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Abstract
Relevance of personal financial planning for individuals and families has increased in the last decade after 2008-09 global economic downturn. Various studies showing major trends which helped to shape the emergence of the global financial planning profession as we know it today are examined. As issues like longevity, a shrinking workforce, declining wealth, and market complexities increases, opportunities for competent and ethical financial planners who work in the client’s interest becomes even more evident. In India, financial advisory and distribution are both managed by a single person or entity. Here the distributor is the agent of both the product provider and customer. This has been found to work against the interests of customers, in the form of high commissions and perverse incentives in sales practices. It is one of the major challenges for the development of Financial Planning as an independent profession.