For financial advisors, the CFP® marks have always represented more than a credential. They signal education, experience, ethical responsibility, and a commitment to comprehensive financial planning.

But as the profession changes, the certification has to evolve with it.

That was the message from Dane Snowden, CEO of CFP Board, during a recent Financial Experts Network webinar focused on the future of CFP® certification, continuing education, public awareness, technology, and the changing expectations facing financial professionals.

Snowden, who became CEO earlier this year after previously serving as CFP Board’s COO and as a member of its Board of Directors, emphasized that his first priority has been listening—to CFP® professionals, educators, students, continuing education providers, and other industry stakeholders.

His larger objective is ambitious: make CFP® certification essential.

Not essential because CFP Board says it is, but because consumers understand what the certification represents, employers increasingly seek it when hiring, and professionals view it as a meaningful standard for competent and ethical financial planning.

The Profession Has Momentum

One of Snowden’s first observations was that financial planning is attracting a broader and younger group of professionals.

CFP Board has seen:

• More women pursuing certification
• Greater racial and ethnic diversity
• More professionals entering earlier in their careers
• Significant growth in candidates coming through undergraduate financial planning programs

Nearly half of recent candidates are under age 30, and the number coming through bachelor’s-level financial planning programs has increased substantially over the past decade.

But growth alone is not the goal.

Snowden stressed that every new CFP® professional must still be prepared to meet increasingly complex client needs. That is why CFP Board recently completed a major review of its competency standards.

The Four E’s Are Staying—But the Standards Are Changing

The foundation of CFP® certification remains familiar:

• Education
• Examination
• Experience
• Ethics

Snowden was clear that CFP Board is not trying to make certification easier. Instead, the goal is to make sure the credential continues to reflect how financial planning is actually practiced while preserving its rigor.

Several updates are already underway, with additional changes scheduled for 2027.

Among the changes discussed:

• Greater flexibility in how professional experience may be earned
• Recognition of some qualified pro bono work
• Expanded continuing education expectations
• Practice-management CE becoming eligible in limited amounts
• The ability to carry some CE hours into the next reporting period

For practicing CFP® professionals, continuing education may be the most noticeable change.

Continuing Education Is Becoming More Flexible—and More Substantive

Snowden described the new CE framework as combining higher expectations with greater flexibility.

One change allows up to five hours of practice-management education to count toward continuing education requirements.

Another allows up to 10 hours of qualifying CE to carry forward into a future reporting cycle.

The broader philosophy is that continuing education should not merely be something CFP® professionals complete to satisfy a requirement. It should help them remain current in areas that directly affect client advice.

That may eventually include mandatory education on major industry-wide developments.

Snowden gave examples such as a future version of the SECURE Act or another major piece of tax or regulatory legislation. If a development is significant enough that virtually every CFP® professional should understand the basics, CFP Board could require education on that topic.

He emphasized that this authority would be used sparingly—not as a way to dictate every advisor’s educational curriculum.

CFP Board Does Not Want to Become the Main CE Provider

One concern raised by continuing education providers has been whether CFP Board, as the organization setting certification standards, should also offer CE.

Snowden acknowledged the concern and explained where CFP Board sees the boundary.

When CFP Board develops guidance on topics such as ethics, financial psychology, or standards of conduct, it believes it has a legitimate role in helping CFP® professionals understand and apply that guidance.

But it does not intend to become a major commercial CE provider.

Snowden noted that in 2025, CFP Board itself produced only a very small fraction of the continuing education courses available to CFP® professionals, while the overwhelming majority came from approximately 1,100 independent CE sponsors.

CFP Board is also experimenting with giving selected CE providers earlier access to new guidance and learning objectives so they can build timely educational programs for practitioners.

That could ultimately mean faster access to practical education when important new rules or standards are introduced.

Technology Is One Area CFP Board Knows It Needs to Improve

One of the more candid moments in the webinar came when Snowden discussed CFP Board’s technology.

He acknowledged that the systems used by CE providers and CFP® professionals have created unnecessary friction.

That includes challenges involving:

• Program registration
• Attendance reporting
• Tracking credits
• Downloading or reviewing CE information
• Managing large volumes of education data

Snowden said improving the technology platform is a priority and that CFP Board intends to invest more heavily in making the process easier for both CE providers and practitioners.

For advisors juggling multiple designations, state requirements, and regulatory obligations, better integration could ultimately make continuing education tracking significantly easier.

Public Awareness Is Not the Same as Lead Generation

A large portion of the webinar focused on CFP Board’s national public awareness campaign.

This has sometimes created confusion.

Some CFP® professionals expect the campaign to deliver leads directly to their practices.

Snowden explained that this is not its purpose.

The public awareness campaign is designed to build the market for CFP® certification.

Its goal is for consumers to:

• Recognize the CFP® marks
• Understand what they represent
• Associate them with competence and ethical standards
• Prefer CFP® professionals when looking for financial planning advice

Lead generation, by contrast, is the responsibility of the individual advisor or firm.

Snowden described the national campaign as foundational. Ideally, by the time a prospective client reaches an advisor’s website or office, the consumer already understands that CFP® certification has value.

That makes the advisor’s own marketing more effective.

The Awareness Numbers Are Moving

Snowden shared several statistics showing how much consumer recognition has grown since the campaign began.

According to the figures presented:

• Unaided awareness of CFP® certification rose from 17% to 59%
• Total awareness increased from 75% to 92%
• Consumer preference for CFP® certification increased from 22% to 83%

Those numbers do not mean every CFP® professional will suddenly receive more inquiries.

What they do suggest is that consumers are increasingly familiar with the certification and are more likely to recognize it when they encounter a CFP® professional.

Advisors Still Need to Do Their Part

Snowden encouraged CFP® professionals to take advantage of the awareness CFP Board is building nationally.

One simple place to start is LetsMakeAPlan.org.

He specifically recommended that CFP professionals make sure their profiles are complete and include a professional photograph.

CFP Board has observed that consumers may skip over profiles without photos, and prospects may research a CFP professional on the site before eventually contacting the advisor directly through the firm’s own website.

The broader lesson is that national branding and local marketing should work together.

CFP Board can create awareness.

The advisor still has to convert that awareness into a relationship.

The Bachelor’s Degree Requirement Is Still Being Studied

One of the most interesting audience questions concerned the bachelor’s degree requirement for CFP® certification.

Snowden acknowledged that the issue has been debated for years.

The challenge is easy to understand.

Should someone with 15 or 20 years of strong financial planning experience be required to obtain a college degree simply because they never completed one?

What about someone who served in the military and later changed careers?

And if CFP Board requires a degree, does it make sense that the degree can be in an unrelated field while substantial financial planning experience does not substitute for it?

Rather than rushing the decision, CFP Board created a working group to examine the requirement separately.

Snowden indicated that recommendations are expected to go to the Board, with the possibility of public comment and further decisions in 2027.

For now, however, the bachelor’s degree requirement remains in effect.

CFP Board Is Not Taking Sides on Fee-Only Versus Commission Models

Another audience member asked whether CFP Board considers commissions inherently bad for consumers.

Snowden’s answer was direct: No.

CFP Board does not require CFP® professionals to operate under a particular compensation structure.

Professionals may work under:

• Fee-only arrangements
• Assets-under-management models
• Commissions
• Hybrid compensation structures

The requirement is that CFP® professionals comply with CFP Board’s fiduciary standard and applicable disclosure and conflict-management obligations.

Snowden emphasized that CFP Board is agnostic about compensation models and focuses instead on the standards of conduct applied to the client relationship.

AI Will Change Financial Planning—but Trust Still Matters

The webinar also touched on the future role of technology and artificial intelligence.

Snowden sees significant opportunities.

AI may help financial professionals:

• Anticipate client needs
• Become more proactive
• Analyze information more efficiently
• Extend advice to more people

But it also raises important questions.

Who is accountable when technology produces the wrong answer?

How should advisors supervise AI-assisted recommendations?

Where does professional judgment become essential?

For Snowden, all of these questions come back to one issue: trust.

As advice becomes increasingly technology enabled, consumers still need confidence that the professional guiding them meets meaningful standards of competence and ethics.

That may ultimately make credentials such as the CFP® marks more—not less—important.

The Bigger Picture

The session provided a useful look at CFP Board’s direction under its new CEO.

The organization is trying to balance several priorities at once:

• Maintain rigorous certification standards
• Create more realistic pathways into the profession
• Strengthen continuing education
• Improve technology
• Support independent education providers
• Build consumer demand
• Expand the financial planning workforce
• Adapt to artificial intelligence
• Preserve public trust

For practicing CFP® professionals, the message was equally clear.

The credential is not standing still.

And the professionals who get the most value from it will be the ones who treat CFP® certification as more than letters after their name—using continuing education to remain current, leveraging the national brand in their own marketing, and continuing to demonstrate the competence and fiduciary responsibility the public increasingly associates with the marks.

Five Questions CFP® Professionals Are Asking

1. Are the requirements for CFP® certification getting easier?

No. Snowden emphasized that the goal of the recent competency review was not to lower the standard. CFP Board wants the requirements to better reflect modern financial planning practice while maintaining the rigor consumers and employers expect from the certification.

2. Will CFP Board start telling advisors which CE courses they must take?

Potentially, but only in limited circumstances. Beginning in 2027, CFP Board may require education on a major tax, legal, or regulatory development if the subject is considered foundational for the profession. Snowden said this authority is expected to be used rarely.

3. Why doesn’t the CFP Board public awareness campaign generate leads for individual advisors?

Because that is not the campaign’s purpose. CFP Board is trying to build national awareness, understanding, and preference for CFP® certification. Individual advisors and firms are responsible for converting that awareness into prospects and clients through their own marketing.

4. Is CFP Board eliminating the bachelor’s degree requirement?

Not at this time. A working group is studying the requirement and considering possible alternatives, but no change has been approved. The existing bachelor’s degree requirement continues to apply unless CFP Board formally announces otherwise.

5. Does a CFP® professional have to be fee-only?

No. CFP Board does not prescribe a particular compensation model. CFP® professionals may operate under fee, commission, AUM, or hybrid structures, but they must comply with CFP Board’s fiduciary and disclosure requirements when providing financial advice.