Victims of "get-rich-quick" scams in Malaysia are proof that many of us are still "penny wise, pound foolish". What's more, even youngsters - mostly fresh graduates holding their first jobs - are running up high credit card bills. Many young adults risk being declared bankrupt because of credit card overspending and failing to observe basic rules in sound financial management. By the time they're 30, they are so debt-ridden they have to seek professional help to get out of bankruptcy. According to Bank Negara report, 50% of credit card holders who had been declared bankrupt were those below 30.

The global consensus on raising prudent citizens is that financial management should be taught early in life. That is why, financial literacy is important to enable people to protect themselves in an environment that offers increasingly complex and sophisticated investment products. Government has start looking into a national strategy to help Malaysians improve their personal financial literacy and develop the necessary skills to keep their personal financial matters in the proper perspective. Thus in 2004, Bank Negara Malaysia governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz proposed that financial education be made part of the school curriculum in view of its importance in the nation's economic activities. Credit Counselling and Debt Management Agency (AKPK) was set up by Bank Negara to provide financial education on responsible use of credit and basic money management skills. The agency also provides counselling and advice on financial management, including financial budgeting to manage expenses and debt management programme.

The National Economic Advisory Council (NEAC) was set up by the Prime Minister of Malaysia in May 2009 with a mandate to formulate a New Economic Model (NEM) that will transform Malaysia into a high income economy by 2020. In line with this New Economic Roadmap to increase the pool of well-trained and educated human capital in Malaysia, MFPC aspire to elevate financial literacy through education and training as well as to improve financial decision making by individual and their families as they pursue personal financial objectives. In recognition of the many changes needed to move our nation forward in this regard, the focus is on the need for increased financial literacy and effective financial decision making and the educational efforts required by promoting knowledge and skill to achieve those worthy objectives.

MFPC has been enthusiastically promoting the Registered Financial Planner (RFP) and Shariah Registered Financial Planner programmes and MFPC membership to qualified members and promoting financial planner as a career option to undergraduates at universities and colleges. MFPC has to date empowered over thousands of students in Malaysia through financial planning workshops and talks. At this juncture, MFPC had made a significant move to bring financial planning education to 50 local universities and colleges. MFPC strongly agree that financial planning will provide a competitive edge for undergraduates to secure employment opportunity in the job market. This is also in line with our objective to bring forward quality financial planning education and highlight the importance of financial planning as life skills, to encourage self discipline and good personal financial management as we believe that graduates of today are leaders of tomorrow.

The aim of MFPC is to offer RFP and Shariah RFP as the first choice of qualification to individuals seeking a rewarding career in financial planning and capital market services. MFPC also enhances its cooperation and collaborative networks through strategic alliances with public and private universities as well as colleges by appointing them as Education Providers to deliver the RFP, Certificate of Proficiency in Financial Planning, Shariah RFP, Shariah RFP Capstone, Special Executive Accelerated RFP, Executive Master in Financial Planning and Executive Industrial Diploma in Shariah Financial Services. These programmes are specially designed to develop competent professional Financial Planners to be able to succeed in a competitive and rapidly changing financial services market.