A Certified Financial Planner (CFP) is a financial advisor capable of investment and insurance/estate planning.
For an advisor that wants the “CFP” designation, they must complete the CFP Board’s initial and ongoing certification requirements, which include extensive exams in the areas of financial planning, taxes, insurance, estate planning and retirement. They must also complete continuing education courses.
CFP’s can add a lot of value to your financial plan - the best ones can provide you an all-in-one service for retirement and estate planning, including managing your portfolio and providing you insurance. The question is, are CFPs going to be the best portfolio manager available in the marketplace? Probably not.
Their skill-set is more oriented towards creating a plan and putting all the pieces in place, and managing the plan. They do not spend all or even half of their time actually managing investment and watching the markets.
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