CFP Board Reports Decline in Financial Optimism

CFP Board today released the results of the Fall 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 recent 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 advise millions of Americans at every phase of their financial lives.

Fewer CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professionals report that their clients have an optimistic financial outlook than three months ago. Amid persistent global political instability and affordability concerns, client sentiment has hit a new low for the year and is at its lowest level since Spring 2025.

Key findings from the Fall 2026 CPSI survey:

• Fifty-two percent of CFP® professionals have a positive financial outlook, down from 61% in Summer 2026 and 54% a year ago.
• CFP® professionals say their clients’ financial outlook has also grown more negative, reporting that 38% of clients have a positive financial outlook, down from 50% in Summer 2026.
• Nearly half of CFP® professionals (47%) report that their personal financial outlook has been stable over the past year, with nearly equal percentages saying they have become more optimistic (28%) or more pessimistic (26%) since this time last year.
• Fewer CFP® professionals are confident about the U.S. economy's future. Approximately equal proportions predict that economic conditions will remain about the same (38%) or worsen (35%) in the coming year, with the latter at a near-record high for the CPSI’s two-year history. Only about one quarter (27%) believe conditions will improve.

Nearly two-thirds of CFP® professionals (64%) report that their client bases have grown over the past year, and nearly three-quarters (73%) expect further growth over the next 12 months.

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

• Concern about inflation and the rising cost of living
• Political dysfunction and geopolitical uncertainty
• Advisors keeping clients grounded in the face of these concerns
• AI as an opportunity and a risk

Read the full results and analysis of the Fall 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 Fall 2026 CPSI results reflect the responses from 449 CFP® professionals collected October 6-19, 2026.