Certified Financial Planner Designations

You may find it difficult to qualify a certain individual as a financial advisor or a financial planner, since most states don't have specific regulations directed toward such identification.

Nevertheless, there are several criteria against you can evaluate the qualifications of a certain individual or a company so that to designate it as a financial planner. These are:

1. Certified Financial Planner (CFP)

   In order to receive such a designation, the person should do the following:

   • Complete three years of work in financial planning
   • Take a course of study
   • Pass several comprehensive exams
   • Confirm with some other ethical and education criteria.
2. Certified Public Accountant (CPA) - exams on accounting and tax preparation should be passed in order to receive this type of designation.
3. Chartered Financial Consultants (ChFC) - the holders of such a certificate have take courses on personal finance and have successfully passed their exams on the topic.

When you select your financial advisor you should first of all consider the honesty of the person and the type of professional relationship s/he wants to establish with you. Only after this you should consider compensation method. Therefore, the level of confidence and trust in the financial advisor is of primary importance.

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