Why get certified?
- Knowledge and Skills: Confirms you have the knowledge, skills, and experience to provide financial advice
- Professional Responsibility: Shows your commitment to the highest ethical standards
- Professional Brand: Demonstrates your value to employers and clients
- Regulatory Requirements: Ensures you keep pace with evolving legal and regulatory
- Trust: Fosters trust in the advice clients get from you
Four steps to certification
1. Education
Sign up for a degree, diploma or certificate program at a college or university offering an FP Canada™-approved financial planning curriculum.
If you’re pursuing QAFP™ certification, you’ll take the Core
Curriculum, which provides you with the foundations of key concepts in tax planning, retirement planning, and insurance and risk management (among others).
For CFP® certification, you need to take the Core
and Advanced Curriculum. Building on the Core Curriculum, the Advanced Curriculum provides you with a deeper understanding of key financial planning concepts and prepares you to examine your clients’ financial circumstances at the highest
level of complexity.
Once completed, sign up for the Professional Education Program and Introduction to Professional Ethics Course with the FP Canada Institute™.
2. Exam
After you’ve completed your education, you’re ready to take the CFP® exam or QAFP™ exam. FP Canada provides a variety of online study tools to help you prepare.
3. Work Experience
If you pursue QAFP certification, you’ll need one year of qualifying work experience before you can apply for certification. For CFP certification, you need three years.
4. Apply for Certification
Once you have completed your education, have passed the exam and have the required work experience, you can apply to be certified. To qualify for QAFP certification, you must hold a post-secondary diploma. For CFP certification, you need a post-secondary degree.