Kitces, Other Advisors Stunned by Rude Advisor Sanctioned by CFP Board
What You Need to Know
An advisor’s CFP license was revoked by the CFP Board for insulting a prospective client by email and being disrespectful towards a CFP Board counsel.
The advisor allegedly told a prospective client by email he understood why her husband left her.
Advisors and other CFPs were stunned by his actions but not all agreed his license should have been revoked.
Several advisors and certified financial planners have spoken out on Twitter and criticized the behavior of an advisor based in Sequim, Washington, whose CFP license was recently revoked by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards for insulting a prospective client by email and for being unprofessional and disrespectful towards a CFP Board counsel, among other infractions.
“Wow, this was a wild ride,” Michael Kitces, chief financial planning nerd at Kitces.com and head of planning strategy at Buckingham Wealth Management, tweeted on Saturday, referring to an article about the matter published last week by Financial Advisor.
A former prospective client of David R. Nute, 72, submitted a written grievance to CFP Board, complaining that she had asked Nute if she could drop off copies of documents she needed for a potential transaction in person at his office instead of transmitting them electronically, according to CFP Board.
After Nute responded that his time was “too valuable” to make the trip to his office to pick up her documents, the former prospective client emailed him, saying she no longer wanted to work with him.
Nute responded to her email, stating, among other things: “It is totally ridiculous to expect me to drive into town and waste a couple hours of $1,000 hourly time,” and “I was only trying to help and your reactions tell me why your husband left you.”
“Professionalism should be a part of human decency but if even that can’t be expected then permission to use respected marks should require it,” Eric Jones, a CFP and financial advisor with Baird’s Bowker Jones Group in Rockford, Illinois. tweeted in response to Kitces’ post on Sunday.
“The guy clearly has issues and needs help,” Travis Sickle, a CFP and financial advisor at Sickle Hunter Financial Advisors in Tampa., Florida, tweeted Saturday.
At the same time, Sickle said he thought CFP Board “overstepped” by revoking his license. The advisor didn’t give an explanation for this opinion, even after Kitces responded by asking: “Genuinely curious, overstepped in what regard/at what point here?” (Sickle didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment by ThinkAdvisor on Monday.)
In 2013, CFP Board’s Disciplinary and Ethics Commission had issued a warning to Nute about a similar interaction with a prospective client, according to the organization.
Sickle, however, wasn’t alone in questioning whether CFP Board overstepped, and the CFP Board declined ThinkAdvisor’s request to comment on the Twitter discussion.
CFP Board’s Order
In July, CFP Board issued an order in which Nute received a revocation of his certification and his right to use the CFP certification marks. The sanction followed an appeal of a January Order of Revocation from the Disciplinary and Ethics Commission.
The Code and Standards Enforcement Committee of CFP Board affirmed the Commission’s findings that Nute failed to treat fellow professionals and others with dignity, courtesy, and respect in violation of Standard A.7 of the group’s Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct.
The Enforcement Committee also affirmed the Commission’s finding that, by using the language he did with the former prospective client, he violated Standard A.7 of the Code and Standards.
