Certified Financial Planner (CFP)

Personal financial advisors have important responsibilities that can profoundly impact their clients’ financial lives. You can build credibility and inspire confidence by earning the certified financial planner (CFP) credential. The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc., also known as the CFP Board, issues this nationally recognized professional credential.

CFP certification is optional for personal financial advisors, but the CFB Board’s 2024 Compensation Study offers compelling insights into its value. Certified financial planners earned a median compensation of $192,000 in 2023, and 85% of CFPs reported high levels of career satisfaction.

Learn how to qualify to become a CFP, the examination process, and how you can prepare for it.

The qualification standards you must meet for CFP certification include educational and professional prerequisites, along with examination and ethics requirements, including:

As part of your preparation, you must also complete a training program recognized by the CFP Board. You can earn an exemption from this requirement if you hold at least one of the following credentials:

A bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution is the core education requirement for CFP certification. You can hold a degree in any field, but you must have coursework in:

You can meet these requirements by completing a CFP Board-recognized training program, or by satisfying the alternative training standards listed in the section immediately above.

Note that you can complete your degree before or after you pass your certification exam. You have five years from the date of your passing exam attempt to satisfy the degree requirement.

Learn More About Recommended Education:

You can follow a standard pathway or an apprenticeship pathway to satisfy the professional experience requirements for CFP certification.

The standard pathway requires at least 6,000 hours of experience involving:

You can also use relevant internship experience toward your hours, or complete a residency program through the Financial Planning Association.

The apprenticeship pathway must cover at least 4,000 hours of client-facing personal financial advisory services completed under the direct supervision of a CFP. The services you provide must cover seven specific domains related to personalized financial advice, planning, and plan execution.

The CFP examination is a proctored, closed-book, 170-question exam that you can take either online or in person at an authorized testing center. It is subdivided into two 85-question sections, and each section contains two subsections. The CFP Board uses the terms 1A, 1B, 2A, and 2B to refer to exam sections and subsections.

All 170 questions use a multiple-choice format, but there are three distinct question types:

The questions cover eight competency domains, which are proportionally represented as follows:

You have three hours to complete each 85-question section, and you must sit for both exam sections in a single session. If you like, you can take an optional 40-minute break between the first and second three-hour section.

The CFP examination uses a pass-fail scoring system. Each question counts for one point, and scoring is cumulative across the exam’s two sections and four subsections. Passing and failing scores are determined by considering the entire exam, and are not dependent on your performance in any particular section or subsection.

You will receive preliminary results immediately after completing your exam, but these are not official. The CFP Board will deliver official results to you by email, usually about four weeks after your test date.

If you did not earn a passing score, you will receive a detailed breakdown of how you performed across each of the exam’s competencies, allowing you to target specific areas for improvement before you schedule your next exam attempt.

The CFP Board offers the exam in three annual testing windows: November, March, and July. In July 2025, 64% of the 3,214 registered candidates earned a passing score.

You can choose from early, standard, or late registrations for each of the three annual examination windows.

Early registrations open about five months before the exam and closes about two months prior to your test date. Standard registrations run for about five weeks and close about a month before the exam date, and late registrations are available for about one week after standard registrations close.

You can schedule your certified financial planner examination through the CFP Board’s registration page. The process involves four main steps:

Candidates receive official scheduling instructions after completing registration and submitting payment.

You can retake the exam if you do not pass on the first attempt. However, the CFP Board limits candidates to three attempts within any rolling 24-month period, and to five lifetime attempts.

Exam fees vary, depending on whether you register during the early, standard, or late windows. Fees are broken down as follows for the November 2025 exam window:

You can qualify for discounted fees by earning a CFP Board scholarship. The board’s scholarship and financial aid programs extend to both board-recognized training programs and exam costs.

In addition to studying early, it’s important to focus specifically on the exam’s eight competency domains. The CFP Board endorses specific strategies and resources you can use to prepare for your exam, which the sections below explore in detail.

To maintain your certified financial planner certification, you need to:

You must complete 30 CE hours every two years, including a two-hour ethics course recognized by the CFP Board.

If your certification lapses, you will receive an official deficiency notice within about 45 days. You must take immediate action to prevent your credential from becoming inactive.

CFP certification pairs well with multiple other professional credentials and licenses. By obtaining more than one certification, you can expand and diversify your career access, elevate your earning potential, and build a more authoritative professional profile.

Options include:

Learn More About Optional Certifications: