The QAFP Exam Award of Merit is in recognition of the QAFP exam candidates who earned the highest scores on any given sitting of the exam. Mitchell Kubrak, who’s now a CFP® professional, is a past recipient of the award. The following blog post, written by Mitchell, contains insights, strategies, and tips that may help you succeed if you decide to write the QAFP exam.
Mitchell Kubrak is a financial planner at RBC. He met with a wealth advisor when he was in university and fell in love with the idea of a beginning career in the industry. Throughout his journey to his current role, he has been driven by self-improvement and the continuous pursuit of knowledge.
Learning about the many aspects of financial planning has long interested me. Money is something that everyone deals with and is impacted by differently, which is fascinating. Developing a financial plan for a client and knowing it can lead to success and help them get to where they want to go is very rewarding.
Making a Difference Through Financial Planning
As a financial planner, I find satisfaction in knowing that I’m doing meaningful work to help improve the lives of my clients. That’s the most rewarding and enjoyable part of the job.
I’m also very passionate about investing. I’ve always loved the concept of having your money work for you. Getting to step back and see financial planning and investing work together in real time is so exciting!
Getting a Foothold in the Profession
I found that it was tough to get my first job. Understanding what’s reasonable as a starting role was helpful. I started as a banking advisor at RBC and moved to TD as a personal banking associate (PBA), then into a personal banker (PB) role, and finally returned to RBC as a financial planner.
There were a lot of applications sent out before I got my first job. The initial advice I got was to complete my Canadian Securities Course (CSC), which helped open up some opportunities. QAFP certification can also be helpful early in your career.
Networking is another important thing, as talking to people who have the job you want can help you understand what you need to do to get there. Most people in the industry want to pay it forward and will provide help and guidance about what you should do.
Tips for Writing the QAFP Exam
Here are a few insights to keep in mind as you’re preparing for the QAFP exam:
- Keep Practicing — I did a lot of practice questions and reviewed all the relevant materials beforehand. I also used Business Career College to review and completed some practice exams that I found helpful.
- Stay the Course — When you’re writing the exam, there will most likely be questions you don’t know. Just understand that it’s part of the process and work your way through the questions to get to a reasonable answer.
- Remain Confident — My thought is to look at the work you put in beforehand and be proud of it regardless of what the outcome of the exam is. You should be able to go into any exam with confidence in yourself and be able to look at what you’ve done to prepare and feel good about your abilities!
Looking to take your exam prep to the next level? FP Canada has a variety of tools and resources, such as practice exams, that let you experience what it’s like to take the exam. Visit the exam tools section of our website to learn more.
