The Paths to Experience

No. All qualifying work experience falls under the Standard Pathway. If your work experience qualifies for the Apprenticeship Pathway, the entry will count towards both hour requirements at the same time. Standard Pathway hours will only count towards the Standard Pathway. You will complete the CFP® Experience requirement when you surpass either the 4,000-hour apprenticeship or 6,000-hour standard threshold, depending on whichever you reach first.

The only experience type that qualifies towards the Apprenticeship Pathway is primarily engaging with individual clients for financial planning purposes. If your internship did involve primarily engaging with individual clients for financial planning purposes, working under the direct supervision of a CFP® professional, and involved all 7 primary elements of the personal financial planning process then it would qualify for the Apprenticeship Pathway.

Experience can be entered at any time through your Experience Reporting Profile available in your online CFP Board account by clicking on the Experience section of the CFP® Certification Tracker. You can continue adding experience until you have reached the required number of hours to satisfy the Standard or Apprenticeship pathway.

Hours are calculated at a one-to-one ratio based on the qualifying number of hours worked per week. 40 hours per week is the maximum allowed, and any additional credit for full-time employment will not be granted for hours that exceed 40 hours per week. Qualifying portions of a job may be credited towards this requirement on an hourly basis, but any experience hours that do not qualify cannot be included.

• Accepted: The experience entry has been reviewed and verified by CFP Board.
• Provisionally Accepted: Accepted work experience that is pending the successful completion of the CFP® exam and the official exam results.
• Needs More Information: A review has been conducted of your entry and additional details confirming that the entry meets our standard have been requested.
• Denied: A review has been conducted of your entry, and the entry does not meet qualifying standards for the Experience requirement.
• Denied – Failed Verification: The listed supervisor/attester did not complete the experience verification request that verifies the entry is both accurate and true.
• Duplicate: Multiple entries have been created with the same information.
• Cancelled/Withdrawn: The experience entry has been disqualified at the candidate’s request.
• Expired: The experience entry falls outside of the 10-year lookback window.

Yes. Candidates can sit for the CFP® exam before meeting the experience requirement. Candidates have up to five years after successful completion of the exam to complete the Experience requirement.

If you do not complete the experience and/or bachelor’s degree certification requirements within five years of passing the exam, you will be required to retake the current CFP® exam to continue your candidacy for certification. However, you can request a one-time, three-year extension, granted on a case-by-case basis, by emailing the Experience department.

Denotes an individual person who engages a practitioner and for whom professional financial services are rendered. Compensated and pro-bono experience is accepted as long as (1) there is a client, and (2) you are acting as a financial planning professional who is qualified to offer objective, integrated and comprehensive financial advice to, or for the benefit of, individuals to help them achieve their financial objectives using the financial planning process. Clients may not be immediate family members, as defined by FINRA Rule 3240.

Immediate family includes parents, grandparents, mother-in-law or father-in-law, husband or wife, brother or sister, brother-in-law or sister-in-law, son-in-law or daughter-in-law, children, grandchildren, cousin, aunt or uncle, or niece or nephew, and any other person whom the registered person supports, directly or indirectly, to a material extent.

The pathway your experience falls under is determined automatically by the system based on the information that you input. Common errors include the wrong experience type selected, missing primary elements of the personal financial planning process, or the CFP® ID number for the attester was not entered.

Hours are calculated at a one-to-one ratio based on the qualifying number of hours worked per week.

No. Concurrent part- and full-time financial planning employment will not accelerate completion of the requirement, as credit is not granted in excess of 40 hours per week. An exception to this is the completion of the FPA Residency Program, which upon verification, will add 500 hours to your experience total.

No. Additional credit for full-time employment will not be granted for hours in excess of 40 hours per week. An exception to this is the completion of the FPA Residency Program, which upon verification, will add 500 hours to your experience total.

Portions of a job may be credited towards this requirement on an hourly basis just like part-time employment. As an example, the majority of your job (30 hours per week) is spent working as a home office representative processing paperwork. However, ten hours a week are spent consulting with individual clients. The ten hours a week can be accrued and credited towards the Experience requirement.

Yes. Candidates can sit for the CFP® exam before meeting the experience requirement. Candidates have up to five years after successful completion of the exam to complete the Experience requirement.

Qualifying experience may be gained through many different types of practices and firms. Candidates for CFP® certification often choose to establish a private practice, either by themselves or in conjunction with other planners. Some planners work for banks, credit unions, insurance companies, accounting or law firms, credit counseling organizations and brokerage firms. Other individuals earn experience through part-time positions, while they continue their current career and/or perform volunteer work. Or they may choose a career in academia, teaching personal financial planning in a university setting. Some individuals acquire experience through a combination of these types of activities.

Yes. If the Experience Standards are met, international experience can qualify.

No. Work with corporate clients is not qualifying experience. CFP Board defines a "client" as an individual or person who engages a practitioner and for whom professional financial services are rendered.

No. Clients may not be immediate family members, as defined by FINRA Rule 3240.

Yes. If Experience Standards are met, this experience can qualify. The name and contact information of a “Qualified Attester” will be added to your experience submission in lieu of a supervisor. To be a “Qualified Attester” the individual must hold one of the following certifications or licenses:

• Certified Financial Planner (CFP®)
• Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC)
• Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU)
• Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA®)
• Ph.D. in business or economics*
• Licensed attorney – (inactive license acceptable)
• Licensed Certified Public Accountant (CPA) – (inactive license acceptable)

*Degree must be from an accredited U.S. college or university.

Activities and responsibilities reflecting personal financial planning knowledge and competencies that indirectly support the financial planner and/or the financial planning process may count as experience credit for “Indirect Support.” Indirect Support includes those positions that are firmly rooted in the financial planning process.