Topic List for CFP^® Certification Examination

General Principles of Financial Planning

1. Financial planning process
2. CFP Board's Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility and Disciplinary Rules and Procedures
3. CFP Board's Financial Planning Practice Standards
4. Financial statements
5. Cash flow management
6. Financing strategies
7. Function, purpose, and regulation of financial institutions
8. Education planning
9. Financial planning for special circumstances
10. Economic concepts
11. Time value of money concepts and calculations
12. Financial services regulations and requirements
13. Business law
14. Consumer protection laws

Insurance Planning and Risk Management

15. Principles of risk and insurance
16. Analysis and evaluation of risk exposures
17. Property, casualty, and liability insurance
18. Health insurance and health care cost management (individual)
19. Disability income insurance (individual)
20. Long-term care insurance (individual)
21. Life insurance (individual)
22. Income taxation of life insurance
23. Business uses of insurance
24. Insurance needs analysis
25. Insurance policy and company selection
26. Annuities

Employee Benefits Planning

27. Group life insurance
28. Group disability insurance
29. Group medical insurance
30. Other employee benefits
31. Employee stock options
32. Stock plans
33. Non-qualified deferred compensation

Investment Planning

34. Characteristics, uses, and taxation of investment vehicles
35. Types of investment risk
36. Quantitative investment concepts
37. Measures of investment returns
38. Bond and stock valuation concepts
39. Investment theory
40. Portfolio development and analysis
41. Investment strategies
42. Asset allocation and portfolio diversification
43. Asset pricing models

Income Tax Planning

44. Income tax law fundamentals
45. Tax compliance
46. Income tax fundamentals and calculations
47. Tax accounting
48. Characteristics and income taxation of business entities
49. Income taxation of trusts and estates
50. Basis
51. Depreciation/cost-recovery concepts
52. Tax consequences of like-kind exchanges
53. Tax consequences of the disposition of property
54. Alternative minimum tax (AMT)
55. Tax reduction/management techniques
56. Passive activity and at-risk rules
57. Tax implications of special circumstances
58. Charitable contributions and deductions

Retirement Planning

59. Retirement needs analysis
60. Social Security (old age, survivor, and disability insurance; OASDI)
61. Types of retirement plans
62. Qualified plan rules and options
63. Other tax-advantaged retirement plans
64. Regulatory considerations
65. Key factors affecting plan selection for businesses
66. Investment considerations for retirement plans
67. Distribution rules, alternatives, and taxation

Estate Planning

68. Characteristics and consequences of property titling
69. Methods of property transfer at death
70. Estate planning documents
71. Gifting strategies
72. Gift tax compliance and tax calculation
73. Incapacity planning
74. Estate tax compliance and tax calculation
75. Sources for estate liquidity
76. Powers of appointment
77. Types, features, and taxation of trusts
78. Qualified interest trusts
79. Charitable transfers
80. Use of life insurance in estate planning
81. Valuation issues
82. Marital deduction
83. Deferral and minimization of estate taxes
84. Intra-family and other business transfer techniques
85. Generation-skipping transfer tax (GSTT)
86. Fiduciaries
87. Income in respect of a decedent (IRD)
88. Postmortem estate planning techniques
89. Estate planning for non-traditional relationships