Despite a lingering pandemic, the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards reported significant increases in the number of new CFP professionals and the diversity of new certified professionals in 2020.

In fact, the number of CFP professionals reached an all-time high of 88,726, growth of 2.7% over 2019 numbers. “The significant milestones support CFP Board’s mission to ensure that the public has access to and benefits from competent and ethical financial planning advice,” the group said in a press release.

The number of female CFPs also increased to an all-time high, hitting the 20,633 mark, which represents 23.3% of all CFP professionals. The number of women CFPs grew 3.1% since 2019.
 
The number of Black and Hispanic CFPs grew to 3,688, up 12.6% from a year earlier. That's “nearly five times the growth rate of all CFP professionals,” the organization reported.

“The increase in the number of CFP professionals of color reflects the strong efforts by CFP Board and the Center for Financial Planning to create a more diverse and sustainable financial planning profession,” said CFP Board CEO Kevin R. Keller. “We will continue to work together toward a future where the financial planning professional reflects that of America.”

The actual numbers of Black, Hispanic and Biracial certificants as of December 31, 2020 were:
  
At the end of the year, there were 1,493 Black CFPs, representing 1.68% of all CFP certificants; 2,170 Hispanic CFPs (2.46%); and 25 biracial CFPS (.028%), the board said.
 
“The financial challenges that have impacted so many during the Covid-19 pandemic have highlighted the importance of financial planning,” Keller said. “Financial planning also continues to be regarded as a highly sought and attractive career choice, and CFP certification has become the must-have designation for those providing financial advice.”

These were among the other milestones from last year reported by the CFP Board:
 
• The CFP Board’s Candidate Forum connected candidates for CFP certification with an online community to provide support on their path to certification, with nearly 79,000 subscribers sharing 1,136 discussion threads.

• The Center for Financial Planning’s Career Center, now in its seventh year, continued to connect firms with qualified job seekers in the financial planning profession. During the center's existence, 3,800 employers have posted 6,000 jobs that have been promoted to 27,000 job seekers.

The board relaunched LetsMakeAPlan.org, it’s investor website, in December after its controversial decision to remove compensation methods CFP professionals’ listings on the site.

The board now says it will add more information in the future about how planners are paid. “There were several reasons for our removal of compensation method information, including CFP Board’s neutral stance on business models and compensation methods,” Keller said when he announced the site’s relaunch Dec. 16.

“The fact of the matter is that the three compensation method categories previously in the listings may have been understandable to advisors but may not have been meaningful for consumers,” he said. “Consistent with our communications on this topic in March, we conducted consumer research to address this, and as a result, our redesigned site now provides educational content on how to pay for financial planning services.”