CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER

The 'Certified Financial Planner' (CFP®) designation is a certification mark for financial planners conferred by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards. To receive authorization to use the designation, the candidate must meet education, examination, experience and ethics requirements, and pay an ongoing certification fee.^[1]

Contents

Education requirements

CFP® certification examination

Work Experience

Ethics

External links

References

Related Designations

Education requirements

For the first 30 plus years, a high school education and some insurance sales, financial or broker experience was a requirement for certification. Now, a college education and degree will be required beginning in 2007 or maybe 2008. [1] As a first step to the present CFP® certification criteria, students must master^[2] a list of 89 topics on integrated financial planning.^[3] The topics cover major planning areas such as:

★ General principles of financial planning

★ Insurance planning

★ Employee Benefits planning

★ Investment planning

★ Income Tax planning

★ Retirement planning

★ Estate planning
Beginning in 2007, students will be required to have at least a bachelor's degree in any discipline from a regionally accredited U.S. college or university in order to become eligible for initial certification.^[2]
International degrees may be substituted for a U.S. undergraduate degree if they receive equivalency from a third-party organization such as the Worldwide Educational Services.^[5]

CFP® certification examination

The CFP® Certification Examination is a 10-hour multiple choice exam, divided into one four-hour session (Friday afternoon) and two three-hour sessions (Saturday). The exam includes three major case problems and is designed to assess the student's ability to apply his or her financial planning education to financial planning situations.^[6]
Individuals holding professional designations pre-approved by the CFP Board (like PhDs in business and economics, lawyers, CLUs, ChFCs, Certified Public Accountants (CPA), Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), Chartered Accountants (CA), Chartered Wealth Managers (AAFM) ), and Chartered Financial Analysts (CFA) could register and sit for the exam without having to complete the education requirements by using the CFP-board's ''challenge'' status.

Work Experience

The CFP Board defines work experience as "the supervision, direct support, teaching or personal delivery of all or part of the personal financial planning process to a client"^[7] and such experience must fall within one or more of the following six primary elements of financial planning:

★ Establishing and Defining the Client Relationship

★ Gathering Client Data and Goals

★ Analyzing and Evaluating the Client's Financial Status

★ Developing and Presenting Financial Planning Recommendations and Alternatives

★ Implementing the Financial Planning Recommendations

★ Monitoring the Financial Planning Recommendations
Even after the student passes the exam and meets one or more of the six primary elements of financial planning, he or she must also have completed the following:

★ Three years full-time or the equivalent in the financial planning field for students who have an undergraduate degree from an accredited U.S. college or university

★ Five years full-time work experience for those who do not have an undergraduate degree

★ Be approved by the CFP Board during initial certification, which also involves an extensive background check

Ethics

The final component is the ethics requirements.^[8] Students and certificants are required to adhere to the CFP Board Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility and to the Financial Planning Practice Standards. The CFP Board has the right to enforce them through its Disciplinary Rules and Procedures.

External links

★ Certified Financial Planner Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards

★ Graduate Organization for Degree Holding Financial Planners

★ 10 Questions to Ask When Choosing a Financial Planner - helpful advice to assist in selecting a Financial Planner.

References

# Steps to Initial CFP® certification
# The Education Requirement
# Financial Planning Topic List
# The Education Requirement
# Worldwide Educational Services
# CFP Board Registered Education Program
# Review Program for the CFP® Certification Examination
# CFP® certification exam
# Work Experience
# Ethics Requirements for CFPs

Related Designations

★ Chartered Wealth Manager

★ Chartered Financial Analyst

★ Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst

★ Chartered Certified Accountant