The International Organization for Standardization has published a standard that will help people assess the ethics and competence of financial planners. ISO 22222:2005, Personal financial planning is aimed at increasing client confidence by providing an international benchmark for a high standard of service by personal financial planners. Depending on the definition of “planner,” ISO estimates that there are 800,000 to several million financial professionals in the United States. The large numbers of these professionals makes it difficult for those seeking financial planning to assess the competencies of prospective planners, reports ISO.

“An international standard for financial planning will provide simplification for the client by setting forth requirements to ensure that the client is well served by financial planners who have met the highest ethical and educational standards,” says Stuart Kessler, chair of ISO/TC 222, which developed the standard.

ISO 22222 defines six steps of the personal financial planning process:

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