Guide to Financial Planning Certifications
When choosing a financial advisor, one screening factor that you may want to consider is the advisor’s commitment to competency through continual learning. The list of professional designations below represents a sample of certifications, based on our current members.
Every member of Christian Financial Advisors Network maintains the necessary licensure to provide professional financial planning and investment advisory services, but each has chosen their individual path to pursue specialized education and serve clients in the best way possible.
All members in the Christian Financial Advisors Network must maintain their CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNING™ (CFP®) designation, which is also the most popular and widely recognized in the financial planning profession. Additionally, our members must maintain the Certified Kingdom Advisor® (CKA®) designation OR be in pursuit of it. This designation is the most widely recognized designation that incorporates biblical advice into the financial planning process.
Disclosure: These professional designations, licenses, and certifications are voluntary and are not required by any regulatory authority to be able to provide financial planning or investment management services to individual clients.
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CFP® certification is generally acknowledged as the highest standard in personal financial planning, and demonstrates a deep knowledge and commitment to a career providing professional financial advice. It is the most widely recognized and sought after professional designation within the financial planning industry. Certification is granted and controlled by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, and characterized by its:
• High standard of professional education
• Stringent code of conduct and practice standards
• Ethical requirements governing engagement with clients
To attain the CFP® marks, an individual must complete four requirements known as the “Four E’s”:
Education
Attain a bachelors degree or higher from a regionally accredited university
Complete an advanced course of study covering the financial planning subject areas defined by the CFP Board as being important for the delivery of competent, professional financial advice. Subject areas include investment planning, insurance and risk management, income tax planning, estate planning, employee benefits planning, retirement planning, and others.
Exam
Pass the comprehensive CFP® certification examination. The examination is administered in 2 sessions of 3 hours each with a brief break in between. It includes case studies and client scenarios designed to test students’ ability to correctly diagnose a wide range financial planning issues and apply their knowledge of financial planning to real world circumstances. The exam is designed to cover a wide range of subject areas, and passing is regarded as a tremendous accomplishment.
Experience
Because CFP® certification indicates to the public the ability to provide professional financial planning services without supervision, candidates are required to accumulate either 6,000 hours of experience through the Standard Pathway, or 4,000 hours of experience though the Apprenticeship that meets additional requirements. Qualifying experience may be acquired through a variety of activities and professional settings including personal delivery, supervision, direct support, indirect support or teaching. Experience is often required to be supervised or verified by a CFP® professional.
Ethics
Individuals must agree to be bound by the CFP Board’s Standards of Professional Conduct, which consist of a set of documents outlining the ethical and practice standards for practitioners.
Certificants are also required to adhere to a fiduciary standard while providing financial planning services, meaning that they agree to put their clients’ best interests before their own.
Maintaining CFP® certification requires a minimum of 30 hours of continuing education every two years, including 2 hours on the Code of Ethics. It also requires renewal of the agreement to be bound by the Standards of Professional Conduct. You can learn more about CFP® certification at http://www.cfp.net
The following members of the Christian Financial Advisors Network maintain current CFP® certification:
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The CKA® certification is the highest standard in the profession for faith-based financial advisors and is the most widely recognized designation for serving Christians.
To attain the CKA® marks, an individual must complete the following:
Prerequisites
Candidates must sign a Statement of Faith, obtain a letter of reference from a pastor or member of pastoral staff, pass a regulatory review, complete a signed statement of personal stewardship and submit two client references.
Experience
Candidates must either hold one of the following industry approved designations: CFP®, ChFC®, CPA, CPA/PFS, EA, CFA, CIMA®, AAMS, CLU®, JD or hold 10 years of experience in the professional discipline in which they applied for the CKA® designation. Disciplines include insurance, investments, accounting, law, and financial planning.
Education
Complete the 60-hour CKA® Educational Program, a 3- credit hour equivalent certificate program offered by Indiana Wesleyan University.
Exam
Pass the CKA® national proctored exam.
Ethics & Public Disciplinary Process
Kingdom Advisors (KA) requires all Certified Kingdom Advisor® designees to remain in substantial compliance with a set of ethical principles, rules,and standards in order to use or to continue to use the Certified Kingdom Advisor® designation. In order to oversee such compliance, KA has established procedures for reporting ethical violation, as well as a set of public disciplinary procedures to oversee the investigation of potential of such principles.
On top of the above requirements, certificants must complete 10 hours of continuing education each year. You can learn more about CKA® certification at https://kingdomadvisors.com .
The following members of the Christian Financial Advisors Network maintain current CKA® certification:
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CPAs are licensed and regulated by their state boards of accountancy. While state laws and regulations vary, the education, experience and testing requirements for licensure as a CPA generally include:
Education
Licensure generally requires a minimum college education typically 150 credit hours with at least a baccalaureate degree and a concentration in accounting.
Experience
Minimum experience levels are required (most states require at least one year of experience providing services that involve the use of accounting, attest, compilation, management advisory, financial advisory, tax or consulting skills, all of which must be achieved under the supervision of or verification by a CPA).
Exam
Successful passage of the Uniform CPA Examination.
Continuing Education
In order to maintain a CPA license, states generally require the completion of 40 hours of continuing professional education (CPE) each year (or 80 hours over a two-year period or 120 hours over a three-year period).
Conduct
Additionally, all American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) members are required to follow a rigorous Code of Professional Conduct which requires that they act with integrity, objectivity, due care, competence, fully disclose any conflicts of interest (and obtain client consent if a conflict exists), maintain client confidentiality, disclose to the client any commission or referral fees, and serve the public interest when providing financial services.
PFS is the Personal Financial Specialist designation awarded to a CPA in good standing with the AICPA.
The following members of the Christian Financial Advisors Network maintain current CPA licensure:
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The MS designation denotes a Master's of Science (in Personal Financial Planning) - sometimes notated MSPFP.
Prerequisites
Most universities only offer their graduate programs to candidates that hold a bachelor’s degree. Also, candidates must apply and qualify for the school’s graduate program.
Education
A master's degree varies based on the university, but typically requires 30 credit hours on top of an undergraduate degree. There are core courses, similar to an undergraduate degree, that cover topics similar to those covered in the CFP® certification. In fact, many times the core courses will satisfy the Education requirement needed to sit for the CFP® certification. Topics included in such programs include, but aren’t limited to:
• Investments
• Taxes
• Insurance
• Retirement
• Employee Benefits
• Estate Planning
In addition to these core courses, MS candidates likely will complete a capstone case study or research study and an additional "track" of several courses based on an area of interest or emphasis. These tracks may include Financial Therapy, Applied Practice, Research, or Advanced Financial Planning.
There are no on-going requirements after the graduate program is completed. However, if you are speaking with a financial advisor that has a MS designation, be sure to ask them about their emphasis in the program they completed and what they mostly took away from it. Finally, with more personalization in and among the programs the advisor would likely be able to tell you something unique to their experience.
The following members of the Christian Financial Advisors Network have this designation:
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The Registered Life Planner® (RLP®) designation is administered by the Kinder Institute of Life Planning, an organization dedicated to advancing the practice of “whole-life” life planning in financial planning.
RLP® designees know financial well-being is a means to an end, not an end in itself. Whereas traditional financial planning creates financial strategies to achieve clients’ near-term and long-term goals, life planning takes this process even further by uncovering the deeper “why?”.
Through the comprehensive and nuanced EVOKE Life Planning process, RLP®s help their clients discover their most profound goals and clarify what they truly want out of life (i.e., what’s most important). They then inspire clients to action, create strategies to overcome obstacles, and provide ongoing guidance to help clients stay on track.
To attain the RLP® designation, advisors must complete three courses:
• EVOKE® Life Planning Training (multi-day course)
• The Seven Stages of Money Maturity® Training (multi-day course)
• Life Planning Mentorship (six-month mentorship program)
Registered Life Planners® are expected to earn at least eight hours of continuing education in Life Planning every two years.
Learn more about the RLP® designation at https://www.kinderinstitute.com/rlp-designation/.
The following members of the Christian Financial Advisors Network have the RLP® designation: