Rebecca Taylor FIFP CFPCM, who stood down as president today at the AGM, after three years in the role, said she loved the IFP but believes she can feel the same about the new body. The merger deal was finalised last week.
She also revealed her personal life has taken a step back in the last year as she took a leading role in developing the merger with the CISI.
Opening the IFP annual conference, she explained it had been a huge year for her, with getting married and turning 40.
But the merger had meant it was even more of a significant 12 months, since the last conference, she said. While the IFP has been a major part of her life for a long time, she said this had been amplified through working on the agreement with the CISI.
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She told delegates: “A lot can happen in a year and this sounds like a bit of an understatement right now. There’s just this little case of a merger. My work and home life has taken second place, this is the single most important thing I could have imagined (for the IFP).
“This conference has a sense of nostalgia about. It is the end of an era in a way but we should appreciate and celebrate the past, we’ve achieved so much as an organisation. We have a new era beginning and we should be excited about this era.
“There’s every reason to be believe this is the start of something we could only previously dream of.”
She said the merger was all about the kind of message she had delivered at previous conferences about spreading the ideals of Financial Planning.
She said: “Throughout my time here as president the theme has always been journeys, whatever that may be.
“I had no idea at the time when I wrote the previous speeches at what direction it would go. I only saw one path, I saw Nick (Cann) and the people around me and I had no idea how dramatically that would change.
“I have always been in love with the IFP, everyone who has been involved in some way has been in love with the IFP.”
Ms Taylor said she could fall in love with CISI as well as a combined entity, in part because of their similarities. She said: “When you look underneath it they look pretty much like we do.”
She added: “The IFP will continue into the future, it will be different but you and I are what makes the organisation.
“The future is so exciting and I’m so proud to be part of the era to bring forward Financial Planning.”