CFP® Certification

In order to call themselves a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professional, these advisors must meet rigorous education, examination and experience requirements and commit to high ethical and professional standards.

Education
Examination
Experience
Ethics

Education: CFP® professionals are required to complete education covering all of the major personal financial planning areas, including investment planning, tax planning, retirement savings and income planning, and estate planning. Since 2012, we have required new CFP® professionals to have a bachelor’s degree or higher in any discipline.

Examination: CFP® professionals must pass the comprehensive CFP® exam, which tests their ability to apply financial planning knowledge to real-life situations so that they are highly qualified to help you plan for your financial future.

Experience: CFP® professionals have at least two years of real-life experience providing financial planning services. As a result, CFP® professionals possess practical experience in addition to financial planning knowledge.

Ethics: As a final step to certification, individuals must satisfy CFP Board’s Fitness Standards and commit to abide by CFP Board’s Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct.

CFP Board may sanction a CFP® professional who does not abide by their commitment to CFP Board, which could include a public censure, suspension, or the permanent revocation of CFP® certification. CFP Board is a professional body, not a regulator, and doesn’t guarantee a CFP® professional’s services.

All CFP® professionals commit to CFP Board to act as a fiduciary, and therefore act in their client’s best interests at all times when providing financial advice.

This means your CFP® professional has made a commitment to CFP Board to:

1. Place your interests above their own interests, or the interests of their firm.
2. Disclose conflicts of interest to you, obtaining your informed consent and properly managing the conflict.
3. Continue to put your interests first, even when acting under a conflict of interest.
4. Comply with the terms of the client engagement and follow your directions, so long as they are reasonable and lawful.
5. Act with care, skill, prudence and diligence based on your goals, risk tolerance, objective, financial status and personal circumstances.
   

When you choose your financial planner, be sure to ask for — and get — a written engagement that requires them to have a fiduciary obligation to you.

Source: “What is CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Certification?” ©2024 Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. All rights reserved. Republished with permission.