• $20 will go to enforcement of the board’s code of ethics and standards of conduct, which the board says is necessary to safeguard the integrity of the CFP certification marks.
Following the notice to members, Elliott, Keller and Dan Moisand, the board’s chair-elect, joined in a webinar to elaborate on the aim of the board’s new strategic priorities and the new annual certification fee. Keller noted that he will join Moisand in Florida today and Thursday to do a similar outreach with the CFP professional community.
One member inquired about whether the board looked at options other than raising the certificate fee for funding the new strategic plan.
“Of course, nobody likes the increase,” Moisand responded. “It’s a wholly unpopular thing, but it’s a reality that it has to happen from time to time, particularly when you are in the mode of investing in the future. It’s just like we do in our own businesses. We have to invest for the future.”
Keller added that it wasn’t just CFP professionals bearing the burden, but that the organization is using funds too. “We took money out of the reserves, and also we are asking our registered certificate programs that benefit from [continuing education] certification to pay more, as well as some of the CE providers,” he said.
The fee increase drew the attention of XY Planning Network co-founder Michael Kitces, who scrutinized and opined on the board’s goals in a lengthy Twitter thread.
“In the end, a $100 fee increase from [CFP Board] is not trivial. And it will be interesting to see if that impacts other membership organizations like [the Financial Planning Association] and [the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors], as advisors will only spend so much on ‘the profession’ in the aggregate,” he wrote.
He added: “To its credit, [the CFP Board] and [CEO Keller] do have a good track record for deploying dollars for impact. So biggest issue to me is just: SHOW US the results that our dollars are generating real outcomes. Enforcement. Public Awareness. Talent Retention. Diversity.”