News & Updates – Page 23 – Online CFP Program

CFP Board Discipline—Learning from Others’ Mistakes

CFP® Certificants in the News This blog will emphasize recent CFP Board disciplinary trends and the avoidable mistakes made by certificants and candidates1 that can lead to unnecessarily severe discipline. Data for this blog is taken from a CFP Board News Release dated June 30, 2021, in which forty disciplinary actions were published. The topics…

Understanding the Investment Loan Interest Deduction

Good to Know Can you deduct the interest you pay on loans used to make investments? Conventional wisdom would have you believe the rules are complex. Yet, we only need to address the following three questions to gain clarity. What kinds of interest paid on investment loans are deductible? How do dividend income and capital…

Changes to CFP Board Principal Knowledge Topics

CFP® Board Updates Earlier this year, the CFP Board announced the results of the latest Practice Study Analysis, which among other things, informs the board on necessary updates to the Principals Knowledge Topics. These topics are the base of approved educational provider curriculum, and are the topics tested on the CFP Board Exam. The March…

2021 Child and Dependent Care Credit

Good to Know The Child and Dependent Care Credit (a potentially refundable tax credit for 2021) is to incent employment. Employed taxpayers receive a tax credit if they have dependents who need child care. The credit is available to those taxpayers currently employed and those seeking employment. Restrictions, conditions, and coordination rules apply. Restrictions The…

Cryptocurrency, Financial Planners/Advisors, and Client Expectations

CFP® Certificants in the News Cryptocurrency was considered a highly speculative, if not a suspiciously bizarre novelty, when Bitcoin was introduced anonymously in 2009. Fast forward to today – Cryptocurrency and other digital assets have skyrocketed in popularity. For example, Bitcoin holdings alone in 2021 are estimated at over one trillion dollars, and the federal…

Value of CFP® Certification to Female Advisors

CFP® Board Updates A recent independent study from AITE group revealed the strengths and unique characteristics female CFP® Professionals bring to wealth management practices and their clients. And in line with the CFP Board’s view, the study also concluded an urgent need for more female CFP® Professionals – specifically client facing. The study, titled “Building…

Personal Umbrella Liability Insurance Isn’t Only for the Rich

Good to Know Conventional wisdom would have us believe that personal umbrella liability policies are needed only when one’s net worth exceeds $1,000,000. The purpose of this blog is to challenge that potentially dangerous assumption. As background, we live in an amazing country, land of the free because of the brave. Yet the United States…

Validating and Measuring Competency

CFP® Board Updates For the past decade or so, the CFP Board has been putting an increased emphasis on the importance of being able to validate and measure competency for CFP Professionals. While the certification itself signifies that someone has mastered the required body of knowledge, that knowledge alone isn’t enough to truly become a…

Powers of Attorney – Autonomy vs. Protection

Good to Know CFP Board expects CFP® Certificants to understand how to protect a client’s assets and guide health care decisions in the event of incapacity. Let’s make this personal – who would make medical decisions for you if you were temporarily unconscious or suffering from a debilitating disease such as Alzheimer’s? How about financial…

CFP Board of Directors Positions Open

CFP® Certificants in the News Here is your chance to add your client-facing, practical financial planning perspective to CFP Board’s governing body in 2022. The following excerpt was taken from the CFP BOARD REPORT published on May 20, 2021. “CFP Board is now accepting applications from individuals interested in serving on CFP Board’s Board of…