CFP - Certified Financial Planner Online Training Course

Financial planning is a very important and crucial step that must be executed with precision in order to avoid complication in the near future as finance is the bloodline of a business. To do this job accurately an organization hires a financial planner who is aware of every aspect of this segment. The planner must have a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) certification to mark the prowess he or she has in this particular field.

About Certified Financial Planner certification

To receive this certification, a financial professional must go through an examination process in order to test his or her skills. There are 4 segments of criteria that an aspirant must meet in order to fulfil the credibility to appear for the exam. This exam is conferred by Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards (CFP Board, USA) and Financial Planning Standards Board (FPSB, outside USA). Once the criteria match and the candidate passes the exam, he or she receives the CFP certification and becomes recognized as a professional financial planner.

CFP certification criteria

The grounds that have to be covered to become a certified CFP professional are commonly known as 4 E criteria.

1. Education

An aspirant must become eligible by covering the academic curriculum by going through the 5 module of certification program via an authorized partner imparting education. After the education he or she must pass the hurdles of 4 exams. On the other hand the candidates who have vast experience and qualification in the respective field need not to go through the curriculum and can directly appear for the exams via Challenge Status Pathway. This criterion is very important as the service seeker will be assured that the planner has a good perspective in the field.

1. Examination

This part of the criteria is based on the Module VI of the curriculum that refers to the knowledge of Advanced Financial Planning. This is the phase which certifies a candidate that he or she can correlate the acquired knowledge with the real life situations and come up with the solutions. This stringent exam puts a label of capability and competency of practicing financial planning on an aspirant.

1. Experience

This part of the criteria determines the standard of experience a candidate has in this particular field of Personal Financial Planning. Those aspirants, who are going through the regular pathway, can reach the experience level before or after passing the exam. But in case of the challenge mode of curriculum, the aspirant must have to match the experience criteria before appearing the exam. This criterion is specifically cooked to assure the public that the financial planner has a good exposure to the counselling part of the financial planning.

1. Ethics

After matching the above 3 E criteria for the certification the candidate must abide to the code of conduct and ethics set by the regulatory and governing authorities. This code of ethics comprises of the following:

• Professional code of conduct
• Standards of practice
• Disciplinary codes and standard procedures

The planner must follow the rules and adhere to it throughout the entire career in order to build trust and build long term relationships with the clients. This is the part where the aspirant is taught how to build relationship and gain confidence of the clients in this particular profession.

1. Continuous Education (CE)

The above 4 E criteria when matched and certification process is completed successfully, the financial planner must fulfil the last requirement of Complete Education (CE). Financial sector is a dynamic world where the rules and regulations are changed or upgraded every now and then. The planner needs to stay updated with the contemporary scenario of the finance strategies and plans as fixated by the regulatory bodies. These new trends and structures tend to affect the plans clients want to work out and the financial planner must guide them properly.

About the CFP Exam training

The complex curriculum and stringent exams make the accomplishment tough for the aspirants. That is why it is always a smart choice to go through a specific training program that will methodically guide him or her throughout the curriculum and impart specific knowledge required to fulfil the criteria.

The online training is the best module one can follow as it imparts flexibility and lifetime access to the training lectures and materials. The online training course is divided into specific sections for better understanding of the candidate. The sections are mentioned below:

• Section 1

The first prime section deals with the basic concepts of money and finance. It is just an introductory segment that makes the student aware of the preliminary concept needed to enter the comprehensive curriculum.

• Section 2

The second section deals with the basics of finance and banking terms. It imparts knowledge about the types of accounts, cheques and other basic concept of banking.

• Section 3

The third section elaborately defines the terms related o cash flow, budgeting, insurance, debt and risk management. The student needs to know this concept accurately in order to prepare a proper base in the finance subject. This particular segment deals with the concept of assets and liabilities, their advantages and disadvantages extensively.

The candidate will come to know more about savings and expenditure, mutual funds and taxations, salary and retirement planning, which he or she can apply while figuring out the perfect plan as per the requirements of the client.

In order to evaluate the values and execute the proper financial plan, the student will learn about basic MS Excel functions. This basic knowledge about Excel will enable to explain the present and future values, amortization and annuities aptly to the client.

• Section 4

The fourth segment deals with the security market and the products available. The learner will earn in-depth knowledge about mutual funds, short term debt funds and other products. This segment also deals with accounting, valuation, taxation and risk analysis associated with the financial products.

• Section 5

After completing four sections, the fifth section will teach about the life insurance, medical insurance and pension schemes in details. Other than imparting theoretical knowledge the segment will also supply questions to execute and implement the concepts learned by the aspirant.

The questions are set as per the curriculum and genre followed by the regulatory authorities of CFP exams. It will impart a good exposure to the exam mode and the learner can prepare likewise.

• Section 6

The sixth section is totally dedicated to retirement planning and insurance. The candidate will learn vividly about the retirement plans and provident fund schemes so that he or she can explain it to the clients properly for a robust future financial plan.

• Section 6

Section 6 deals extensively with the concepts of taxation, retirement, pension and estate planning. It also describes the concept of cost of acquisition, capital gains, equity savings, VRS compensation, profit and gain from profession and business, etc.

This segment basically takes the learner to the advanced level of taxation and financial planning for clients who are either in a profession or business. The section also has problems with solutions related to the particular field for better understanding of the aspirant about the handling the cases and execution of plans.

CFP certification benefits

1. Add another skill in your capabilities and enhance the career prospects. The financial magnets are looking for professional who are certificated and can handle the clients aptly. This certification will be the gateway to your journey to the top.
2. It is considered to be a global benchmark in the financial planning sector. Appearing and succeeding in the respective exam will impart a great satisfaction of achieving a milestone of high standard in the society.
3. Enhance your resume and communicate likewise with the financial corporate. The certification will multiply the opportunities coming your way and raise the standard. You can expect a good hike in your salary too.
4. The certification is recognised in 24 countries, which means your door to the jobs abroad is quite open.
5. The certificate demonstrates trust. Build good and long term relationship with the clients and get referrals too.

The target audience of this course ranges from experience financial planners to the aspirants from financial backgrounds. In fact it can be pursued by the management students who are having finance as their major subject.

Prerequisites of the Exam

As mentioned in the requirement section, the prerequisites must be met so that the candidate can enjoy the eligibility to appear for the exam and can become a certified professional.

Requirements for the training

The online training does not need anything other than a computer with a good internet connection. Other than this, it is better that the candidate has a prior basic knowledge about the financial terms which he or she will encounter at the time of training.