Much debate is ongoing about the merits of being a Certified or Chartered Financial Planner, writes Keri Carter CFP^TM, managing director of Broadway Financial Planning.

The whole ‘Chartered Body Alliance’ thing seems to have come out of nowhere to me. Clearly it has been brewing for a while and I think that it is a good thing for financial services.

It’s not a merger but it is a step forward for the Chartered adviser bodies and the Financial Planning profession and it’s long overdue.

It’s all too easy to become distracted by the hysteria of presidents, prime ministers, politics and performance in this busy start to 2017.