CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certification is the standard of excellence in financial planning. CFP® professionals meet rigorous education, training and ethical standards, and are committed to serving their clients' best interests today to prepare them for a more secure tomorrow.

Both designations can make you more marketable to employers and clients. Earning a ChFC shows expertise and specialization in financial planning related to insurance matters, while a CFP displays expertise in many types of financial planning.

Both credentials are widely recognized in the financial services industry, but CFP® certification is the standard of excellence in personal financial planning. It signifies that you are trained and experienced in comprehensive financial planning that helps your clients chart a course for a secure future.

The CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER credential is the most desired and respected global certification for those seeking to demonstrate their commitment to competent and ethical financial planning practice.

When you hire a CFP® professional, you work with an advisor who has met rigorous qualifications for financial planning. Most important, a CFP® professional has made a commitment to CFP Board to act in the best interests of their client. It's easy for someone to call themselves a financial planner.

CFPs who provide holistic planning can help you to create and maintain a financial plan by determining your financial goals and discussing your current financial situation and appetite for risk. They can also advise on retirement planning, saving for short- and long-term goals, choosing investments and tackling debt.

Hands down, CFA is a lot more difficult compared to CFP. To receive the CFA Charter, you have to clear all the 3 levels of examination. From 2013 to 2022, the average passing rate of CFA has been on the lower side.

Both types of professionals offer full-service financial advice on matters ranging from investments to retirement planning to wealth management. However, the ChFC certification process is considerably more difficult than its CFP counterpart, along with being quite a bit pricier.

Hands down, CFA is a lot more difficult compared to CFP. To receive the CFA Charter, you have to clear all the 3 levels of examination. From 2013 to 2022, the average passing rate of CFA has been on the lower side.

The Short Answer. The easy answer is that the CFA exam is much more difficult than the CFP. Not only is the CFA a more intensive exam, the time and study preparations are much more extensive and cover a much wider depth and breadth of material. The CFA exam contains 3 levels that are each taken on separate days.

A CFP® professional must act with the care, skill, prudence, and diligence that a prudent professional would exercise in light of the Client's goals, risk tolerance, objectives, and financial and personal circumstances.

You will have occasional meetings with your CFP where you will review the performance and progress of your financial plan. You will also learn more about any changes in the legal, tax, and economic sectors. Your CFP will make new recommendations to adapt to changed circumstances, if applicable.