Why pursue your Certified Financial Planner Certification?

The financial planning industry is evolving rapidly, with a growing demand for skilled professionals to help individuals and businesses navigate their financial futures. Earning the Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) certification is one of the best ways to stand out in this competitive field, offering credibility, career advancement, and financial rewards. If you’re considering a career in financial planning, read our latest blog post with all the reasons why pursuing a CFP® certification is a smart move.

Program overview

We offer a CFP® Board-approved program that prepares students to take the CFP® Exam. Our material and class instructions cover the 72 Principal Knowledge Topics prescribed by the CFP® Board. Our courses are designed to meet your needs, whether you are a career changer or longtime planning professional. 

The program aims to prepare students for rewarding careers as financial consultants to individuals, families, and small businesses. The curriculum builds a foundation to provide advice about investment, tax, and estate planning, as well as on issues such as risk management, employee benefits, and business succession.

Students who successfully complete all the required courses and satisfy the CFP® Board’s education requirement will be eligible to sit for the CFP® exam. See CFP® Board’s education requirement. Upon completion, students will receive a certificate of completion from Fairleigh Dickinson University which they can proudly display on their wall and share with their clients. 

Curriculum

Our program is a non-credit certificate program made up of six financial planning courses that run consecutively and culminate with a 7th capstone course. The duration of the program is around 24 months.

Each class module runs once a week and meets twelve times on Zoom. There are usually two weeks off between modules.

The courses range from introductory areas to more specific areas of focus. Briefly, the seven courses, are listed in sequence are:

  1. CFP6100: General Principles of Financial Planning
  2. CFP6200: Risk Management & Insurance Planning
  3. CFP6300: Investment Planning
  4. CFP6400: Income Tax Planning
  5. CFP6500: Retirement Planning
  6. CFP6600: Estate Planning
  7. CFP6700: Capstone in Financial Planning

FDU Admissions Requirement

To join the program and sit for the CFP® exam, students need a baccalaureate degree in any discipline from an accredited college or university.

Program faculty

Instructors for this program have a range of expertise, specializations and financial work experience. Most, if not all, hold a CFP® designation with most having more designation such as MBA, CPA, JD, CFA, and various professional certifications.

More information

For information about the CFP® Board’s education and experience requirements, exam fees, and test information, click here.

Contact Information
fp@fdu.edu
Ron West, Program Director