CFP Board Reports Increased Financial Optimism

The CFP Board today released the results of the Summer 2026 CFP® Professionals Sentiment Indices (CPSI). The CPSI tracks Americans’ and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professionals’ financial outlook, serving as a leading indicator of overall economic conditions. The quarterly survey provides investors, the media and the public with a new set of data to evaluate the strength of the economy through the lens of the trusted advisor-client relationship, leveraging the insights and views of CFP® professionals, who guide and advise millions of Americans at every phase of their financial lives.

CFP® professionals report that their clients are more optimistic about their financial outlook this summer than they were three months ago. Client confidence rebounded from its past spring dip and was slightly higher than this time last year. The improvement in sentiment comes despite heightened national concern about inflation and affordability and greater market volatility driven by the conflict in the Middle East.

Key findings from the Summer 2026 CPSI survey were positive:

• CFP® professionals report that their clients are more optimistic about their financial outlook this summer than they were three months ago and one year ago.
• Half of CFP® professionals (51%) indicate that their clients’ sentiment has held steady over the past year, with similar proportions assessing their clients’ financial outlooks as having improved or worsened over the past 12 months.
• CFP® professionals themselves are also more optimistic, with 61% reporting a positive financial outlook.
• 70% of CFP® professionals report that their client bases have grown over the past year, and a similar share expects further growth over the next 12 months.

CFP® professionals note that their clients’ comments follow four major themes:

• Long-term optimism despite short-term uncertainty
• Market volatility creating anxiety
• Inflation and affordability, including the impact of higher energy costs
• Politics and the media influencing client sentiment

Read the full results and analysis of the Summer 2026 CPSI

Methodology

Each quarter since Fall 2024, CFP Board’s Research team sends an eight-question survey to 15,000 randomly selected CFP® professionals about the conversations they are having with their clients regarding their financial outlook, along with their own views. The Summer 2026 CPSI results reflect the responses from 423 CFP® professionals collected July 7–19, 2026.