"Through this additional course, which is designed to bridge the gap between theory and practice, aspiring CFP professionals will put to work the full financial planning process and demonstrate their ability to communicate effectively and meet the needs of their clients," CFP Board CEO Kevin Keller said in a statement.
The student-prepared financial plans will be evaluated by CFP Board-registered program faculty and instructors.
The new financial plan development course requirement, which was several years in the making, was released last summer for a 60-day public comment period that ended on October 2. Inspiration for the proposal came after the CFP Board's international cousin, the Financial Planning Standards Board Ltd., added a comprehensive case study component to its curriculum.
The CFP Board's education standards require coursework in the major financial planning areas including the general principles of financial planning, insurance planning and risk management, employee benefits planning, investment planning, income tax planning, retirement planning and estate planning.
A total of 348 educational programs at 221 institutions in the U.S. offer financial planning curricula registered with the CFP Board. Individuals who satisfy the coursework component of the certification can apply to take the CFP certification exam.
Wanted: Silver Bullet For Retirement Income
The world of retirement income products and providers is a "rudderless" market lacking any clear choices for investors or their financial advisors, says a recent survey of retirees and pre-retirees conducted by Cogent Research.
Survey respondents said they're most interested in managing their retirement income through CDs or bond laddering strategies they can do either by themselves or through their advisors. Variable annuities were the second most popular option, while target payout and absolute return funds generated a collective yawn from those surveyed.
Among product providers, no company was recognized by more than 10% of the respondents as the "best" provider, and the largest percentage of people (26%) said they "don't know" who's the best provider."
"One of things gleaned from the report is that investors don't believe there's a silver bullet," says Christy White, a Cogent principal and co-founder. "People view this as a process, not a product, and advisors are ideally situated to help them execute that process."
White says the survey finds that consumers don't have enough knowledge about various retirement income products, and that they tend to favor products they're already familiar with such as CDs and bonds.
Again, that plays into the education role of advisors. "One of the things we found in the study is just giving people simple facts about retirement income products causes interest in them to double," White says. "It's a great opportunity to build stronger relationships with clients and to help them solve a looming challenge."