What Jobs Can I Get After Earning the CFP^® Mark?

Kaplan Financial Education

With the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER^™ (CFP^®) mark, you have a credential that can set you apart in the financial services industry. Earning the CFP^® certification opens the door to unique professional opportunities for those with a bachelor’s degree who want a career in personal finance and planning. So, what kind of CFP^® professional jobs are available to you after you’ve earned the credential and what kind of firms are hiring? Let’s take a look.

Financial Planner

A financial planner helps clients organize their finances and estimates the results of their savings and investments so they can see how well prepared they are to meet long-term financial goals. Financial planners also have certain areas of expertise, such as retirement planning or education funding planning. They assist with budgeting, cash flow planning, and saving for college and retirement. As a financial planner, you’ll likely create a comprehensive plan to help clients after assessing their current financial situations and researching what they can do to improve them.

Financial Advisor

A financial advisor helps clients manage their money, so the role is more general and broader than that of a financial planner. Financial advisors often specialize in investment management, estate planning, retirement planning, insurance, debt repayment, tax planning, or any other aspect of the finance industry. They can be stockbrokers, insurance agents, money managers, estate planners, bankers, and more. Financial planners with the CFP^® designation are likely to create short-term and long-term financial goals for their clients and then devise financial plans for achieving them.

Financial Consultant

A financial consultant focuses on the accountability aspects of financial planning by designing action plans and a financial strategy and by helping clients run their financial systems. As part of this accountability, financial consultants collaborate with other financial professionals, such as attorneys, accountants, and investment managers to ensure their clients' financial needs are met. They also stay up-to-date on financial news and economic events that might affect the plans they’ve designed for their clients.

Investment Advisor or Investment Adviser Representative

Investment advisors, also known as Investment Adviser Representatives, recommend investments or conduct securities analysis for their clients. Although this position is generally associated with selling securities, investment advisors are often CFP^® certificants, especially if their recommendations are for financial planning purposes, such as retirement, college, and estate.

Wealth Manager

Wealth managers provide services to high-net-worth individuals and ultra-high-net-worth individuals, which can include types of financial planning. Examples include investment management, financial planning, tax services and planning, retirement planning, legal planning, philanthropic planning, and estate planning, among others. Wealth managers are usually more hands-on, and their solutions are usually more comprehensive than other financial planning and advising disciplines because of the special needs of their high-net-worth clients.

CFP® Professional Jobs: What Types of Firms Are Hiring?

Finance and insurance companies, including securities and commodity brokers, banks, insurance carriers, and financial investment firms, are the most common employers of finance professionals with the CFP^®credential. Other sources of employment are wealth management firms, pension funds, and Registered Investment Advisers.

Interested in Pursuing the CFP® Designation?

Although earning the CFP^® designation does not guarantee you a job, it can make a difference when an employer is deciding between two otherwise equally qualified candidates. Passing the CFP^® Exam and earning the designation takes hard work and dedication. It demonstrates to potential employers that you have a mastery of the important concepts in financial planning. Therefore, companies are more likely to choose the candidate with the CFP^® mark. It’s a career move worth considering. Our CFP® certification program can certainly help you on your journey.