We are very proud of Knight for reaching the meaningful goal of his certification as a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™professional. The trademark is really important. It means that Knight has met the extensive training and experience requirements and committed to the CFP Board’s ethical standards which require him to put our clients’ interests first.

In attaining this significant milestone, we at Colman Knight feel the broadening and strengthening of our foundation of service, for decades to come.

To achieve the certification, Knight completed four modules: Education, Exam, Experience, and Ethics.

For Education’s six courses, capstone, and subsequent Exam, Knight devoted at least 20 hours per week in classes and studying since March 2020. Work with you all contributed to the Experience requirement of 6000 hours in the industry, added to Knight’s two years at JPMorgan Chase & Co. Finally, the Ethics piece includes a background check and an explicit commitment to acting as a fiduciary—which means acting in the best interests of the client at all times when providing financial advice.

For more on the CFP® standards, see: https://www.cfp.net/why-cfp-certification/the-standard-of-excellence

Please join us in celebrating Knight’s momentous achievement!

What are your plans?

Those of us who like to travel are itching to get back on a plane to anywhere. Scheduling a meeting with a friend recently, she declared, “I can’t meet during this week; I know I will be gone somewhere.” She did not have any clear plans of where she was going, but she knew she was traveling out of her home and state.

How does her story compare to your experience? Even as we contemplate our return to seeing family and friends across the country, there is more to our travel pandemic situation.

Let’s revisit the consequences, beyond the personal, of our past twelve months of the global pandemic and quarantine.

From January through October of last year, there were 900 million fewer international tourists from the same period the year before. This decline is not catastrophic for the U.S. economy, since travel and tourism represent only 2.8% of U.S. GDP. But what about the countries that depend on international travel for their economic sustainability. In the Philippines, international tourists sustain 25% of the country’s total economic activity. Tourist arrivals there are down 84%. Other countries that rely on international travelers include Thailand (22% of GDP, visitors down 83%); Greece (22%, down 77%); Portugal (19%, down 75%); Hong Kong (17%, down 94%) and Mexico (17%, down 46%).

Despite our desires, it is likely the situation is not going to get better for international travel for a while. If you have dreams of travel outside of the US, please do your research (we provide links below). The uncertainty of new Covid cases worldwide and timing of safe numbers for vaccinations makes planning for travel more challenging. Be cautious and consider travel insurance for the increased risk of a need to cancel.

We had planned to provide a comprehensive list of countries where U.S. citizens are permitted to enter and where bans are still in place, but the research became a mess as rules are rapidly changing—from closed to open to closed again! We found https://www.kayak.com/travel-restrictions presented the most user-friendly resource for researching up-to-date international and domestic travel restrictions.

The CDC also provides a comprehensive database here: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers, including a search engine for specific locations.

If long-distance travel must wait a while yet, we imagine that enjoying nature locally will continue to grow in popularity.

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