Certificate in Financial Planning.

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

As a first step to CFP® certification, 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.^[4]

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.

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.

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.