Tuesday, October 7, 2014

How To Take The Certified Financial Planner Exam?

The Certified Financial Planner Certification is the designation awarded by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards (CFP Board) to those financial planners and other professionals who were able to complete the formal CFP course program and most of all successfully pass the Certified Financial Planner Certification Exam.

The CFP certification examination is a post graduate certification exam taken by financial planners as well as other professionals who want to further their career, strengthen their career, apply for a different or a higher job position, get a better salary compensation, broaden their knowledge, refine their skills and most of all keep up with the standards of the financial services industry. This serves as an assessment exam that will gauge all your knowledge and skills in the field of financial services.
The Certified Financial Planner Exam is designed by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards that focuses on over a hundred financial planning and financial services topics such as investment planning, retirement planning, income tax planning, insurance planning, estate planning and many more. This certification exam covers over a hundred of financial planning and financial services topics. This basically covers all aspects of financial services.

The exam is consists of 285 multiple choice questions with one case study per session. The total number of questions that is related to case studies usually varies from one exam to another. The exam itself is 10 hours long that is given in 2 days.  You will be given 4 hours on the first day then two 3-hour sessions on the second day. There are seven major topics that are covered during the exam and these are: general principles of financial planning, risk management, insurance planning, investment planning, income tax planning, retirement planning and employee benefits planning as well as estate planning. But approximately 20% of the exam is consisting of case study questions. The criterion for the passing rate would be based according to the set level of required competency rather than basing it against the scores of other exam takers on that day.

For you to be able to take the Certified Financial Planner Exam it is important that you complete all the requirements that are set by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. (CFP Board). You have to meet the educational qualifications wherein you have to earn a Bachelor’s degree or higher from any form of discipline as long as it is from an accredited college or university. Aside from that you also have to complete the formal CFP course program wherein you are required to take special course subjects that are vital in financial services. These special course subjects can be very helpful in order for you to successfully pass the CFP certification exam. These are the following special courses; Fundamentals of Financial Planning, Estate Planning, Employee Benefits Planning, Insurance Planning, Income Tax Planning, Investment Planning, Retirement Planning, Case Study in Financial Planning and Capstone course in Financial Planning.

On top of that you have to comply with is the three years full time work experience as a financial planner, assistant financial planner or any career related in the financial services industry. After completing the educational qualifications and working experience you must then submit to a full background check and lastly, you have to adhere closely to the Code of Ethics set by the CFP Board.

Know about the  Certified Financial Planner Exam and the requirements for it. Find out more about the Certified Financial Planner Exam by visiting  and learn more about the CFP career.

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