At Divergent Planning, we have been serving pre-retirees, mid-career professionals, and federal government employees since 2010. With headquarters in Bethesda, MD, and advisors in Tysons, VA, our Registered Investment Advisory firm provides comprehensive financial planning and investment management throughout Maryland, Virginia, Washington DC, and nationwide.

We believe that you are best served when your financial advisor puts your interests ahead of their own. That is why our professional designations include the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® (CFP®) certification. The CFP® mark is one of the few certifications that require advisors to maintain a fiduciary obligation to all clients at all times.

The CFP® designation is also widely known for its rigorous requirements in education and experience and its emphasis on comprehensive financial planning. Your financial goals aren’t limited to your investment portfolio, and we believe your planning should address all the areas of your financial life.

 CFP® Certification Requirements

To become a CFP® certificant, a financial advisor must meet the rigorous requirements set by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards (CFP Board). The requirements cover “four E’s”—education, examination, experience, and ethics. 

1. Education: The advisor must complete the comprehensive financial planning education set by the CFP Board, as well as its continuing-education requirements. 

2. Examination: The advisor must pass the CFP® exam, a six-hour examination that assesses the ability to apply financial planning knowledge to real-life situations.

3. Experience: The advisor must demonstrate a minimum of 4,000 hours to 6,000 hours (depending on the path they take) of professional experience. 

4. Ethics: The advisor must adhere to specific ethical and conduct standards, including serving clients’ best interests as a fiduciary 100% of the time.

 CFP® Professionals Are Comprehensively Trained

Your investment portfolio is not your entire financial picture, yet some financial professionals might treat it that way. 

CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® practitioners are trained to view your finances in their entirety. Their education requirement covers 72 topic areas in eight key categories:

1. General Principles of Financial Planning

2. Retirement Savings and Income Planning

3. Investment Planning

4. Tax Planning

5. Education Planning

6. Risk Management and Insurance Planning

7. Estate Planning

8. Professional Conduct and Regulation

CFP® candidates also must complete the Capstone course, a comprehensive course covering the development of financial plans.

Why is this comprehensive training so important?

The decisions you make in one area of your financial life can impact multiple other areas, potentially affecting you for decades to come.

Personal financial advisors with CFP® certification marks have been trained to see the far-reaching impacts of financial decisions. As your fiduciary, they strive to make sure that those decisions have a positive effect on your personal finances.

Our Comprehensive Services

Our advisory team of CFP® professionals provides personal financial planning tailored to your goals, concerns, and needs.

Our services include:

We complement our comprehensive services with a fee-only model that eschews commissions and accepts compensation from only our clients. We think serving as a fee-only advisory firm aligns our interests with yours even more.

 Want to Learn More About the CFP® Certification?

The CFP Board provides resources for people seeking a CFP® professional on its Let’s Make a Plan website.

You’ll find the “how” and “why” of choosing a CFP® professional, as well as a search tool to find area professionals and verify their status and disciplinary history. You can also read helpful personal finance articles for people in all stages of life.

The National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) is also a valuable resource. NAPFA-registered financial advisors must have the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® designation in addition to being a fiduciary, fee-only advisor.

Like the CFP Board website, the NAPFA website has a search tool and personal finance resources.

We also welcome answering any questions you may have about the CFP® designation.

Let’s Chat

Let’s see how we can help you achieve your financial goals.
Schedule a 10-minute discovery call.