For more than 30 years, the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER certification has been the standard of excellence in financial planning. CFP® professionals meet rigorous education, training and ethical standards, and are committed to serving their clients' best interests today to prepare them for a more secure tomorrow.
The ChFC® designation, conferred by The American College of Financial Services, is an industry-recognized mark of excellence that demonstrates a financial advisor’s breadth and depth of knowledge in the most important areas of financial planning. This includes an education in a number of areas such as insurance, taxation, retirement, estate planning, behavioral finance, non-traditional family structures, small business planning, and more.
The Certification in Long-Term Care (CLTC) designation was created in 1999. The area of long-term care is primarily focused on the tools of providing care over a prolonged period of time. A professional with a CLTC designation has acquired the critical tools necessary to discuss the subject of longevity and its acute consequences on a client's family – financially, physically and emotionally – years down the road. The best way to protect families from the potential devastation of long-term care is not to sell a product, but rather, offer advice that leads to a plan to mitigate those consequences.
The RICP® designation teaches advisers techniques and best practices used to create sustainable streams of retirement income. The education covers retirement income planning, maximizing Social Security and other income sources, minimizing risks to the plan, and managing portfolios during the asset distribution phase. The designation includes three required, college-level courses that represent a total average study time of more than 150 hours. RICP® designees must meet experience, continuing education and ethics requirements. The credential is awarded by The American College, a non-profit educator founded in 1927 and the highest form of academic accreditation.
The American College awards the WMCP® and describes it in this manner: The WMCP® credential uses contemporary investment management, portfolio management, and financial planning strategies to bring a new level of value to the relationship between financial advisors and investors. WMCP® provides advisers with a deep understanding of investment management and financial planning, and how they can be used to meet clients’ goals. They develop an expertise in analyzing and identifying goals and risk tolerance and building investment management plans tailored to the needs of their clients.