Financial Planning Association Names Carol Anderson Annual Award Winner

Founder and VP of Money Quotient named winner of the 2024 P. Kemp Fain, Jr., Award given to a financial industry professional. 

Carol Anderson

The Financial Planning Association, the membership organization and trade association for certified financial planner professionals, announced Wednesday that Chicago-based financial planner Carol Anderson as the recipient of its annual individual award.

Anderson was named as the winner of the 2024 P. Kemp Fain, Jr., Award, one of the financial planning profession’s highest individual awards.

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“The P. Kemp Fain, Jr., Award provides a special time each year to recognize someone who has had a deep impact on the financial planning profession, and few people have had as much of an impact as Carol Anderson,” said 2024 FPA President Claudia Kane, in a statement.

“I’m overwhelmed with gratitude for this recognition of my life’s work,” Anderson said in a statement. “I have been driven to identify the factors that inspire and equip individuals to maximize their resources and pursue lives of meaning and purpose. I am indebted to my family, teachers, and colleagues for encouraging and supporting me along this endlessly fascinating journey.”

Anderson is the founder and vice president of Money Quotient, established in 2001, with the goal of helping individuals understand their financial strengths and weaknesses, and to guide them towards better financial decision-making and planning.

“The work Carol has done over the years has enabled financial planners to better understand the emotional and behavioral aspects of money while providing an important foundation for establishing stronger relationships with clients,” Kane continued.

Anderson is also founder of MQ Research & Education, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization focused on research, education, and the development of tools to help individuals and financial professionals improve their relationship with money. Anderson applied her research findings to developing client discovery tools and the “MQ True Wealth Planning” model, a delivery model for financial planning.

In 2007, Anderson co-authored the white paper “Communication Issues in Life Planning: Defining Key Factors in Developing Successful Planner-Client Relationships,” which significantly influenced the evolution of financial services, according to FPA. Numerous publications, including the current CFP curriculum, have cited this research.

Anderson also oversaw research and co-authored another crucial whitepaper in 2021 titled “Developing & Maintaining Client Relationships in a Rapidly Changing Environment,” which revealed the impact of local, national and international events on planner-client relationships.

Anderson will be recognized at FPA Annual Conference 2024, which is scheduled in Columbus, Ohio, from September 18 to 20. The award is named after P. Kemp Fain, Jr., a pioneer in the field of financial planning.

Correction: This story originally had the incorrect photo insert. 

Wealth Manager Carnegie Bolsters Qualified Retirement Plan Team

Plan adviser Wendy Eldridge joins from Marcum Wealth to connect wealth and retirement plan practices.

Wendy Eldridge

Carnegie Investment Counsel, a registered investment adviser with $4.5 billion in assets, has bolstered its qualified retirement plan practice with the hiring of 25-year veteran Wendy Eldridge, the firm announced Tuesday.

Eldridge will join as retirement plan adviser with a focus on enhancing the firm’s relationships with plan sponsor clients. She comes from Marcum Wealth, where she was a partner and managing director, and will join Cleveland-based Carnegie’s existing retirement plan practice, led by one of the company’s owners, Kim Gannis.

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Eldridge is based in Cleveland, and will join the Cleveland-based firm with offices nationally.

One of the main reasons she chose Carnegie is “because of the firm’s current wealth management practice,” she wrote via email. “The firm’s experience and focus on wealth management will be instrumental” in her “vision of converging the two practices.”

Carnegie’s CEO, Richard Alt, noted in the announcement Eldridge’s experience and knowledge in structuring a retirement plan for employees.

“As a fiduciary adviser, we are extending our client-first priority into the retirement plan business with the addition of Wendy,” Alt said.

The strategy is part of a continued trend in retirement planning and wealth management. On Tuesday, CAPTRUST—one of the largest RIA players in the field—announced it has reached $1 trillion in assets across retirement plan advisement and individual wealth management.

“Plan sponsors need a trusted retirement plan adviser now more than ever,” Eldridge wrote via email. “Companies are increasingly recognizing the absolute necessity of not just offering a retirement plan but a competitive one. … Plan sponsors are facing more responsibilities and need to rely on their adviser to maintain their plan from a compliance and fiduciary standpoint, while also providing a true benefit to employees.”

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