Working With A CFP® Professional
Why A CFP® Professional As Your Financial Advisor?
As an investor, you have short- and long-term goals you would like to achieve — and it’s likely you’ll face some challenges along the way. This is where a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional can step in to help you make sense of it all with well-designed strategy that takes into consideration your specific situation.
A Financial Advisor with this CFP® certification has demonstrated extensive knowledge and skill in analyzing and developing personal, long-term financial strategies for clients. Awarded by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc., the CFP® certification is one of the most recognized certifications in the financial services industry.
Qualifications of a CFP® Professional
To earn the CFP® certification from the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc., a Financial Advisor has met rigorous education, examination, experience and ethics requirements.
Education
Taking a comprehensive approach to meeting clients’ financial needs, a Financial Advisor with the CFP® certification has completed training on nearly 100 integrated financial topics, including:
- General principles of financial strategies
- Insurance planning and risk management
- Employee benefits planning
- Retirement and estate planning
In addition to finishing the coursework on financial topics, the candidate is required to earn a bachelor’s degree (or higher) or its equivalent, in any discipline, from an accredited college or university.
Examination
Passing the CFP® Certification Examination is another requirement for CFP® certification. This comprehensive exam is scheduled to take 10 hours to complete and tests each candidate’s knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis and synthesis of financial topics specified by the CFP® Board.
Experience
The CFP® Board also requires that, to fulfill the CFP® certification, a candidate must have sufficient work experience within one or more of the following six elements of financial services:
- Establishing and defining the relationship with the client
- Gathering client data, including goals
- Analyzing and evaluating the client’s financial status
- Developing and presenting financial recommendations and/or alternatives
- Implementing the financial recommendations
- Monitoring the financial recommendations
Ethics
The CFP® certification requires that a candidate agree to adhere to the CFP® Board’s Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility and to Financial Planning Practice Standards. A CFP® professional must also acknowledge the CFP® Board’s right to enforce this code of ethics and practice standards.
You Have Questions
• What can a financial advisor do for me?
• Are my investments performing the way they should?
• What is my next step?
• Are my investments performing the way they should?
• What is my next step?