How to Become a Certified Financial Planner

Do you want to work closely with people to help improve their finances and achieve long-term success? If that sounds like you, you might want to consider becoming a financial planner.

Financial planners help clients manage their money and plan for retirement by offering guidance and advice on investments, savings, and other financial strategies.

Many financial planners go on to pursue certified financial planner (CFP) certification. CFP professionals hold an additional certification that indicates they’ve met rigorous education, exam, and experience requirements. This makes them more prepared to advise clients. Additionally, having the official CFP designation can set you ahead in the job market.

Read on to learn the steps you can take to become a certified financial planner and whether this career is a good fit for you.

A certified financial planner is a finance professional who holds a designation awarded by the Certified Financial Planner Board. This certification indicates to clients that you are trustworthy and knowledgeable when it comes to navigating complex financial decisions.

CFPs work with individual clients to establish goals and strategies, like investment opportunities and retirement plans, to help them achieve long-term financial success.

The terms “certified financial planner” and “personal financial advisor” are often used interchangeably. Personal financial advisors and CFPs have similar job duties, helping people manage their finances.

However, while their duties may overlap, there are some key distinctions. A certified financial planner has the specialized CFP certification, showing their expertise in financial planning.

Additionally, certified financial planners have a fiduciary responsibility, which means they have the legal or ethical responsibility to act in their clients’ best interests when giving financial advice. While some financial advisors follow similar standards, not all are held to this same level of accountability.

The typical day-to-day responsibilities of a certified financial planner include:

To become a certified financial planner, you will need to earn a bachelor’s degree, complete a CFP Board-approved education program, pass the CFP exam, and gain work experience.

Here’s what that journey usually looks like:

Earning a bachelor’s degree is the first step to becoming a certified financial planner. It’s helpful to have a degree in finance, accounting, business, or another related field. However, having a bachelor’s degree in any field from an accredited college qualifies you to sit for the CFP exam later on.

It’s good to take courses in economics, investments, financial management, and financial accounting, which are key to financial planning. These classes can help you gain the fundamental knowledge you’ll need to pass the CFP exam.

To become a certified financial planner, you need to complete a CFP Board-registered education program.

This program is separate from a bachelor’s degree program, though some colleges and universities include the required coursework in some of their bachelor’s programs.

If your degree program doesn’t include these classes, you’ll need to complete this requirement separately. You can find an eligible program on the CFP Board website.

Gaining relevant work experience can help you build your resume and prepare you for a career as a CFP. To earn your certification, you’re required to have 4,000 or 6,000 hours of financial planning experience, depending on which CFP Pathway you choose.

For the CFP Board’s Standard Pathway. you must complete 6,000 hours of qualifying experience. There’s also a more structured experience, called the Apprenticeship Pathway, which requires 4,000 hours of required work under the supervision of a CFP® professional.

You can gain relevant work experience through internships, residencies, fellowships, part-time work, and volunteering. For experience to count, you must be involved in the financial planning process for clients, which could come from working directly with them or from supporting another CFP professional.

The CFP exam is a 170-question comprehensive exam designed to test your ability to apply financial planning concepts to real-world scenarios.

You’ll be tested on areas such as investment planning, tax planning, retirement savings, and estate planning. You’ll also have to answer questions regarding ethical professional conduct and regulations.

You can prepare for the exam by taking practice tests, reviewing sample questions, and connecting with a mentor or tutor. You can find these resources, as well as CFP exam study guides, on the CFP website.

After passing the exam, certified financial planners must adhere to the CFP Board’s Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct and engage in continuing education to maintain their certification.

The CFP Board’s Code of Ethics dictates that you must act with honesty and integrity, exercise due care, avoid or disclose conflicts of interest, and act in your client’s best interest.

Additionally, certified financial planners are required to complete 30 hours of continuing education every two-year reporting period, starting after their initial certification. This requirement includes two hours of ethics-related education and 28 hours of education in financial planning topics.

It typically takes 4-6 years to become a certified financial planner.

This includes the time it generally takes to earn your bachelor’s degree (about four years). However, you can speed up this process by enrolling in an accelerated bachelor’s degree program, which can take months or even a year off your timeline.

The next step after earning your bachelor’s degree is to complete the required coursework. You can also begin gaining relevant work experience. Once the coursework is finished, you can then take the CFP exam. It’s not required to finish the work experience requirement prior to sitting for the exam.

According to the CFP Board, you will need to earn either 4,000 hours of experience through an apprenticeship or 6,000 hours of professional experience. It can take between 18 months and two years to complete this requirement.

Your salary as a certified financial planner can vary based on your experience and the industry you work in. It’s possible to make more money through bonuses, commissions, and other incentives, depending on your employer’s policies.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the median annual wage for personal financial advisors — a role closely related to the certified financial planner role — was $102,140 as of May 2024. That year, the highest-earning 10% of personal financial advisors made a median annual salary of over $239,200, while the lowest 10% of earners earned a median annual salary of $48,730.

A compensation study by the CFP Board found that certified financial planners with less than five years of experience earned an average of $103,000 annually. That pay increased with experience, with professionals with 11-20 years of experience earning an average salary of $225,000 per year.

Here are some factors to keep in mind when deciding if becoming a certified financial planner is right for you: