Work Experience
Guide to CFP® Certification

Because the CFP® certification indicates to the public your ability to provide financial planning unsupervised, CFP Board requires you to have some experience in the personal financial planning process. However, CFP Board recognizes the variety of situations and circumstances in which people participate in the financial planning process and has developed a work experience requirement to account for this.

Reporting Work Experience

After you pass the CFP® Certification Examination, you will receive instructions for reporting your work experience on the Work Experience Reporting Form. Please allow up to 10 business days from date of mailing for CFP Board to receive and process your materials.

Definition of Work Experience

CFP Board's work experience requirement is defined as "the supervision¹, direct support², teaching³ or personal delivery of all or part of the personal financial planning process to a client⁴." Qualifying experience must fit within one or more of the six primary elements of the personal financial planning process described as follows:

  (1) Establishing and Defining the Relationship with the Client
This includes explaining the issues and concepts related to the personal financial planning process. You must specify the services you or your firm will provide and clarify the client's and your responsibilities.

  (2) Gathering Client Data Including Goals
Data gathering includes interviewing or questioning the client about various aspects of his or her financial resources, obligations and expectations. During this process, you will need to determine your client's goals, needs and priorities; assess your client's values and attitudes; and determine the client's time horizons and risk tolerance. In addition, you will collect applicable client records and documents.

  (3) Analyzing and Evaluating the Client's Financial Status
This process involves analyzing and evaluating client data such as current cash flow needs, risk management, investments, taxes, retirement, employee benefits, estate planning and/or special needs.

  (4) Developing and Presenting Financial Planning Recommendations and/or Alternatives
Financial planning recommendations should meet the goals and objectives of the client, and reflect his or her values, situation and risk tolerance. This process includes presenting and reviewing the recommendations with the client, working with the client to ensure that the plan meets his or her goals and expectations, and revising the recommendations as necessary.

  (5) Implementing the Financial Planning Recommendations
This is the process of helping the client put the financial planning recommendations into action. This could include coordinating with other professionals, such as accountants, attorneys, real estate agents, investment advisers, stockbrokers and insurance agents.

  (6) Monitoring the Financial Planning Recommendations
Areas to be monitored or reviewed include the soundness of the recommendations and the client's progress. This process also involves discussing with the client any changes in his or her personal circumstances, evaluating changing tax laws, and making recommendations based on new or changing conditions.

1 All levels of supervision are acceptable if the chain of supervision eventually leads back to the planner.
2 Must be directly responsible for information that is provided to the planner/client and have reasonable accountability for the client.
3 Credit for teaching is limited to the instruction of CFP Board's financial planning topic list in a CFP Board-Registered Program. Teaching finance-related classes (for college credit) full-time at a university that does not have a CFP Board-Registered Program can be used to satisfy up to two years of experience credit, but the third year of experience must be personal financial planning experience or teaching full-time at a CFP Board-Registered Program.
4 "Client" denotes a person who engages a practitioner and for whom professional services are rendered. Pro-bono experience is accepted as long as (1) there is a client, and (2) you are acting as a financial planning professional who is capable and qualified to offer objective, integrated and comprehensive financial advice to, or for the benefit of, individuals to help them achieve their financial objectives using the financial planning process.

Work Experience Standards
Your work experience must comply with the following standards:

• Three years full-time, or the equivalent part-time (2,000 hours equals one year full-time).
• Six months of experience must have been gained within 12 months of reporting your work experience.
• Experience may be gained up to 10 years before or up to five years after the exam date.
• The bachelor's degree and experience requirements must be fulfilled within five years of passing the CFP® Certification Examination. If these requirements are not completed within this time frame, your candidacy for CFP® Certification may be terminated. A one-time, three-year extension may be granted on a case-by-case basis. Requests for an extension should be sent to CFP Board by e-mail to initialcert@CFPBoard.org or by fax to 202-379-2299.

Pre-Certification Continuing Education
If you do not complete the CFP® certification process within 12 months of passing the CFP® Certification Examination, you begin to accrue a continuing education requirement at a rate of 15 CE hours per year. This accrual begins 13 months after passing the exam and continues until the work experience requirement has been fulfilled. If you have begun to accrue a pre-certification CE requirement, you may report CE hours online by logging in to your CFP Board account. Common Questions Regarding the Pre-certification CE Requirement

Internships/Residency Programs
Financial planning-related internships completed at a CFP Board-Registered Program are eligible for credit toward the work experience requirement at the rate of one month of work experience for each college credit. Residency programs completed through the Financial Planning Association (FPA) are eligible for credit toward the work experience requirement at the rate of three months of work experience credit per residency program. Credit will be granted for internships and/or residency programs completed within 10 years before and five years after the successful completion of the CFP® Certification Examination.

Verification of Experience
After you pass the CFP® Certification Examination, you will receive instructions for reporting your work experience on the Work Experience Reporting Form. Please allow up to 10 business days from date of mailing for CFP Board to receive and process your materials.

Work experience information provided to CFP Board is subject to random audit. Erroneous information could jeopardize your authorization to use the CFP® marks.

While the CFP® certification requirements may be changed from time to time, you will be expected to meet the requirements that are in place at the time of your most recent application for the CFP® Certification Examination. Therefore, CFP Board cannot confirm the suitability of your work experience before you pass the exam.

Work Experience Frequently Asked Questions

Q 1. When do I report my work experience to CFP Board?
A After you pass the CFP® Certification Examination, you will receive instructions for reporting your work experience on the Work Experience Reporting Form. Please allow up to 10 business days from date of mailing for CFP Board to receive and process your materials.

Q 2. How is part-time employment credited toward the requirement?
A The number of part-time hours will be converted into a full-time equivalent and applied to the overall balance of the requirement. 2,000 hours equals one year of full-time experience.

Q 3. If I work full-time in a financial planning related position and also work part-time, can I accelerate the completion of the requirement?
A No. Concurrent part- and full-time financial planning employment will not accelerate completion of the requirement.

Q 4. If I work more than 2,000 hours per year, can I accelerate the completion of the requirement?
A No. Additional credit for full-time employment will not be granted for hours in excess of 40 hours per week.

Q 5. How is a portion of a job credited towards the requirement?
A Portions of a job may be credited towards this requirement on an hourly basis just like part-time employment. As an example, the majority of your job (30 hours per week) is spent working as a home office representative processing paperwork. However, ten hours a week are spent consulting with individual clients. The ten hours a week can be accrued and credited towards the requirement.

Q 6. What if I do not have any relevant experience? Can I still sit for the CFP® Certification Examination?
A Yes. The required years of work experience do not need to be completed prior to the exam. Individuals have up to five years from the time they pass the exam to complete the experience requirement if necessary.

Q 7. If I am making a career change, how do I go about obtaining appropriate experience?
A Qualifying experience may be earned through many different types of practices and firms. Applicants for CFP® certification often choose to establish a private practice, either by themselves or in conjunction with other planners. Some planners work for banks, credit unions, insurance companies, accounting or law firms, credit counseling organizations and brokerage firms. Or, they may choose a career in academia, teaching personal financial planning to other interested students.

Q 8. What can I call myself once I have passed the CFP® Certification Examination but am still completing my experience requirement?
A Only those individuals who have fully satisfied CFP Board's requirements are authorized to use the CFP® certification marks. Until that time, you can only use the CFP® marks to refer to the certification process. For example, you may say that you are a "candidate for CFP® certification" or "working toward obtaining CFP® certification." Use of the term "CFP® candidate" is an improper use of the CFP® marks and is prohibited.

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