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Research, Reports & Statistics
Find resources designed to help you stay on top of financial planning issues and explore approaches for building a more competent, ethical and diverse profession.
CFP® Professional Demographics
Learn about the demographics of more than 100,000 CFP® professionals, including breakdowns by state, gender and age.
Survey Insights: Consumers & Certificants
CFP Board surveys and indices uncover key audience insights that help you gain a better understanding of their mindsets, behaviors and motivations.
Consumer Surveys
Learn how consumers are feeling about their finances and the economy – and find out what they're looking for in a financial planner.
CFP® Certificant Surveys
Certificant surveys cover a wide range of topics. Find out how CFP® professionals view their decision to join the financial planning profession, how they feel about getting certified and more.
The CFP® Professionals Sentiment Indices
The CFP® Professionals Sentiment Indices (CPSI) measure the financial and economic outlooks of CFP® professionals and their clients.
Research: Building a More Sustainable Workforce
Workforce development. Pipeline diversification. Digital disruption. Learn how our profession is changing with reports from CFP Board and the CFP Board Center for Financial Planning.
Harnessing AI in the Financial Planning Profession
This report provides strategic, actionable guidance to help the financial planning profession prepare to adapt and thrive in an AI-driven future.
Diversifying the Profession
Explore multiple reports with insights and recommendations on how to create a more diverse and sustainable financial planning profession.
Guiding and Sustaining Careers
Our Guide to Careers in Financial Planning provides students, recent graduates and career changers with information on starting and sustaining successful financial planning careers.
Developing a Stronger Workforce
This comprehensive workforce development guide highlights the importance of clear and transparent career advancement to attract and retain the next generation of financial planners.
Getting Ahead of Digital Disruption
How will digital financial advice affect consumers, firms and the financial planning profession? This report summarizes the work of the 2018 Digital Advice Working Group, which was formed to better understand the ecosystem of digital financial advice and its evolution.
Financial Planner Re-entry
A report on the Financial Planner Re-entry Initiative (FPRI), aimed at connecting firms in the financial planning sector with experienced professionals seeking to return to the workforce after a career break.
Future of Digital Financial Advice
Summarizing the work of the 2016 Digital Advice Working Group, this report explores the causes, implications, challenges and opportunities of four potential outcome scenarios for the future of digital financial advice.
Measuring Perceptions
Explore research that gauges public perceptions around the contributions of CFP® professionals, and other key issues.
2020 Financial Planner Skills Research
This study, conducted August–October 2020, identified the satisfaction that consumers have with a financial planner's competencies and skills—in particular, among consumers working with a CFP® professional, as compared with those working with a non-certified financial advisor.
2020 Pulse Survey: The Impact of COVID-19
This pulse survey, conducted online in April 2020, offers insights on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on CFP® professionals and their clients. Findings include an increase in client inquiries and client concerns around managing volatility and assets.
2018 CFP® Certification Brand Promise Survey
Get a better understanding of public sentiment around how CFP® professionals improve consumers' lives.
Understanding Financial Planning & Consumer Behavior
Financial Planning Review, from the CFP Board Center for Financial Planning, is a double-blind, peer-reviewed academic journal that features research on issues affecting the financial planning profession and related disciplines. Topics covered range from portfolio choice and household finance to psychology and consumer decision-making, and more.