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FINANCIAL EXPERTS NETWORK

Webinar Summary

CFP Board Update: What’s Ahead for CFP® Professionals

Speaker: Dane Snowden, CEO, CFP Board

Original Air Date: August 11, 2026

Run Time: Approximately 52 minutes

Topic Area: CFP® Certification • Competency Standards • Continuing Education • Practice Management • Professional Development • Public Awareness

Key Takeaways

• CFP Board’s strategic objective is to make CFP® certification increasingly recognized by consumers, firms, and professionals as the standard for competent and ethical financial planning. 
• Significant changes to CFP Board’s Competency Standards are being phased in through 2027, including an increase from 30 to 40 continuing education hours per two-year cycle for affected renewal periods, limited CE carryover, and recognition of certain practice-management education. 
• CFP Board will have authority to require CE on major legal, tax, or regulatory developments that materially affect the profession, but CEO Dane Snowden emphasized that this authority is expected to be used selectively. 
• CFP Board intends to invest more heavily in technology to reduce administrative friction for CFP® professionals and CE providers. 
• The national public awareness campaign is designed to build consumer recognition and preference for CFP® certification—not to function as a lead-generation program for individual firms. 
• CFP professionals can capitalize on the campaign by keeping their public profiles current, using CFP Board’s marketing toolkit, and connecting the CFP® marks with their own firm-level marketing. 
• CFP Board continues to review the bachelor’s degree requirement. No change has been approved, and the existing requirement remains in place while a working group evaluates potential alternatives. 

CFP Board’s Larger Goal: Make CFP® Certification Essential

Dane Snowden opened the session by describing his first several months as CFP Board CEO as a period of listening—to CFP® professionals, educators, students, continuing education providers, firms, and other stakeholders.

Those conversations reinforced both the strength of the CFP® community and opportunities for CFP Board to become a stronger steward of the marks and a better partner across the financial planning profession.

Snowden framed the organization’s long-term objective around one word: essential.

The goal is not simply to increase the number of CFP® professionals. Instead, CFP Board wants certification to become the credential consumers understand and expect when seeking comprehensive financial planning advice and the qualification employers increasingly seek when hiring financial planners.

To advance that objective, CFP Board is focusing on four connected areas:

• Supporting CFP® professionals throughout their careers 
• Expanding and diversifying the talent pipeline 
• Keeping competency standards aligned with modern financial planning 
• Increasing consumer understanding and preference for CFP® certification 

The transcript also highlighted continued growth among younger, female, and racially and ethnically diverse certification candidates. At the time of the webinar, CFP Board had recently completed its July examination administration but had not yet publicly released those results. 

Competency Standards Are Evolving

CFP Board recently completed a comprehensive review of the standards governing CFP® certification. Snowden emphasized that the purpose was not to make certification easier, but to ensure that it continues to represent the knowledge, judgment, experience, and ethical responsibilities consumers should expect from a CFP® professional.

The framework continues to rest on the familiar Four E’s:

• Education  
• Examination  
• Experience  
• Ethics  

Candidates must continue to satisfy the applicable education requirements, pass the CFP® Certification Examination, satisfy the experience requirement, meet CFP Board’s ethics and background standards, and satisfy the bachelor’s degree requirement unless that standard is changed in the future.

Official CFP Board materials confirm that the CIMA® designation was added to the Accelerated Path in 2026 and that the wording surrounding independent-practice competency was clarified. 

Details to Know

Changes being phased in for 2027 include:

• More flexibility in how qualifying experience may be earned 
• Recognition of up to 500 hours of qualified pro bono financial planning toward the Standard Pathway experience requirement beginning in Q2 2027 
• Expanded continuing education requirements 
• Limited CE carryover 
• Recognition of practice-management CE 
• Potential mandatory CE when major developments affect the entire profession 

These changes are prospective. CFP Board states that they are not retroactive and will apply according to their respective effective dates. 

Continuing Education Will Increase to 40 Hours

One of the most consequential changes for practicing CFP® professionals is the expansion of the continuing education requirement.

Currently, CFP® professionals generally complete 30 CE hours every two years, including 2 hours of approved Ethics CE.

Beginning with the first full two-year renewal cycle starting after the Q1 2027 effective date, the requirement increases to:

• 38 hours of General CE 
• 2 hours of CFP Board Ethics CE 
• 40 total hours every two years 

Up to five hours of General CE may focus on practice management. 

Snowden explained that the increase reflects the growing complexity of financial planning. Advisors must now remain current across rapidly changing areas such as taxation, regulation, technology, client psychology, retirement planning, estate planning, and increasingly complex client circumstances.

CE Carryover

Another significant change provides additional flexibility.

Beginning with applicable renewal cycles in 2027, CFP® professionals may carry over as many as 10 excess General CE hours into the next two-year cycle.

Ethics CE cannot be carried forward.

This is a meaningful departure from current rules, under which excess CE generally expires at the end of the reporting period. 

Advisor Takeaway

CFP® professionals should review their individual certification renewal dates rather than assuming everyone moves to 40 hours at the same moment. The new standard applies to the first full two-year cycle beginning after the applicable effective date.

CFP Board May Require CE on Major Professional Developments

Beginning in 2027, CFP Board will also have authority to designate mandatory CE topics when significant changes in laws, tax codes, or regulations materially affect financial planning practice.

Snowden was careful to distinguish this from a system in which CFP Board regularly dictates subjects every year.

The intention is to use the authority sparingly.

He offered a hypothetical future version of the SECURE Act as an example: if a major law affects retirement planning broadly enough that nearly every CFP® professional should have foundational knowledge of it, the Board of Directors could determine that education on the subject is necessary.

The same logic could apply to another major tax or regulatory development with profession-wide implications.

CFP Board would establish appropriate learning objectives, but CFP® professionals would not necessarily have to take a CFP Board-produced course. Approved CE sponsors could develop programs satisfying the requirement.

Official CFP Board guidance confirms that mandatory topics may be designated for significant, time-sensitive legal, tax, or regulatory developments and that the authority is expected to be exercised selectively. 

Advisor Takeaway

The change reinforces an important distinction between continuing education as a compliance obligation and continuing education as an ongoing professional competency requirement. Advisors should increasingly think about whether their education keeps them current across the full scope of financial planning—not merely whether they have accumulated enough hours.

CFP Board’s Role in Continuing Education

Snowden also addressed a recurring question: Should an organization that establishes certification standards also offer continuing education?

His answer was yes—but within carefully defined boundaries.

CFP Board develops guidance directly related to its standards and financial planning practice, including materials involving:

• Ethics  
• Psychology of financial planning 
• Standards of conduct 
• Issues CFP® professionals encounter in practice 

Snowden argued that when CFP Board develops important professional guidance, it has a legitimate role in helping certificants understand how that guidance applies.

At the same time, he emphasized that CFP Board does not intend to become a broad commercial competitor to independent CE providers.

According to figures presented during the webinar, CFP Board itself produced only about 0.9% of CE courses available in 2025, while approximately 99.1% came from a marketplace of roughly 1,100 CE sponsors.

CFP Board is also piloting a process in which selected CE providers receive earlier visibility into new CFP Board resources and associated learning objectives. The objective is to allow outside providers sufficient time to build timely education around significant new guidance. 

CE Reporting Fees and Technology Improvements

The webinar included a candid discussion about CE reporting fees and the technology supporting CFP Board’s CE ecosystem.

CE sponsors are responsible for confirming completion and submitting attendance records. CFP Board registers qualifying programs, processes submissions, and posts credits to certificant accounts.

Snowden explained that reporting fees help support the administrative and technology infrastructure required to process the significant volume of CE data coming from approximately 1,100 providers.

More importantly, he acknowledged that the technology experience needs improvement.

Snowden committed CFP Board to greater technology investment with the goal of reducing friction for:

• CE providers registering and reporting programs 
• CFP® professionals tracking their credits 
• Organizations managing large volumes of educational records 

He specifically said CFP Board needed to do a better job investing in its technology platform and indicated that addressing these issues is a priority. 

Practical Implication

Better system integration could eventually make it easier for CFP professionals to track education across providers and potentially reduce duplicate administrative processes for advisors maintaining multiple credentials or regulatory registrations.

Public Awareness Is Different From Lead Generation

A major part of the webinar focused on CFP Board’s national public awareness campaign.

Snowden emphasized an important distinction:

The campaign is intended to create demand for CFP® certification—not generate leads for individual advisors.

A lead-generation campaign identifies prospects, collects contact information, and attempts to move those people toward a particular advisor or firm.

CFP Board’s campaign has a broader role. It is intended to help consumers:

• Recognize the CFP® marks 
• Understand what the certification represents 
• Associate the marks with competence, ethics, and trust 
• Prefer CFP® professionals when seeking financial planning advice 

The campaign therefore creates a foundation upon which individual firms can build their own marketing.

Snowden compared this to the way strong consumer brands continually reinforce recognition and associations over many years. Even widely known brands continue advertising because awareness and preference must be maintained in a competitive marketplace. 

Awareness of CFP® Certification Has Increased Significantly

Snowden presented several measures showing substantial increases in consumer awareness since the campaign began.

According to the figures presented during the webinar:

• Unaided awareness increased from 17% in 2011 to 59% 
• Total awareness increased from 75% to 92% 
• Preference for CFP® certification increased from 22% to 83% 

These are measures of consumer recognition and preference—not the number of clients generated for individual practitioners. 

The distinction matters when evaluating the campaign. Its success should be measured primarily through changes in awareness, understanding, and preference rather than the number of direct inquiries received by an individual CFP® professional.

CFP Professionals Can Leverage the National Campaign

CFP Board wants individual professionals to build on the awareness generated nationally.

The organization provides a Public Awareness Campaign Toolkit containing materials CFP professionals can use in their own marketing, including videos, graphics, and suggested communications. CFP Board also encourages professionals to share campaign content through their own digital and social channels. 

Snowden particularly emphasized keeping profiles on LetsMakeAPlan.org current.

According to the session, CFP Board has observed that consumers may bypass professionals whose profiles lack photographs. A complete profile can make it easier for consumers exposed to national advertising to research a CFP professional and then continue to the advisor’s own website or contact channels. 

Practical Advisor Actions

• Review the public profile for accuracy. 
• Add a professional photograph. 
• Confirm firm name and contact information. 
• Review areas of practice and other profile details. 
• Use CFP Board-approved campaign materials where appropriate. 
• Ensure the advisor’s own website clearly explains the value of CFP® certification. 
• Coordinate national campaign messaging with firm-level calls to action. 

CFP Board’s official campaign page provides shareable videos, graphics, and other resources for CFP® professionals. 

The Bachelor’s Degree Requirement Remains Under Review

Several attendees asked whether CFP Board might reconsider requiring a bachelor’s degree.

Snowden explained that the issue was examined during the broader Competency Standards review but was deliberately separated from the other changes so that it could receive additional study.

The current requirement remains in force.

A working group is evaluating the issue, including questions such as:

• Should substantial professional experience provide an alternative pathway? 
• How should career changers and military veterans be treated? 
• Does requiring any bachelor’s degree make sense when the degree does not have to involve finance or financial planning? 
• How can CFP Board preserve rigor while avoiding unnecessary barriers to entry?  

Snowden said he expected the working group to make recommendations to the Board, potentially followed by public comment and further decisions in 2027. 

CFP Board’s current published FAQs likewise confirm that the bachelor’s degree requirement has not changed and remains under further review.

Advisor Takeaway

Candidates should continue planning under the existing bachelor’s degree standard until CFP Board formally announces otherwise.

Compensation Models and the Fiduciary Standard

Another audience question asked whether CFP Board favors fee-only compensation over commissions.

Snowden said CFP Board is agnostic regarding compensation structure.

CFP professionals may operate under different models, including commissions, fees, assets under management, or combinations of compensation methods.

What CFP Board requires is adherence to its applicable fiduciary standard.

Snowden emphasized that CFP Board does not intend to declare one compensation model inherently better than another and noted that LetsMakeAPlan.org provides consumers with education about different compensation arrangements. 

Advisor Takeaway

The key issues are appropriate disclosure, compliance with CFP Board’s standards, managing conflicts of interest, and fulfilling fiduciary obligations—not adopting a particular business model solely because the professional holds the CFP® marks.

Certification Fees and the Value of the Marks

Snowden also addressed questions about increases in annual CFP certification fees.

He explained that a significant reason for the recent increase was additional investment in the public awareness campaign.

He characterized the annual certification cost as approximately $24 per month and stated that he did not anticipate another increase in the near term, although future Board decisions can always change. 

CFP Board has not adopted an opt-out system under which certificants can decline the awareness component of the certification fee.

Likewise, CFP Board does not currently offer a lower certification rate based on age or years holding the marks. An emeritus pathway is available for individuals who no longer wish to maintain active certification under the standard requirements.

Workforce, AI, and Trust Will Shape the Profession’s Future

Snowden identified workforce development and technology as two major long-term issues.

Financial planning firms need a larger and more diverse talent pipeline, and CFP Board wants more people to view financial planning as a meaningful career earlier in life.

Technology—and particularly artificial intelligence—creates another major opportunity.

AI may help advisors:

• Become more proactive 
• Identify client needs sooner 
• Organize complex information 
• Extend the reach of advice 
• Increase efficiency 

But it also raises questions involving:

• Accountability  
• Oversight  
• Professional judgment 
• Ethics  
• Consumer protection 

Snowden argued that the connecting theme is trust.

As technology becomes more embedded in financial planning, consumers still need confidence that the person responsible for their advice has demonstrated meaningful competence and operates under rigorous ethical standards. 

Client and Practice Conversation: Practical Application

• Review how your firm communicates the value of CFP® certification to clients and prospects. 
• Update your LetsMakeAPlan.org profile and include a professional photograph. 
• Incorporate CFP Board’s public awareness assets into firm marketing where appropriate.  
• Review your next certification cycle to determine when the new 40-hour CE requirement will apply. 
• Plan education strategically so excess eligible CE may eventually be carried forward. 
• Consider practice-management education as part of the expanded CE framework. 
• Monitor CFP Board announcements regarding potential mandatory CE subjects. 
• Do not assume the bachelor’s degree requirement has changed; it remains under review. 
• Continue to follow fiduciary obligations regardless of the firm’s compensation model. 
• Provide CFP Board feedback when processes, technology, or requirements create unnecessary friction. 
• Expect AI and technology competency to become increasingly important while human judgment and ethical accountability remain central. 

Sources & References

CFP Board — Competency Standards for CFP® Certification
https://www.cfp.net/about-cfp-board/competency-standards

CFP Board — Updates to the Competency Standards
https://www.cfp.net/news/2026/01/cfp-board-announces-updates-to-the-competency-standards

CFP Board — Competency Standards FAQs
https://www.cfp.net/about-cfp-board/competency-standards/faqs

CFP Board — Continuing Education Requirements
https://www.cfp.net/for-cfp-pros/continuing-education/continuing-education-requirements

CFP Board — Public Awareness Campaign & Toolkit
https://www.cfp.net/about-cfp-board/our-initiatives/increasing-awareness/public-awareness-campaign-and-toolkit

Let’s Make a Plan — Find a CFP® Professional
https://www.letsmakeaplan.org/

CFP Board — Continuing Education
https://www.cfp.net/for-cfp-pros/continuing-education

Compliance Note: This summary is provided for educational and informational purposes. CFP Board standards, certification requirements, CE requirements, fees, implementation dates, and policies may change. CFP® professionals and candidates should confirm current requirements directly with CFP Board before making certification, education, or compliance decisions.