The Latest News from Financial Planning Hawaii

Here is the latest office news from our office:

• Master of the House… Our biggest news is that Financial Planning Hawaii will be filing to become a stand-alone SEC RIA on October 1.  All FPH clients should have received the announcement via email and regular email already.   Please return the FPH Client Service Agreement, Asset-Based Fee Agreement, and the form to authorize Schwab to change the RIA for JW Cole to FPH. 

• Do you love it?...Schwab is stepping up its game.  I have never been enamored with Charles Schwab’s client statements, so I jumped at the chance to upgrade when Chuck offered up three new styles.  The one I chose is soooo much better..  Hope you are loving it too.   SAMPLE STATEMENT

• Mutual Group… In the next week or so, clients who have variable annuities  with living or death benefit riders that your purchased with my guidance 15-25 years ago, will be receiving a letter from Mutual Group inviting you to allow the company to serve as the broker-dealer on your contact(s).  This move will allow me to drop my brokerage license without abandoning you.  Mutual Group has a unique model that allows MG to collect the trail revenue that these policies pay.  MG then contracts with FPH to provide advice on the contracts as a fiduciary adviser. Read More at Mutual Evolve.

• Rabble Rouser…The July 17, 2025 Issue of Financial Planning featured an investigative journalism piece showing that the CFP Board continues to cover for more than 9,000 of its members who have disclosure events on their SEC or FINRA conduct records. This story comes almost exactly six years after a Wall Street Journal exposé revealed the CFP Board was covering for more than 6,000 CFPs.  In the wake of that article, the CFP Board feigned contrition and spent millions targeting consumer with ads suggesting that they should only trust their financial planning advice to a CFP.  I contributed to the development of both stories and am featured in both.

Exclusive: CFP Board tool buries thousands of advisor red flags (Financal Planning)

Looking for a Financial Planner? The Go-To Website Often Omits Red Flags (Wall Street Journal)

• How Much Savings Do You Really Need to Retire in Hawaii?... A reporter from GoBankinRates reached out to me for my two cents on this topic.  As I am wont to do, I gave her four cents.  READ ARTICLE HERE.

• Read ‘Em & Weep…The SEC requires all RIAs to provide Form ADVs (“plain English” customer disclosures) and their Customer Relationship Summary (For CRS) to ALL clients.  We go one step farther…We post ours on the Pricing page of our website, in every Financial Planning Insights newsletter, and in the every client’s eMoney Vault. Our newly minted docs have already been posted.  They are also right here:

Financial Planning Hawaii 2025  SEC Form ADV Parts 2A & 2B and Client Privacy Statement

Financial Planning Hawaii  2025 Customer Relationship Summary (Form CRS)