Hey everyone, welcome to the best article on Financial Advisor CE.
This article promises to enlighten you on what Financial Advisor continuing education entails, why you need to continuously invest in attaining higher in your professional career, and the type of higher learning you need.
Specifically, in this article, you’ll learn:
Let’s get started!
Introduction
Financial Advisors must not stop learning, even after passing the CFP certification examination.
This is because financial planning undergoes constant changes, and the only way to keep up-to-date about new developments is to learn continuously from industry experts.
It is the essence of continuing education (CE).
To meet the ever-changing demands of your clients satisfactorily, you must keep learning new, potent, and feasible tactics.
What Is Continuing Education
Continuing education (CE) is the intentional and strategic way of reviewing the knowledge and competencies of certified financial planners to advance their performance.
It’s a practical form of learning that’s aimed at making Financial Advisors better Wealth Managers.
The essence of the CFP Board CE is to ensure that Advisors remain competent, even years after their CFP® certification examination.
Through the CFP Board CE, the standard and integrity of the industry have been preserved over the years.
The Financial Advisor CE Requirements
How dedicated Financial Advisors are to CE determines how versed they’ll be able to handle dicey career issues.
Continuing education allows you to learn practical management tips from industry experts to build your career with ease.
Every designation or license has its requirements.
For instance, a CFP who’s also a stockbroker should meet the under-listed CE requirements:
- The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards-endorsed continuing education program for Certified Financial Planner designation.
- State-endorsed continuing education for every insurance license, such as health and life insurance
- Certified Asset Protection Analyst (CAPA)
- A FINRA-endorsed regulatory component for either Series 6 or Series 7 license
- A FINRA-endorsed firm component for either the Series 6 or Series 7 license
Continuing education requirements are in four folds:
- Regulatory component
- State-approved learning for insurance professionals
- The firm element
- CE for professional designations
The Regulatory Component
This FINRA-endorsed component captures three groups of fiduciaries: Series 6 professionals, Series 7 experts, and supervisors of securities licensees.
Two years after being licensed, licensees are given up to 4 months to complete this aspect of their Continuing Education requirements.
If the licensee is still a member of the FINRA, their license would have to be renewed every three years.
Essentially, the regulatory component covers rules and regulations of the industry, communication, sales, and compliance.
The Firm Component
This Continuing Education applies to “covered people” as described by the FINRA.
It includes any wealth manager that’s involved in the trading of social security in any given capacity.
This education program is drafted by the institution or gotten from external sources.
The program concerns itself with the yearly changes within the organization.
It seems to be the most relevant financial planning CE due to its practical approach.
Some of the topics covered in this CE program include potent strategies for generating new businesses and how to use new products.
State-Approved Learning for Insurance Professionals
Due to the lack of federal uniform insurance CE certification requirements, states design their unique CE program.
Agents must meet the requirements of the program before they’re allowed to practice.
Every state also has the least number of hours of CE that licensees must meet for them not to have their license revoked.
Thus, every licensee must find out the requirements in their state of practice and strive to meet them.
It is the only way they can practice their insurance business unhindered.
Life insurance is a delicate and ever-dynamic sub-field that you often be updated on changes in the industry to serve your clients better.
Continuing Education for Professional Designations
Fiduciaries who have acquired professional credentials like Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC), Certified Financial CFP®, or Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) will require additional CE to retain their licensure.
For instance, a Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) needs to complete a minimum of 30 hours of CE every two years.
Of this, 28 hours is apportioned to any relevant finance educational coursework endorsed by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc.
The remaining 2 hours are used to train Finance Professionals on ethics.
In addition to the designations mentioned above, every other professional title also has its CE requirements.
Some examples are:
- Registered Health Underwriter (RHU)
- Certified public accountant (CPA)
- Life Underwriter Training Council Fellow (LUTCF)
- Enrolled Agent (EA).
Ethics CE vs. General CE
We affirmed that wealth managers need to complete at least 30 hours of continuing education biennially in the preceding segment.
It is part of the CFP continuing education requirements for licensure renewal.
Out of the 30 hours, 2 credit hours must be committed to the ethics course.
While the 2 hours may seem inconsequential, it’s crucial to the completion of the CE requirements.
The CFP Board must endorse ethics courses to ensure they meet the CFP ethics CE standards.
For the General CE, professionals must record 28 credit hours of participating in approved continuing education programs.
The Board is very particular about the Ethics CE program despite its meager credit hours because it’s fundamental to the financial planning profession.
Also, a CFP professional must be of impeccable character, untainted integrity, and trustworthy.
Some platforms offer flexible learning options for ethics CE courses like self-study of online materials or webinars.
The number of credit hours spent on General CE; if you don’t complete the ethics programs, your CFP CE credits aren’t complete.
Thus, seize the opportunity offered by different platforms to participate in various CFP ethics courses such as:
- CFP Board Ethics
- CFP Board Code of Ethics & Rules of Conduct
- CFP Board Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct
- CFP Board Ethics Code and Standards
- CFP Board Ethics CE, among others.
All the afore-mentioned ethics programs are designed to teach CFP professionals about the Board’s Standard of Conduct and the new code of ethics.
Conclusion
By now you should know that the purpose of Financial Planner CE is to ensure Advisors deliver quality services to their clients.
It also helps keep Financial Advisors updated on new developments in their field, and familiarize themselves with new regulations.
As an expert in estate planning, retirement planning, and employee benefits, you should know the latest events in the industry.
For instance, a Retirement Income Certified Professional (RICP) is responsible for taking long-term care of his clients’ Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs).
They must be aware of the latest investment options that will amount to high yields for their clients.
Continuing education makes sure that you follow industry trends and make informed decisions for your brand.
Your consistent display of expertise will set you apart from the crowd.
