Benefits of CFP Certification

Benefits of CFP Certification

The CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® credential is the most desired and respected global certification for those seeking to demonstrate their commitment to competent and ethical financial planning practice. CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER professionals meet initial and ongoing education, experience and professional development requirements, pass a rigorous exam that assesses competency, and adhere to a code of ethics, pledging to provide financial planning in the interests of clients and with the highest ethical and professional standards.

Benefits of earning CFP® certification include:

• Opportunity to join a global network of 223,700+ CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER professionals committed to putting the client’s interests first.
• Enhanced career and employment opportunities with financial services companies. Your services are sought by banks, distribution houses, AMC, insurance companies, equity brokerage and financial planning firms.
• Personal satisfaction in achieving the financial planning profession’s global standard of excellence.
• Satisfied clients who appreciate a comprehensive approach to financial planning, extending in return long-term relationships and referrals.
• Your expertise and credibility as a qualified financial planning professional is instantly communicated.
• More revenue streams by increasing your product and service offerings for clients.
• Recognition in more than 27 territories around the world.
• Trust among Indian consumers in your commitment to competent and ethical financial planning practices.

What Is a Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP®)?

Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP®) is a formal recognition of expertise in the areas of financial planning, taxes, insurance, estate planning, and retirement saving.

Owned and awarded by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc., the designation is awarded to individuals who successfully complete the CFP Board’s initial exams, then continue ongoing annual education programs to sustain their skills and certification.

Key Takeaways

• A certified financial planner (CFP^®) has received a formal designation from the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc.1
• CFPs help individuals in a variety of areas in managing their finances, such as retirement, investing, education, insurance, and taxes.
• Becoming a CFP^® is a difficult and stringent process. It requires years of experience, successful completion of standardized exams, a demonstration of ethics, and a formal education.

The most important aspect quality of a CFP^® is that they have a fiduciary duty, meaning they must make decisions with their client’s best interests in mind.

CFP Admissions Procedure

Steps to become a CFP (Certified Financial Planner) by studying at ICOFP

For a candidate to be a CFPCM certificate, he/she needs to take the following steps during CFP Study`:

Step 1 – ELECT: A candidate must choose the mode of CFP Course that he wants to attend:

Step 2 – Enrol with CFP Course

Step 3 – Register with FPSB , Parallel to your CFP Study

Step 4 – Subscribe to Level 1-2-3-4 one by one and take exams one by one, Continue your CFP Study

Step 5 – Crack the CFP exams, surge ahead & become a CFPCM certificant

CFP Career Opportunities

Certified Financial Planner CFPCM certificant gets enhanced career and employment opportunities with Financial Services companies. It is endorsed by top Financial Service Companies in India. Charter Members of FPSB US have resolved that they will give first preference to CFPCM certificant for recruitment. Certified Financial Planner Certification is one of the most sought-after certifications by BFSI companies in the country.

As a Certified Financial Planner (CFP), you become one of the most sought-after personal finance professionals. CFP career options are multiple and whether you want to work in a corporate job in the financial sector or you want to practice as an independent advisor or you want to set up your own financial firm, CFP Certification makes you ready for all these CFP career goals you may have.

Now when you are a Certified Financial Planner (CFP), you become one point service for all your client needs on all the above areas. During the CFP Program, you develop the knowledge and skills to cater to clients across all of personal finance and wealth management and that’s why you ultimately become a Credible Financial Expert for clients. World’s Top Most Certification in personal finance, 4 International Certifications, your expertise and most importantly ethics of the business of the financial business that you learn makes you the most trusted financial expert a client can look for and open up plethora of CFP career opportunities for you.

Thereafter, whether you are working in a Bank or Wealth Management Company or MF or Insurance or anywhere else in BFSI or you are doing your own financial advisory business, you client’s bank upon you for all of their personal finance planning & needs. Your client base increases, client trust goes up, client satisfaction is very high, you offer multiple services at one point, your revenues multiply……

Why do CFP Certification?

There are many reasons for people to be a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) …… what’s yours?

Here are some of the most prominent sides of CFP careers:

• Starting a career a BFSI Domain
• Already in BFSI but pacing up career growth
• Building knowledge and skill set of wealth management & personal finance
• Multiplying your CV value by 4 Global Certifications from FPSB USA
• Getting ready to set up your own independent practice as a financial planner
• Starting up or growing your Investment Advisory, IPA, Mutual Funds, Insurance Business
• Giving a professional facelift to your Financial Advisory Business
• Adding on to your Credibility by becoming a certified professional – Certified Financial Planner (CFP)
• Planning to work in BFSI in countries like USA, Canada, UK, Australia, Singapore etc

India needs more than 1 lac qualified CFPs by 2023. Are you ready to be one ?

The Value of CFP

Certified Financial Planner (CFP) Course certification benefits consumers, practitioners and financial services firms in a variety of ways. Here is a quick summary of an extensive survey done to find out how CFP Course Certifications changes the perspective.

Value for those doing CFP Certification:

• Among those seeking to advance their careers, 37% earned a promotion, got a new job or started their own practice after doing CFP.
• 57% reported growing their client base in the 12 months following their CFP certification.
• 72% reported increased satisfaction with their careers both in the corporate experience and independent practice as a CFP Certified professional.
• 63% Independent Practitioners saw their income grow in the 12 months following their CFP certification.
• 87% Independent CFP Practitioners expected to be able to keep clients longer, more satisfied & gain more trust.

Value for the Clients dealing with a CFP Professional:

• 97% Clients prefer to deal with someone who is a qualified Certified Financial Planner (CFP), rather than someone who is a non-qualified professional.
• Client Satisfaction Index of working with a CFP as against a normal financial advisor was 84% higher.
• Clients felt more strongly confident about their financial situation & believed that with a financial plan they were nearly three times more strongly confident about achieving their life goals while taking advise from a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) Professional.

Value for the companies hiring CFP Qualified Professionals:

• 59% of companies reported that employing CFP professionals led to fewer client complaints.
• 69% of companies reported that employing CFP professionals lowered corporate risk and at the same time a higher rate of growth of assets under management.
• 76% of companies found that employing CFP professionals led to increased client retention.
• 79% of firms plan to grow the number of CFP professionals & recruit more CFPs.

CFP Eligibility

Certified Financial Planner (CFP) eligibility is very minimal because is an open education program which means that one can register and study for the program anywhere. Certified Financial Planner (CFP) is a membership-based program, similar to CA, CA, CWA, CFA etc, which means that upon passing of CFP Exams, you become a member of the FPSB board.

Minimum Eligibility to Join CFP Program :

• HSC/ 12th Passed – No restrictions on passing %age
• From any stream – Science, Arts, Commerce
• Individuals with at least 18+ years of age

Anyone meeting the above criteria can join the CFP program and start CFP Course studies.

Minimum Eligibility Required to Certify:

• Graduate / 10+2+3 Passed – No restrictions on passing %age
• From any stream – Science, Arts, Commerce
• 3 Yrs. of working experience from financial industry, or, 1 yr. of Supervised experience under a practicing CFP

After passing all exams and then at the time of claiming CFP Membership / CFP Certificate Charter, one must meet the above criteria

CFP Program Structure

The CFPCM certification program in India is a 4-level program where you study for each level 1 by one and take exams to qualify them. The first 3 levels are Specialist levels and the completing the level leads you to get CFP Certification. The CFP Course structure is as below

• Level 1: FPSB® Investment Planning Specialist, also abbreviated as IPS
• Level 2: FPSB® Retirement and Tax Planning Specialist, also abbreviated as RTPS
• Level 3: FPSB® Risk and Estate Planning Specialist, also abbreviated as REPS
• Level 4: FPSB® Integrated Financial Planning Course, also abbreviated as IFP or called Capstone Course

Upon completion and passing the exams at each of the CFP levels 1,2 & 3, you get a Specialist Certification from FPSB USA. Once you have successfully completed CFP Levels 1,2 &3, you move on to the Final Level, passing which you get awarded with CFP Certification.

Besides the above 4 levels, you have to undergo an Online Course on FPSB Professional Ethics. To obtain an FPSB Ltd. certification, candidates need to complete FPSB Ltd.’s ethics course, and agree to abide by the FPSB Ltd. Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility, which sets forth requirements for ethical and professional behaviour. Candidates for CFP certification need only to complete this ethics requirement one time during their pathway to CFPCM certification.

Examinations are conducted online and you can appear at the exam from anywhere. The exams are done on a highly secure browser/application and are live proctored to ensure the integrity of the exams.

Getting CFP Certification / CFP Membership

You are awarded CFP Certification & Badge by FPSB USA, upon:

• Completing all education courses and successfully passing certification exams to obtain your FPSB® Investment Planning Specialist, FPSB® Retirement and Tax Planning Specialist, FPSB® Risk and Estate Planning Specialist certifications
• Meeting FPSB ethics requirement, doing ethics course and attestation
• Completing the FPSB® Integrated Financial Planning Course and financial plan assessment
• Successfully passing the CFP® final level exam
• Meeting FPSB Ltd.’s experience requirement
• Paying an annual CFP certification fee

CFP Program is primarily based on 4 fundamental pointers, which are inbuilt into each level of the CFP program, thereby these 4 points become the core qualifying criteria for the whole of CFP Program.

EDUCATION –         EXAMS –         ETHICS –      EXPERIENCE.

Pathways to CFP Certification

There are 2 Routes available to study for CFP course in India.

1 – Instructor Led FPSB Board has authorised Education Partners in India who offer CFP Study programs based on the curriculum provided by FPSB. Student can enrol with an Education Provider. ICOFP is India’s 1st and Largest CFP Education Provider authorised by FPSB USA. When you enrol at ICOFP, you get the comprehensive CFP study materials designed exclusively by ICOFP. The CFP Course study materials comprise of books, workbooks, videos, live classes, case studies, projects, guest lectures, assignments and much more. Once your CFP Course study is over and you are ready to take the exam, ICOFP certifies you for the same and you don’t need to take the chapter quizzes and mock tests. Straight away, you become eligible to take the Level wise certification exam. The exams are conducted by FPSB USA Board in an online manner.

2 – Self Study A student can register with FPSB directly and opt to a self-study for Certified Financial Planner (CFP) Course. Under this route, student has to register with FPSB and then subscribe to their online learning management system upon which he gets CFP study contents in the form of e-books. Using them the student has to prepare for the CFP exams. Before the CFP exams, student has to take the chapter quizzes and mock tests and pass them with 70% marks to be eligible for taking the Level wise certification exam.

CFP Challenge status

CFP Challenge Pathway Exciting New Opportunity for Experienced Professionals

Financial Planning Standard Board (FPSB USA) re-introduced CFP Challenge Pathway in October 2022. It is an accelerated way of completing Certified Financial Planner Certification in less than 3-4 months and clearing just 1 exam. This is a study pathway allowed only to professionals who have relevant Educational Qualification + Work Experience in BFSI Space.

Benefits of Challenge Pathway

You can become a CFP in 4 easy steps

• Take just 1 exam instead of 4 exams
• Complete CFP course in 3-4 months as against 10-12 months
• Study only 70 hours instead of 240 hours
• Study only 3 modules in place of 10 modules &

• FPSB Board fees come down by approx. 30%
• CFP Tuition Fees at ICOFP come down by approx. 40%

Eligibility (Education + Experience)

• Education:

• Chartered Financial Analyst, from CFA Institute (USA)
• Certified Public Accountant, from AICPA (USA), CMA, ACCA
• Chartered Accountant, from ICAI, CA(Inter) with 3-year Articleship+B.Com
• Fellow Member of Insurance Institute of India (Life/General)
• Advanced Wealth Management Course, from IIBF, CAIIB+B.Com (any degree)
• Postgraduate degree in Economics, Commerce, Finance/Financial Planning from a UGC approved University
• MBA (Finance) or PGDFM from an AICTE approved Institute

• Experience:

At least three years of prior work experience at the time of submission of documents will be considered in case of employees of a:

• Any bank, non-banking Finance Company (NBFC)
• Mutual Fund Asset Management
• Insurance Company
• Securities Company
• Portfolio Manager
• Brokerage
• Registered Investment Adviser (in the capacity ’persons associated with investment advice’)
• Treasury department of a company registered with the RoC
• Academic institution or FPSB’s Authorized Education Provider

Such experience shall be in one of the following broad job activities:

• Funds Management
• Investment Advice
• Accounting/Fund Accounting/Auditing
• Corporate Finance
• Customer Relationship/Investor Service
• lecturing in Academic Institutions on Economics/Commerce/Finance or teaching/training on FPSB’s CFP certification curriculum based on Financial Planning Education Framework

CFP Examinations

Examinations for all the levels of Certified Financial Planner (CFP) Program are conducted online by Financial Planning Standards Board (FPSB USA). For all the CFP exams, Financial Planning Standards Board (FPSB USA) is the only examining & certifying body.

The exams are conducted online in a live proctored manner in a very high-tech online exam environment. When you start studying CFP Program, you need to take the 4 exams one by one as you move along. Appearing at CFP exam is flexible and you can decide when to appear in an exam depending on your CFP Preparation and availability.

For CFP Level 1 to 3 , the CFP Examination pattern is as follows :

• 75 Questions – 75 Marks – All MCQs Exam
• 75 multiple-choice questions (4 possible answer choices)
• No Negative marking in any CFP Exam
• Online, live proctored exam
• 2 hr exam, no breaks permitted
• CFP Exams are conducted once every month in third or fourth week
• There are multiple exam slots and you can opt for a slot convenient to you
• Financial calculators permitted (excel sheet on open office inbuilt in the exam application itself)

The passing score of the CFP level 1 to 3 Specialist exams is not predeclared but is arrived by doing an average and psychometric analysis. It is set to a level that is what is required for competent practice. Though no where it is formally declared but, generally with our experience we have seen that close to 60% score (which means 45 out of 75) looks to be a good score to be most likely to pass easily.

For CFP Level 4, the CFP Examination pattern is as follows:

• Financial Planning Project to be done and submitted first
• Only after CFP Project is approved by FPSB one can book the exam.
• Online, live proctored exam
• 50 multiple-choice questions- 100 Marks (4 possible answer choices)
• 25 Questions of 1 Marks each from the concept books
• 25 Questions of 3 Marks each based on a Case Study
• No Negative marking
• 3 hr exam, no breaks permitted
• CFP Exams are conducted as per a pre-defined calendar
• There are multiple exam slots and you can opt for a slot convenient to you
• Financial calculators permitted (excel sheet or open office inbuilt into the exam platform also can be used)

The passing point on the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) Final exam is not predeclared but is arrived by doing an average and psychometric analysis. It is set to a level that is what is required for competent practice. Since no where it is formally declared but, and with our experience we expect 55 to 60% as the suggestive scores to pass.

CFP 4-in-1 Program Certificates

When you complete your CFP Course & pass the exams, you get 3 specialist certifications from Financial Planning Standards Board (FPSB USA) and finally Certified Financial Planner Certificate from Financial Planning Standards Board (FPSB USA). Here is a sample of how the CFP Certificates look like: