Should You Take the CFP Exam?

If you are considering a career in the financial advice industry, you should become a CFP professional. But not for the reasons that most people talk about. The CFP isn’t going to magically make you smarter, and it’s not going to make prospective clients line up outside your office door. Sure, it can help with those things, but the biggest advantage lies WITHIN the financial advice industry. The people who value the CFP designation the most, are managers and partners of wealth management firms. So the reason you SHOULD pursue the CFP, is to give yourself the best career prospects available. And that is important in the industry sine the good jobs are really good, but the bad jobs are terrible.

If you think about that Most dentists’ offices do a pretty similar thing, most car dealerships sell cars in a pretty similar way. but financial advisor jobs can be very different. I get a lot of questions from subscribers asking about getting into the financial advice industry , and if they should take certain jobs like the common “financial representative” job from Northwestern Mutual or the “financial associate” at a bank like Morgan Stanley. My answer is always the same – no. These places are just cold call shops that will ask you to give them lists of hundreds of your friends and family members for you or some other new blood to sell products to. These firms may have been commonplace in this industry 40 years ago, but there are many far better options now.

As a financial advisor, your quality of life will be far greater if you are working with a fee based or fee only fiduciary wealth management / financial planning firm. Whether its an RIA, or a franchise of an independent BD, there are hundreds if not thousands of offices like this looking for good hires. But they know they’re a good business to work for, so they get their choosing of job candidates. And probably the most common factor that these firms are looking for, is the CFP.

Now I don’t personally see the CFP as the sole ticket into the financial advice industry, but I even hear done advisor say she felt like she was being silently ridiculed for being an advisor without the CFP before getting it. It’s certainly a big deal in the industry. Think of it from the employer’s perspective. They want competent and ethical advisors to join their teams to work with large groups of clients. The CFP covers almost every facet of the financial advice industry, such that the employer can be sure of a certain body of information a CFP has been exposed to, and a set of skills and characteristics they probably have. The want CFPs, and if you want a great job, you need to get it.

If you have an idea of something you want me to cover in depth, please let me know because I take your requests seriously. Will be back with more CFA Exam tips in a couple of weeks so please submit more questions you would like to hear answered. Love you all!


Please SUBSCRIBE for new videos every week! ▶ @straighttalks-ajsrmek323

Let’s connect:

Patreon: Patreon: StraightTalks
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@straighttalks...

Contact Email: [email protected]


** The information in this video is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional financial advice. All content, including text, graphics, images, and information, contained in this video is for general information purposes only and does not replace a consultation with your financial or tax professional**