Chartered Financial Planner

Every Person With Income Benefits From Using Financial Planners

This means anyone who is earning money, saving it and planning for the future. There is substantial complexity in financial planning due to the intersection of money, property, investment law, tax law and personal goals, that many people want the advice of a personal finance planner to help them navigate the waters.

Using personal finance websites is insufficiently helpful in these complex cases. For example, in the case of an inheritance, putting a house into a trust rather than passing it on wholesale leads to substantial tax savings. Taking advantage of the benefits of particular laws is the province of personal financial advisors.

Financial Certification Helps Distinguish Quality Of Planners

There are no laws governing who may call him or herself a personal finance planner. Anyone may set up shop and claim to be giving useful advice and charge clients for it whether or not he or she knows anything. As such, professional organizations in finance, insurance and accounting fields have devised certification systems to give a stamp of approval to certain advisors who pass tests in knowledge and education. The standard certification schemes are the ChFC, or Chartered Financial Planner, the CFP, or Certified Financial Planner, and the PFS, or Personal Financial Specialist. They are also known as certificated financial planners, hence the designation CFP is somewhat ambiguous in daily usage and may be interpreted in two or more ways.

The Chartered Financial Planner Demonstrates Quality

The ChFC designation in particular is the focus of this article. The acronym stands for “Chartered Financial Consultant”, and is a certification scheme conferred onto outstanding individuals who have satisfied several difficult requirements. He or she should have education in the fields of tax, insurance, investing, and accounting. Typically a ChFC designation means that the advisor has 3 or more years of experience in the industry. He or she must also pass exams on the aforementioned topics of study. Moreover, a ChFC designated advisor has taken eight or more college courses on the related topics of economics, insurance and financial investing.

Costs Vary For A Chartered Financial Planner

Because CFP-designated advisors have taken more formal courses and have satisfied minimal testing requirements, they are rarer and therefore charge higher rates than non certified financial advisors. There are two kinds of rates. One rate is the hourly rate and may be anywhere from $75 at the low end to $500 at the high end depending on the scarcity of advisors in the region, the reputation of the advisor, and complexity of the planning problem. But some professionals also offer fixed rate plans, for example a fixed fee on a plan for retirement. These can be in $100-$800 range.

Find A Chartered Financial Planner Using Databases

Locating a chartered financial planner is not easy because there is no national registry of names in the different areas. There is however a database for locating specifically fee only financial planners. Search here for a fee only financial planner, and from here you should select one who is certified or chartered. The database can be found on the NAPFA website. Also look in publication resources like Kiplingers personal finance that provide listings, leads or other databases of personal finance planner professionals.

Educational Is Another Option

For people who have more time than money, it is worth it to take classes or get some personal finance training.