The Financial Planning Association (FPA) and Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education (AFCPE) will work together on personal finance issues and to provide special options for financial planners to get additional certifications.

The purpose of the collaboration is to leverage both organization's resources, officials announced today.

They added joint efforts will provide value to the constituents of the Denver-based FPA, the nation's largest membership group for personal financial planning experts, and the Alexandria, Va.-based AFCPE, which is dedicated to educating, training and certifying financial counselors and educators.

The FPA's and AFCPE's primary areas of collaboration are to include:

• To support and develop the complementary disciplines and professional specialties of financial counseling and financial planning.

• To provide specially designed options to FPA members who wish to obtain Accredited Financial Counselors (AFC) and Certified Housing Counselors (CHC) certification, and to AFCPE counselors who are seeking membership within FPA and explore opportunities to work with Certified Financial Planner members of FPA.

• To help enhance personal finance research and education programming, including expanded opportunities for FPA members and AFCPE certified counselors to gain continuing education credits.

• To develop communities of practice between FPA and AFCPE memberships both nationally and regionally.

• To expand educational sessions on key personal finance topics at the organizations' respective conferences.

“Our work together will provide tangible results in helping advance the profession of financial planning,” said FPA Executive Director and CEO Marvin W. Tuttle, Jr.