Guide to Financial Planning Certifications
When choosing your advisor to work with, one screening factor that you may want to consider is their commitment to their personal competency through continual learning and professional designations. The list of financial planning certifications, licenses, and designations below is far from a complete list. However, you will find a variety below based on how the advisor has chosen to “specialize”.
Every member of the Kansas City Financial Advisors Network maintains the necessary registrations and licenses to provide professional financial planning and investment advice, but each has chosen their individual path to pursue specialized education as a part of serving their clients and future clients in the best way possible.
All members in the Kansas City Financial Planning Network must maintain their CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (also seen as CFP®) designation, which is also the most popular and widely recognized in the financial planning profession.
Disclosure: All of these professional designations, licenses, and certifications are strictly voluntary, and aren’t required by any regulatory authority to be able to provide financial planning or investment management services to individual clients.
(Click to expand)
CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®)
CFP® certification is generally acknowledged as the highest standard in personal financial planning, and demonstrates a deep knowledge and commitment to a career providing professional financial advice. It is the most widely recognized and sought after professional designation within the financial planning industry. Certification is granted and controlled by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, and characterized by its:
- High standard of professional education
- Stringent code of conduct and practice standards
- Ethical requirements governing engagement with clients
To attain the CFP® marks, an individual must complete four requirements known as the “Four E’s”:
Education
Attain a bachelors degree or higher from a regionally accredited university
Complete an advanced course of study covering the financial planning subject areas defined by the CFP Board as being important for the delivery of competent, professional financial advice. Subject areas include investment planning, insurance and risk management, income tax planning, estate planning, employee benefits planning, retirement planning, and others.
Exam
Pass the comprehensive CFP® certification examination. The examination is administered in 2 sessions of 3 hours each with a brief break in between. It includes case studies and client scenarios designed to test students’ ability to correctly diagnose a wide range financial planning issues and apply their knowledge of financial planning to real world circumstances. The exam is designed to cover a wide range of subject areas, and passing is regarded as a tremendous accomplishment.
Experience
Because CFP® certification indicates to the public the ability to provide professional financial planning services without supervision, candidates are required to accumulate either 6,000 hours of experience through the Standard Pathway, or 4,000 hours of experience though the Apprenticeship pathway that meets additional requirements. Qualifying experience may be acquired through a variety of activities and professional settings including personal delivery, supervision, direct support, indirect support or teaching. Experience is often required to be supervised or verified by a CFP® professional.
Ethics
Individuals must agree to be bound by the CFP Board’s Standards of Professional Conduct, which consist of a set of documents outlining the ethical and practice standards for practitioners.
Certificants are also required to adhere to a fiduciary standard while providing financial planning services, meaning that they agree to put their clients’ best interests before their own.
Maintaining CFP® certification requires a minimum of 30 hours of continuing education every two years, including 2 hours on the Code of Ethics. It also requires renewal of the agreement to be bound by the Standards of Professional Conduct. You can learn more about CFP® certification at http://www.cfp.net
The following members of the Kansas City Financial Advisors Network maintain current CFP® certification:
Certified Kingdom Advisor® (CKA®)
CKA® certification is the highest standard in the profession for faith-based financial advisors and is the most widely recognized designation for serving Christians.
To attain the CKA® marks, an individual must complete the following:
Prerequisites
Candidates must sign a Statement of Faith, obtain a letter of reference from a pastor or member of pastoral staff, pass a regulatory review, complete a signed statement of personal stewardship and submit two client references.
Experience
Candidates must either hold one of the following industry approved designations: CFP®, ChFC®, CPA, CPA/PFS, EA, CFA, CIMA®, AAMS, CLU®, JD or hold 10 years of experience in the professional discipline in which they applied for the CKA® designation. Disciplines include insurance, investments, accounting, law, and financial planning.
Education
Complete the 60-hour CKA® Educational Program, a 3- credit hour equivalent certificate program offered by Indiana Wesleyan University.
Exam
Pass the CKA® national proctored exam.
Ethics & Public Disciplinary Process
Kingdom Advisors (KA) requires all Certified Kingdom Advisor® designees to remain in substantial compliance with a set of ethical principles, rules, and standards in order to use or to continue to use the Certified Kingdom Advisor® designation. In order to oversee such compliance, KA has established procedures for reporting ethical violation, as well as a set of public disciplinary procedures to oversee the investigation of potential violations of such principles.
On top of the above requirements, certificants must complete 10 hours of continuing education each year. You can learn more about CKA® certification at https://kingdomadvisors.com .
The following members of the Kansas City Financial Advisors Network maintain current CKA® certification: