Where CFP Board Is Headed

Since financial planning is a dynamic profession, CFP Board must regularly assess strategy and initiatives to ensure that the CFP? certification—which is recognized as the standard of excellence for competent and ethical personal financial planning—remains relevant.

Reviewing and planning our strategic direction is critical to delivering on our mission to benefit the public by granting and upholding the standards for CFP? certification. This is why CFP Board periodically updates its strategic plan under the guidance, leadership and vision of the Board of Directors.

As we approached the end of our current plan, which launched in 2017, we began work to develop a new strategic plan for 2022-2026.?We started in December 2019 when we held a forum of nearly a hundred leaders from across the financial advice ecosystem to discuss the future of financial planning. In 2020 we continued the discussion with many of those leaders during virtual roundtables focused on identifying key elements needed to advance the profession. We also secured input through a survey of CFP? professionals to help determine which of those elements are important for CFP Board’s work and where CFP Board can make the most impact.

Last month, our Board of Directors approved the framework for our updated strategic plan. Our Board Chair Douglas S. King, CFP? recently announced these new strategic priorities in a news release: ?

Our new strategic priorities build upon the successes CFP Board has achieved under our current strategic priorities of Awareness, Access, Accountability and Authority.

Standards & Certification sits at the center of our new priorities because it is the core of our business. CFP Board’s primary function is to set, administer and enforce certification standards that warrant public trust. This includes the development of our competency standards as well as the creation and administration of the CFP? exam.

It also encompasses the maintenance of our ethical standards and the continuous strengthening of our enforcement program to ensure CFP? professionals meet those standards. In recent years, we have invested significant resources, both financially and operationally, to strengthen enforcement of our Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct, as illustrated in Tom Sporkin’s recent Financial Planning article.

With standards and certification at our core, we are well-positioned to pursue our other priorities —Access, Awareness, Workforce, and Community & Regulatory Engagement — which each help to advance the financial planning profession for the benefit of the public.

CFP Board expands Access to competent and ethical financial planners by increasing the number and diversity of CFP? professionals available to serve the public. While we have raised the CFP? certification requirements over the years, the number of CFP? professionals in the U.S. has grown nearly 65% since I joined CFP Board as CEO in April 2007. We’ve achieved success in recruiting more CFP? professionals through candidate marketing and support. This priority also includes the work our Center for Financial Planning (the Center) does to expand gender and racial diversity in the profession and our work to encourage CFP? professionals to provide pro bono financial planning to underserved communities.

We increase Awareness of CFP??certification as the must-have financial planner credential for consumers and advisors. We primarily achieve this through our public awareness campaign and letsmakeaplan.org — both of which are geared toward consumers. But critically, our work in this area also encompasses the projects we undertake with firms to raise awareness of the value of CFP? certification among the financial advisor workforce.

The profession needs a sustainable and diverse financial planner Workforce. Within this priority, our corporate relations team provides solutions to firms to ensure their financial advisor workforce is serving the needs of their clients. This team has helped many firms institutionalize CFP? certification as part of their hiring and development process. Meanwhile, the Center continues to advance diversity and inclusion across the profession, and leads initiatives to expand the pipeline of students and others considering financial planning careers.

Through our Community & Regulatory Engagement priority, CFP Board engages the financial advice ecosystem (including advisors, firms, educators, investor advocates, policymakers, regulators and other influencers) to advance a client-centered financial planner profession. CFP Board’s public policy activity is central to this priority, with our building and supporting coalitions to:

• Influence policy for the benefit of the public,
• Advance recognition of financial planning as an established profession, and
• Advocate for a uniform fiduciary standard for financial advice.

This priority also includes other collaborative engagements and meetings such as the Center’s Diversity Summit and Academic Research Colloquium.

CFP Board’s new strategic priorities give us clear guidelines for our work to benefit the public. We look forward to collaborating with leaders across the financial advice ecosystem to advance our shared vision for the future of a financial planning profession focused squarely on helping clients.