What is MQFP®, and Why Do We Need It?

Since late 2021, some colleagues and I have been developing a certification for financial professionals who focus on serving military and veteran families. It is called Military Qualified Financial Planner – MQFP®, and it is time we started telling the rest of the world about it.

What is a Financial Professional Certification?

Like any professional certification, it is a label to let other people know that you have met certain professional standards. Certified public accountants use “CPA” after their name to let people know they have met the highest standards in their field of accounting. AFC® and CFP® Professionals use their marks to let others know they have met high standards in financial counseling and planning. The letters MQFP® will likewise be used to let others know the financial professional using those marks has met certain high standards.

What are those MQFP® standards?

To hold the MQFP® marks, a financial professional must meet ALL the following requirements:

Compensation methods must meet the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) definition of “fee-only”.
Must provide a fiduciary level of client care to all clients and must sign a fiduciary oath.
Must have at least one of the following credentials: AFC®, ChFC®, CFP®, CFA®, CPA, or be licensed to practice law by a state bar association.
Must pass the MQFP® Exam and remain in good standing as an MQFP.
Must have current or prior service in the armed forces of the United States, their Reserve or Guard components, or be the spouse (or prior spouse) of a current or prior service member.
Must focus your effort as a financial professional on serving military and veteran families.

Financial professionals who bear the MQFP® marks will be letting the world know they have met and maintain those standards.

Why the Trademark, and Who Owns It?

Military Qualified Financial Planner MQFP® is a certification trademark registered with the US Patent and Trademark Office. The trademark is owned by The Military Financial Readiness Objective (TMFRO), a 501.c.3 charity registered with the Internal Revenue Service and incorporated in the Commonwealth of Virginia. By law, only TMFRO can make money from the use of the MQFP® marks. By law, TMFRO must use that money to further the financial readiness of military and veteran families.

The team developing the MQFP® marks did not seek a trademark so that we could make money from this project. Nor do we seek to prevent other organizations from working to improve the financial wellness of military and veteran families. We acquired a trademark so that no one can prevent our work in this space. We have secured our rights, and now we intend to exercise them.

Do We Really Need Another Financial Certification?

I hear you. I have my fair share of ‘credential fatigue’. There are so many now that it diminishes their meaning. I am going to tell you why I think we need the MQFP® credential. You may agree with me or not. To explain my reasoning, I am going to tell you a short version of a much longer story.

Turn back the clock to October of 2018. Sean Gillespie and I had just formed our financial planning firm a few months earlier. We were sitting around the office hoping the phone would ring because we really needed some more clients. The phone didn’t ring, but the door opened. That’s unusual because it’s not the kind of business you walk into without an appointment. I walked out to our waiting room to see what was happening. That is where I first met a man I am going to call “Jimmy”.

Jimmy was 75 years old. He had served in Marine Reconnaissance in Vietnam. He was carrying a folder nearly 3 inches thick with paperwork. He had a problem with the IRS. “I don’t know why they keep hassling me,” he said over and over again. He had sent them all this paperwork (gestures to folder) and they just keep hassling me.

Back in my office I discovered the folder contained his medical records, and his medical records contained a diagnosis for dementia. He had, in fact, sent his medical records to the IRS.

Fast forward: we took care of Jimmy, and his wife Jane. They actually got money back from the IRS. We continue to prepare their tax returns every year. I have not seen Jimmy since he had a stroke in 2020. He is partially paralyzed and does not get out of the house much. As his primary caregiver, I don’t think Jane gets out of the house much, either. She comes to the office twice a year to drop off and pick up. Always dressed like it’s Easter Sunday. Simply splendid. You can see why a young marine would have fallen for her 50 years ago. Why did women ever stop wearing hats?

I am telling you this story because the first thing Jimmy ever asked me is one of the most wonderful things I’ve ever heard. In 2018, I came into the waiting room to see Jimmy standing there with his folder and he said, “You guys are veterans, aren’t you? I saw it on your website.”

Think about it.

Jimmy had a financial problem, a tax problem. Jimmy was confused. He felt like he was being attacked, they keep hassling me. He didn’t know how to solve his problem. So, what did he do? He didn’t ask if we had training on tax issues. He didn’t ask if we had experience fixing these sorts of problems. He asked if we were veterans. He wanted to find somebody who would have his back.

And we did. And we do.

There are hundreds of thousands of Jimmys and Janes out there. Military and veteran families with financial problems. They are confused. They do not know how to solve the problem themselves, and they just want to find someone who will have their back. Where are the financial professionals who will have their backs?

I saw more than 100 of them at MilMoneyCon in Nashville last April. They are out there, and their numbers are growing.

How are Jimmy and Jane going to find those financial professionals? The ones who know what it means to serve?

We have built a label – a professional certification. We are going to make it available to a select group of financial professionals serving military and veteran families. We are going to pin it on them and then tell the world what it means:

Fee-only
Fiduciary
Trained as a financial professional
Educated in military and veteran specific financial issues
A member of the military tribe
Continuing to serve that military tribe

We are going to make it easier for military and veteran families to find the right financial professionals for them.

I do not disparage knowledge, or knowledge-only credentials. Knowledge is an essential component of every financial professional’s skillset. As a financial professional, I am constantly seeking more knowledge. Financial plans and recommendations are built from knowledge. But the foundation supporting those plans and recommendations is trust. Without trust the plans and recommendations never get built. I think the time has come for a professional financial certification that military and veteran families can trust. Military Qualified Financial Planner MQFP® has been developed by trusted members of the military tribe, for the military tribe. I believe it is needed.

Thank you for reading and if you want to know more about MQFP®, check out this link: https://mqfp.org/