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Journalist Citations for Wall Street Journal Mistakes  Corrections  ™

Dear AAFM Members, Journalists, and Editors:

We have noticed that Wikipedia Editors of the AAFM Article on WIKI have discovered and documented a few mistakes in the 2010 Wall Street Journal Article about Financial Credentials: Because of the investigation by the Wikipedia into the discrepancies of the Wall Street Journal, we are posting this information in response to the Wikipedia's discovery.

The WSJ article written by former WSJ staffer Mary Pilon which also included Jason Zweig's name on  as a co-author.   Here are the written contracts and documents which correct the mistakes.

AAFM and Attorney George Mentz have a legal agreement with both the CFA Institute and the CFP board on trademarks.  These legal contracts state that the CFP Board and the CFA Institute agree and legally confess that they will not object to AAFM using certain designations and marks such as MFP or CWM Chartered Wealth Manager worldwide.

1) Here are signed and dated copies of both  the CFP and CFA - Co-Existence agreements authored by the General Counsels of each organization.

a) CFA Institute's legal agreement with AAFM - Dated and Signed by Supervising Gen. Counsel Sharon Glover on Jan. 5th, 2004. Acknowledged by CFA Counsel/Jeannie Anderson

b) CFP Board's legal Agreement dated and signed with AAFM - Dated and Signed Nov. 26, 2002 by CFP Counsel Jennie McQuade

2) The AAFM Provided Advisor consent documents to the WSJ for ALL of the Honorary Professors or Experts who allowed their names to be listed on the AAFM websites as Advisors: such as Mr. Gold and Dr. Harvey.   The WSJ inadvertently asked these 2 people if they served on the board of directors, which is a flawed question and the AAFM does not recognize any honorary advisor as a Board of Director member or officer in any way.

a) Written consent document from Dr. Harvey - See: http://aafm.us/harvey.pdf   Accepted/Dated. Monday, March 31, 2003 9:34 AM

b) Written consent document from Mr. Gold - See: http://aafm.us/jacobgold.pdf  Accepted/Dated Monday, November 27, 2006 8:54 AM

3) The Wall Street Journal asked if CFA or CFP recognized any of AAFM programs.  Here is public documentation that CFP and CFA actually recognize  AAFM Certifications for specific PDU or CE credits.

a) CFP Board Financial Planning Board Canada See: http://www.fpsc.ca/ce-course-providers

b) CFA Member credits for continuing education from AAFM -

See: http://web.archive.org/web/20070113154939/http://www.cfainstitute.org/memresources/pdprogram/pdf/Activities_with_Standard_Reference_Times.pdf

c: Also, the 2 contracts in number 1 above itemize both CFA and CFPs legal agreements with AAFM.

4) AAFM has specific legal terms on it's websites of which the WSJ article may have accidentally overlooked by mistake.

* AAFM ® Global Board of Academic Advisors & Professors 2005-10* Note: these distinguished faculty members are not faculty of AAFM. The majority of professors here are award recipients and honorary distinguished global advisors. Agency Law Prohibits honorary advisors for speaking for the AAFM

5) The Wall Street Journal  already evidences financial organizations and their certification standards including AAFM.  The WSJ states that AAFM is a FINRA monitored organization with government recognized accreditation  and assessment standards such as ACBSP and AACSB. http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/st_CREDIT1015_20101015.html  Sources: www.FINRA.org and www.WSJ.com  

6) The AAFM Legal Counsel Disclosed to the WSJ reporters and the US Government directly that the AAFM has certification programs offered direct from an Accredited  Law School Program - TJSL ABA Accredited Law School's graduate program where the AAFM joint alliance graduate educational "DOE ABA governmental recognized" programs are publicly available http://mastersinlaw.tjsl.edu/program-overview/certifications.asp  

* The TJSL Law School provides a Post-Juris Doctorate LLM Curriculum Online. This is the first post-doctorate LLM Program of its kind online which can also lead to AAFM® certification and continuation may allow for a ABA recognized Law Degree. AAFM® and its accredited program graduate courses in the USA have the highest graduate educational standards in the industry. http://mastersinlaw.tjsl.edu/accreditation.asp

6) The AAFM Legal Counsel Disclosed to the WSJ reporters that the AAFM is in direct contractual agreement with Accreditation Agencies for Business School Programs. 

Thus, AAFM certification can be obtained from completing programs and exams from "Double Accredited Business Schools"  The Wall Street Journal references the double accredited standards in the article.

7) CFP Asia recognizes AAFM USA Certified Members who also hold the CWM Chartered Wealth Manager Designation - See Exemption http://www.ifphk.org/pdf/Publications/afp-leaflet-web.pdf

8) AAFM or its legal counsel never discussed these agreements above with Mr. Jason Zweig; thus, Zweig probably did not receive any of the evidence above. Otherwise, the various mistakes in the article would not have been printed.

9) AAFM Does not sanction or Accredited the CFA Institute or the CFP board

10) AAFM does NOT recognize any honorary advisor as an officer, director or board of directors member but rather members of an honorary advisory council.

11)  The Wall Street Journal Article and the Wall Street Journals reference guide evidence and recognize the AAFM accredited program education as a path to certification. See ACBSP Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs.

If you are a member of AAFM and have a complaint about the flaws of the WSJ article, please contact the WSJ directly:  Write to the Online Journal's editors at newseditors@wsj.com 

•For over a decade, the Academy has promoted "government recognized" & accredited education as a path to certification and professional designations. See AACSB and ACBSP http://www.financialanalyst.org/accreditationalliances.html See AACSB Press Release