Certified Financial Planner Colorado

There are many different designations of accreditation within the field of personal finance. While there is much crossover between the different designations and what they do in terms of financial planning, knowing what the accreditations are will be an excellent source of education when you are looking for a financial planner. It is a good idea to familiarize yourself with the different terms, as you will see them a lot when you are conducting your initial research.

An Accredited Estate Planner (AEP) is one dedicated to estate planning and will be able to assist you with all your legal and estate planning needs. A Certified Financial Planner (CFP) has a wider range of duties and obligations to you as a consumer, and will be able to help you with many of your financial goals. A Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) is very similar to a CFP, but has different requirements for being accredited. A Chartered Investment Counselor (CIC) is a financial planner that works specifically with investment portfolios and has specialized knowledge in helping you reach your investment goals. Finally, a Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) is a financial planner that will be able to assist you in reaching your financial planning needs when it comes to insurance assets and life insurance policies.

The process of becoming a certified financial planner is a long one, so when you choose a CFP as your financial planning professional, you can rest assured that their experience and education will work for you in the best way possible. To receive a CFP designation or accreditation with the CFP board, a lot of work and experience is required.
Your CFP will have either three years of work in the financial planning industry with a bachelor's degree, or five years work experience in the financial planning field. Every CFP will also have to pass an examination issued by the CFP board. In order to pass this exam, a full schedule of coursework is required that you will be able to take through most educational institutions. Also, in order to take the CFP exam, you must already have a CFA, CPA, or CLU accreditation, or hold a Ph.D. with either economics or business. Another option, if you do not have any of these credentials, is to hold a license for attorney. Once you undertake these courses and acquire the proper education credits, the CFP board will then accredit you.

The CFP Board accredits all qualified applicants with the Certified Financial Planning designation. It is also a regulatory board in that it offers online complaints for consumers experiencing difficulties with an accredited CFP. Within the CFP board is also a disciplinary process for practitioners holding the CFP designation that come under complaint. The CFP board is also responsible for ensuring professional status of all their members is up to date.

The CFP board is ultimately responsible for ensuring that ethical and competent financial planning professionals are available to the public. The CFP board is the owner of the certification designation of CFP for Certified Financial Planner and its accompanying logo. The CFP board is responsible for establishing and enforcing the experience, education, and ethical requirements of all its designees. As such, the CFP board recognizes and awards those who have completed the initial certification requirements and also awards those that maintain these certification standards. Currently, the CFP board authorizes almost 45,000 people in the U.S. to work under the CFP designation and its logo.