CERTIFICATION

Fundamentals of Financial Planning

• Insurance Planning
• Investment Planning
• Income Tax Planning
• Retirement Planning and Employee Benefits
• Estate Planning

THE CFP® Certification Examination is a ten-hour, two-day examination covering 101 financial planning topics. The CFP® Certification Examination is given three time per year: March, July, and November. For inquiries about dates, locations, costs and registration, contact the CFP Board at www.cfp.com

Bachelor's Degree Requirement

Beginning January 1, 2007, in addition to fulfilling the education requirement, a bachelor's degree, in any discipline, will be required in order to attain CFP certification. The college degree requirement is a condition of initial certification; it is not a requirement to be eligible to take the CFP® Certification Examination and does not have to occur before sitting for the exam or fulfilling the work experience. A bachelor's degree in any major from a regionally accredited U.S. college or university will be accepted, and evidence (photocopy of degree) will be required at the final stage of initial certification.

Very important note for individuals not planning to obtain a college degree: Individuals without a college degree can take the CFP® Certification Examination and may even be certified, but all certification requirements - education, passing the exam, five years of experience and the ethics component - must be met and the Declaration and Agreement form must be signed and received by CFP Board by December 31, 2006.

What the degree requirement means for specific situations:

• Individuals without a college degree will need to have passed the CFP® Certification Examination by November 2006, and met the five-year experience requirement and the ethics requirement by December 31, 2006.
• Individuals without a college degree and no qualifying experience would have needed to have started gaining financial planning experience before 2002 in order to meet the five-year experience requirement. All individuals without a college degree who have not completed the five-year experience requirement by December 31, 2006, will be required to have a college degree.
• Individuals without a college degree and with five years of experience are encouraged to take the exam by July 2006, to avoid the pressure of having only one last chance to pass the exam.
• Individuals without a college degree, even after 2007, may take the exam, but they must then obtain a degree within five years after passing the exam in order to be certified.
• Individuals without a college degree, who have fulfilled the exam requirement, but who are not certified by December 21, 2006, will have five years from the exam date to complete the other initial certification requirements - five years of experience, ethics component and a bachelor's degree - before their candidacy is terminated and the exam will need to be retaken.
• Individuals without a degree who pass the November 2006 exam will have 30 calendar days from the date CFP Board delivers (electronic or hardcopy) the declaration packet to return a completed declaration packet to CFP Board.
• Individuals without a degree who receive a declaration packet after July 1, 2006, will have until December 31, 2006, to return a completed declaration packet to CFP Board.
• Individuals without a degree who receive a declaration packet after December 1, 2006, will have 30 calendar days to return a completed declaration packet to CFP Board.
• Individuals without a degree, in CFP Board's professional review process, who have completed all requirements before December 31, 2006, except for the ethics requirement, will be certified after December 31, 2006, as long as professional review clears the individual and the individual submits any additional required paperwork within 30 calendar days of the request.

CFP Board can not predetermine whether individuals will meet certain requirements, but will offer counsel to individuals seeking guidance about the education, bachelor's degree or experience requirements.

Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. owns the certification marks CFP®, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and federally registered CFP (with flame design) in the U.S., which it awards to individuals who successfully complete initial and ongoing certification requirements.