required to take only six classes which I could easily complete part-time in one year (or less).  There would then be a mandatory two-year work requirement that I could start at any time.  It was in fact their recommendation that they place me in a job at a financial services firm immediately upon being accepted into and registered for the program such that I would be completing my course work and exam requirements right about the time I completed the work requirement and could thus become a CFP immediately upon graduation. 

                The career options they laid out for me were equally attractive.  My best option would be to simply join an existing mom-and-pop CFP firm for which the principals were looking to retire, spend a couple years learning their client book and then simply take it over so they could retire.  I could keep it simple and just continue servicing their clients.  Or I could hire more CFPs and MBAs and grow the business.  Or I could start my own fund and spend my new career exclusively with that.  Lots of options, and they all looked really attractive. 

                But I was still mired in completing the estate work so all of this would have to wait until I was settled and had completed a couple of personal projects that had been in the wings for a long time, projects I could not attend to until I completed the estate work.  So I sold the house, moved to Keego and spent another year closing the estate.  Then I started getting to work on the rest of my life.  This past December, after spending quite some time reviewing the thousands of pages of work I had done, I was ready to plunge into the final mile of the marathon.  My plan was to have everything wrapped up by April or May and then start the CFP in June.  The email I received from OU on December 17^th changed all that. 

                Prior to December 17, 2015 the program had been designed so that I could sign up at any time and take the six courses whenever I felt like it and in any sequence.  In 2014 they had changed the program to make it even more attractive.  Instead of being taught on a semester basis whereby I’d have to wait up to four months to start the program once I was ready, now the classes were being taught in 7 week modules  so, once I made the decision, the most I’d have to wait was two months, very likely only one month (or less.)  I had originally planned to take two courses (to make sure I didn’t hate the stuff), then have OU place me in the two-year internship.  With the new structure of taking one class at a time in 7 week segments, I could take one class, then 7 weeks off to do some long overdue traveling before returning to commit full-time to the entire program.  That had been my plan prior to December 17^th.  Take until April/May to finish up my projects (and get Piano Guild out of the way for the year), take the 1^st 7 week segment in June, perhaps even the 2^nd segment in August-September, then take October to travel and be ready to complete the program and start the internship in November/December.  That was my perfect plan. 

                On December 17^th, I received an email that the program had once again been revamped and I had to start on February 3^rd and take all 6 segments consecutively for one year.  The program would be completed in January 2017, followed by an intensive 3 week review class in February such that we could take the national boards and pass them in March 2017. 

The CFP is no small matter.  It is not too terribly different from law school, only it’s a two year program instead of 3 years (though Oakland University condenses it to one year), it requires the completion of an intensely rigorous 6-hour national exam of which only 40% pass at any given time and the average applicant must take it 3 or 4 times before they do pass (again, OU has it on them boasting a 95% pass rate on the first attempt for its graduates), and then two years of work experience before they give you your license. 

It is a credential that enjoys genuine respect and prestige in the financial services industry.  However, unlike most occupations where it’s pretty much a given that success in the course work is usually a reliable litmus test of success in the career, there is an emotional/psychological aspect to being an advisor that they cannot teach in a classroom and it is not unusual to excel academically but discover that you just can’t handle the actual rough and tumble of the work environment.  I’ve been told that up to 90% of new trainees hired every year at brokerage firms wash out, mostly of their own volition but a few do have to be fired because they just can’t cut it. 

Unfortunately, as my own broker at Merrill Lynch has explained, no one has yet come up with a good way to assess whether someone is “cut out” for this line of work without actually putting them on the line.  So you go on the job and you find out.  The bad news is that a high percentage wipe out.  The good news is that almost everyone who does wipe out comes in right out of high school with no real background, training or experience.  Those with an actual business degree let alone finance and/or the MBA obviously fare a good deal better.  (As a guest speaker at USC once told us – “all of you have a great upper hand over your competition.  Not only will you be graduates of one of the finest business schools in the country, but you’ve gotten used to working 14 hour days.”  It was true, we had.) 

The much better news, as my broker has related to me, is that, though the CFP designation requires two years of job experience to qualify for your license to be an advisor, he says that’s just to be on the safe side.  In reality, it doesn’t take anywhere near two years to find out whether this is a passion for you or turns out to be your idea of hell on earth.  (There doesn’t seem to be an in-between.  You’re either going to love it or hate it.)  The much better news is that most people easily discover within six months whether it’s their cup of tea or not.  Then they quit and move on to something else they can love.  Well, six months is really not a terribly expensive investment in order to get this answer and start a new career. 

The CFP requires a bachelor’s degree, two years of study, an intensive 6-hour national exam, and two years of job experience.  Being a broker only requires a high school diploma, a 60 hour self-guided online course and then passing a 250 question multiple choice exam.  Thus, you can deduce that the CFP is a credential significantly higher on the totem pole than being a mere broker.  My particular broker has multiple credentials – broker (technically known as a Series 7 license), MBA, attorney, and Registered Investment Advisor (RIA).  The RIA is the next step up from the CFP and will be the next step I pursue if the CFP works out for me. 

                There was now only one problem.  As of December 17^th, I only had six weeks to complete my personal projects.  It couldn’t be done.  I had really planned to take until April or May to do so.  Now I was going to have to figure out a way to work all this stuff in while I was taking the classes.  I read the OU web site quite thoroughly and could find no language that offered any exceptions so I contacted the director of the CFP to verify that I was reading it right.  Was this new program just another option or was it now a de rigeur requirement?  Was I no longer allowed to take the classes piecemeal as before?  In one email she would say yes, in another no.  I was laboring under the handicap that she had just been handed this job and did not really know the program all that well yet.  There was, however, one simple solution.  On January 19^th, they would be holding an orientation.  The faculty would be there to answer questions about the program and there would be a panel of CFPs there to talk to us about what the career would be like. 

                It did seem clear though that the 12 month program was now the New Normal and I needed to prepare for that.  I registered for the tax class and ordered the text book.  Believe it or not, the text book alone was $300 but I managed to find it used for 40.  But the anxiety was building.  How much of a time commitment would this require if they’re squeezing a 16 week semester into seven?  The national CFP web site said that 1,000 hours of study would be required to successfully navigate the program and pass the exam.  Well, one thousand hours compressed into one year of six-7 week modules was 20 hours per week.  That’s a big commitment for a single course.  That combined with your internship doesn’t leave you time for any kind of a life.  When I first inquired about this in 2012 when it was taught by semester, I was told it was the equivalent of an undergraduate course – or two hours outside class for every hour in.  The classes were one evening per week for 3 hours.  So I was expected to put in 6 hours per week outside of class, not 20!  Yes, I was very confused about just exactly what I was getting myself into. 

                The morning of the 19^th, the taxation textbook arrived in the mail and I almost had a heart attack right then and there.  I had expected for a 7 week class to get a little manual on taxation, maybe just a couple hundred pages to cover in the two months.  The textbook that came in the mail was over one thousand pages long.  This was no undergraduate textbook.  This was a full two-semester graduate level class in taxation that they were covering in 7 weeks.  There were 90 chapters in the book.  That meant we’d be covering 12 chapters in each 3 hour class.  How could that be possible?  And now instead of 20 hours per week, we’re looking at a minimum of 40 to cover that much material. 

                It was with no small trepidation that I went to the orientation and was immediately disheartened to find myself surrounded by 19 and 20 year olds.  This orientation was not for adult students, whom I had been given the impression would be the bulk of my classmates.  No, this was for undergraduates who were thinking of pursuing a CFP after graduation.  And lots and lots of talk about how you’d be living on the phone trying to build a client list during the first four years. 

                Was this whole thing a big mistake?  Very fortunately, at the reception afterwards, I had the opportunity to speak with some of the instructors and, most importantly, the former head of the program (who knew exactly what was going on.)  I was not only given assurances that what I was told in 2012 regarding career options for older CFPs was still pretty much valid, but the former director listened to my story for about 30 seconds before chiming in with her opinion that I was not yet qualified to enroll in this thing.  

                Now I find out what I should have been told four years ago.  The one-year CFP program is designed for professionals who already have careers in the financial services industry and now wish to add the CFP credential to their resume.  It was not designed for career-changers.  I had no formal training or experience in taxation or insurance or any of the other topics.  That was the bad news.  The good news is that they had a 10 week survey class followed by a two-month internship that I could take before starting the CFP.  The better news is that the survey class would not start until late April.  I was urged to cancel the tax class and instead register for the survey class.  The original plan was being changed.  Instead of taking the classes first and then doing the internship, they suggested it was infinitely wiser to do the internship first and then take the classes.  After all, I have to find out whether I even like this or not.  I completely agreed. 

                What a burden that was lifted!  That one two-minute conversation alone made the entire evening worthwhile; in fact, I can’t imagine what a pickle I’d be in right now if I hadn’t gone and gotten that new information.  Another very valuable two-minute conversation was with the instructor who will be teaching the Survey class in April and is in charge of the internships.  As fate would have it, he’s my age and, at 62, has been a practicing CFP with his own firm for 30 years.  As fate would further have it, he’s looking for someone to take over his business so he can retire.  So I may be having a golden opportunity being laid in my lap.  If I can impress this guy when I take his class, maybe he’ll give me my internship with his practice and start grooming me to be his new partner.  One can hope. 

Anyway, I now had (have) until the end of April to finish up my personal projects per my original schedule and then start the program on April 26^th.  I will be able to ease into it now after all.  It will be a ten week survey class that covers all the six topics, then followed by a 20 hour per week internship, an internship that would very likely end with an offer for a fulltime job.  Continue working and then start the one-year program in February 2017.  It’s likely my new employer will even be willing to foot the bill for the six courses that cost $700 each.  They will also be willing to foot the bill for my Series 7 securities license which they will probably require me to earn. 

                One other very large bit of good news that came out of the orientation on the 19^th was when the students brought up the question of salaries, as no one really had any idea of what CFPs make, let alone what the growth potential is.  The panel was a bit vague about it until someone was bold enough to suggest entry level salaries of 40-45 grand per year.  At that point, another panel participant chimed in that she felt that figure was on the low side, that her firm paid $60G’s for new CFPs.  That was indeed greeted with cheers as most of the students in the audience thought that was actually a pretty attractive salary, especially for entry level. 

But since the panel had been talking at length about how low the pay is at the entry level but then it skyrockets after you’ve put in your four year apprenticeship, the inevitable question was, “What do you mean by skyrocket?”  Again there was some hesitation until one of the younger panel professionals (someone who became a CFP at 21 and is now not quite 30 yet) chimed in with, “We make more than neurosurgeons!”  A gasp went through the audience.  None of us had any idea this profession paid so well.  I had assumed the highest a CFP went was probably $120 grand.  Now they’re talking 300-400 per year.  That’s amazing!  And it does make a certain amount of sense.  If, as they say, the average CFP handles a hundred clients at a fee of 1% of their portfolio per year and the minimum portfolio you seek is $250,000 – that’s $250,000 per year.  And of course it’s likely that the more years you put in, that you will have client portfolios a good deal fatter than 250.  That was quite an eye-opener.  But 60 still sounds good to me. 

                So between January 19^th and February 1^st I was feeling very much like my life plan had suddenly been rewritten again but this time very much for the better.  I was very excited and very pleased that I had just been given an additional 3 full months to wrap up my inbox. 

Then on this past Monday, February 1^st, the book got rewritten again.  On Monday I woke up feeling very confused and disoriented.  It was Val’s immediate suspicion that I was experiencing a TIA which is a very mild stroke, probably a single capillary that had burst in my brain, and she took me right into emergency at St. Joe’s.  Dr. Markowitz was called in and immediately agreed with that or that it could be an apnea issue.  He was concerned that my C/PAP machine did not have a fail-safe on it to tell me when it was not working properly.  A later consultation with Dr. Ella, my sleep specialist, confirmed that there was no such thing.  The only way to determine that something had gone wrong was to analyze the data on my C/PAP Smart Card.  Markowitz ordered me kept overnight for observation and on Tuesday morning that order was further amended that I be kept until the neurologist Dr. Watkins could examine me for stroke. 

                Dr. Ella came by mid-Tuesday morning and confirmed that it was likely a C/PAP related issue and that I should make an appointment with her office and bring my card in for analysis.  None of the many tests they gave me showed any cardiac or stroke problems, though the diagnosis was still a likely TIA.  Fortunately, TIAs I am now told are not a big deal.  It just means that there was a tiny amount of bleeding on my brain that caused momentary confusion and dissipated in a day, which is pretty much what happened.  On Monday, I did not know what year it was, let alone the date.  By Tuesday all these memories came back.  Dr. Watkins’ opinion was that it was likely not even a TIA and probably a C/PAP issue which should be followed up with Dr. Ella. 

                So all of this was pretty good news.  Monday was not at all a pleasant day, not only because of the disorientation and confusion, but because, if the mild anxiety over getting ready for the CFP was enough to bring on a mini-stroke, was this still a realistic option?  Would I be able to do this CFP, something I was very much depending on?  This caused me a good deal of concern.  Was my whole future now suddenly being rewritten yet again?  I will say this – Monday and Tuesday I was just terribly relieved that I was no longer starting the taxation class on Wednesday night.  (And just a quick note that I was able to talk to the taxation instructor on the 19^th and he confirmed that – no, we were certainly not covering a 1,000 page text book in seven weeks.  Rather, the book was chosen because everything we need to know to pass the taxation segment of the national CFP exam was in that book somewhere.  During the seven week class, he would be culling just those portions of the book that we needed to know.  That too was quite a large relief.) 

                So these past six days have been the week that wasn’t (but was supposed to be) in that I was originally supposed to be starting the tax class this week and, having to deal with a possible mini-stroke last Sunday was the very last thing that I thought I would be dealing with last Monday.  But, speaking of taxation, I have one final comment to make before closing. 

                As I already mentioned earlier, there has been anxiety over this career/life change since the CFP is the first occupation I have ever investigated for which doing well in the course work is no guarantee that one will do well in the job.  In fact, “no guarantee” is putting it lightly.  That is why, about a year ago, I was over at Val’s house advising her on her taxes when I noticed a designation on her tax preparer’s business card that said “EA,” a credential I had never heard of before.  I researched it that evening and discovered it was an “Enrolled Agent” credential, something granted by the IRS which gives one the qualifications to be hired as an assistant tax preparer by any of the many thousands of tax preparation firms in this country, one of which is right here on the corner of Cass and OL, a 30 second walk from my house. 

                When I looked into the EA credential, I found much to my delight that it was only a six week self-paced online course followed by two 3 hour exams and then you get to go to work as a tax preparer qualified to represent clients before the IRS with pay starting at $40K but up to $60K in four years.  It’s not as much as a CFP but is plenty enough for a comfortable living (at least the way I live) and is something that I can very comfortably see myself doing.  Preparing tax returns is something that I think I could easily handle with a minimum of stress so it is now something I see as a very doable fallback position if the CFP does not work out.  Of course, the IRS has dozens of more credentials one can test for that will place a preparer in higher designations (and subsequent salary brackets) so I could potentially go as far as I want with that one too. 

                But ... I have a very strong sense that the CFP is going to work out and work out splendidly.  Even though I was feeling a whole lot of anxiety on Monday and Tuesday over whether or not I could handle it, with the help of the doctors, has now dissipated.  But I’m glad I went into the hospital if for no other reason that I continue to feel this uncomfortable (but no longer distressing) pressure in my chest and a feeling of low-key numbness in my face that I can now safely put aside given the week’s earlier thorough workup.  My life has been in turmoil since that fateful email on December 17^th but now it seems things are normalizing again. 

                Back to the script ...