FCP: Comments from the editor on the 1992 issue

Comments
from the Editor

Sherman Hanna

With the publication of the
second issue of Financial Counseling and Planning, the pattern for
the journal seems to be developing. The 15 articles in the first two issues
cover a variety of topics, from stock market investing to retirement planning
to financial management decision styles. As Virginia Langrehr indicates
in an article in this issue, there are both differences and similarities
between financial counseling and financial planning. This journal tries
to serve researchers, teachers and practitioners interested in both topics.
There are more journals focusing on financial planning topics than on financial
counseling topics, so we are more likely to accept a manuscript aimed at
a counseling topic than a planning topic.

Fifteen articles have been
chosen from 24 manuscripts submitted. Six of the articles are clearly related
to financial planning, several are clearly related to financial counseling,
and the rest are related to both areas. The Prather article in the first
issue and the Lytton, Garman and Porter article in this issue on financial
ratios are good examples of articles related to both financial counseling
and financial planning.

Many members of the Association
for Financial Counseling and Planning Education are interested in research,
but others are primarily interested in information that can be directly
used by practitioners. The editorial policy of this journal states that
its purpose is to disseminate scholarly research related to financial counseling
and planning education. We have tried to have authors include an extensive
section of implications, and even the exploratory research articles, such
as that by Rettig and Schulz in this issue, may provide useful insights
for practitioners. Practitioners should benefit from the research published
in this journal.

We welcome comments and suggestions,
as well as manuscript submissions.