Professional Recertification Program

• Access to Knowledge Hub+: an on-demand resource center of CFP and College CE credit-eligible content provided by thought leaders from The College and across the financial services industry
• Exclusive Advisor Toolkits to help convey the significance of your education to clients. View the Advisor Toolkit tutorial video.
• A free profile in Couplr’s AI-driven matchmaking tool that connects a professional’s specialization and service model to a potential client’s needs and preferences
• Discounts to College enterprise events
• Alumni-only events with built-in networking
• Profile on The College’s consumer search tool, Your Advisor Guide
• Broader consumer outreach to highlight The College’s designees

Current College programs that require professional recertification include: CAP®, CASL®, ChFC®, ChSNC®, CLF®, CLU®, FSCP®, RICP®, TPCP^™ and WMCP®.

Under the Professional Recertification Program, The College requires certain designees to:

• Recertify their knowledge with continuing education (CE) credit every two years
• Recommit to The College’s Code of Ethics
• Reconfirm client-facing status and update contact information annually
• Pay an annual recertification fee to support ongoing educational efforts

For more information about the requirements, timing, and CE requirements, please see the Recertification Guidelines.

Recertification fees can be paid via your Learning Hub account.

• Client-Facing Advisors: $200
• Non-Client-Facing Professionals: $115
• Late Fee: $60
• Reinstatement Fee: $110

Client-facing designees are required to complete 30 credit hours of CE every two years, including one (1) hour of ethics CE. Non-client-facing designees are required to report one (1) hour of ethics CE every two years, and may track credit earned through their Learning Hub.

In addition, designees who are part of the Professional Recertification Program gain access to Knowledge Hub+: an on-demand resource center of CFP and College CE credit-eligible content provided by thought leaders from The College and across the financial services industry. Designees will be able to satisfy all their annual CE credit needs through Knowledge Hub+, with new content introduced monthly.

The following apply:

• Programs pre-approved for CE credits by the CFP Board of Standards, NASAA, State Insurance Commission, State Bar or State Board of Accountancy are accepted by the Professional Recertification Program.
• Pass an examination in the recertification period for: a) a course in The American College Huebner School or Graduate School program or another recognized professional designation program (30 hours per course); or b) a FINRA license (30 hours); or c) The CFP® certification (30 hours); or d) a college or university course from which credit can be earned toward a degree (15 hours for each semester credit hour or its equivalent).
• Live/Virtual: Attend an educational program or meeting that has at least one (1) credit hour (50 minutes of attendance equals one credit hour).

These avenues will not count for CE credits:

• Courses for state insurance licensing examination or examination (other than FINRA or CFP®) for a state or federal license related to financial services
• Personal development courses, such as motivation, public speaking, or salesmanship
• Product presentations
• Programs less than 50 minutes in length.

CE credits earned through coursework at The College will be recorded automatically. CE credits taken outside of The College are self-reported.

Credits approved for state CE, CFP®, CPE, CLE, IAR CE and securities professionals that are accrued in the professional recertification reporting cycle can be applied to professional recertification program requirements. Credits earned outside the reporting cycle do not apply.

Should your client-facing status change mid-cycle, your CE requirements are still based on your status at the beginning of the current two-year cycle and will change at the beginning of the next cycle. The annual recertification fee will change to reflect current client-facing status at the next annual payment due date.

Yes. The program is required for all designees who matriculated with The College and earned their credentials after June 1989, except for those currently in Emeritus status. For those who earned their designations earlier or who currently hold Emeritus status, participation is strongly encouraged for the good of the public and the financial services profession.

The College believes individuals who use our designations to represent their expertise to consumers have an obligation to the public to practice ethically and engage in ongoing professional education. Status under the Professional Recertification Program will be made available to the public on the Your Advisor Guide website, which will continue to serve as an index of a designee’s status with The College. Designation marks can be removed for ethical issues or failure to comply with other recertification requirements of The College.

An academic degree (such as a PhD or Master’s degree) is a title signifying that the recipient has completed a course of study. By contrast, a designation signifies that the designee is certified to meet The College’s standards for providing financial services in a particular field. Every designee of The College has agreed to abide by a Code of Ethics that requires, among other responsibilities, the maintenance of a high level of professional competence by continuing studies throughout the designee’s career. Since 1989, The College has administered a formal Professional Recertification Program, and over time, its requirements have evolved to reflect the changing demands of the financial services profession.

CLIENT FACING

A client-facing individual is defined as someone who holds a Resident or Non-Resident State Life & Health License, and/or their Investment Company & Variable Products (Series 6), General Securities Representative (Series 7), Municipal Securities Representative (Series 52), Mutual Funds (Series 63), Uniform Investment Adviser Law (Series 65), or Uniform Combined State Law (Series 66) registrations from FINRA, and/or is a JD, CPA or CFA®. Additionally, client-facing individuals work with clients and/or manage or supervise individuals who work with clients regarding sale, recommendation, or advice on insurance or investment products.

NON-CLIENT FACING

Non-client facing individuals include those who do not work directly with clients regarding sale, recommendation, or advice on insurance or investment products. Those who work at a non-profit organization are also considered non-client-facing.

Retired individuals who wish to continue using their designations will be classified as non-client-facing.

We listen to our designees, and they continue to ask for broader awareness of the rigorous, relevant designations they earn.

Outside CFP Board's success and growth in total certificants and brand awareness, the other ~250 designations recognized by FINRA (many specifically targeting certain types of clients or going deeper into specialized topics of interest) have little to no name ID. It's an alphabet soup of letters.

We believe a College designation — conferred by an accredited institution and earned through a rigorous course of study — is a symbol of excellence and should stand out. And if we believe it, and our designees believe that through their commitment to lifelong learning, consumers should too. The goal is not to anchor awareness of College designations to a singular credential. Instead, the goal is to help all College designees get an additional lift over other professionals with only foundational designations and certifications and stand out to consumers looking for specific specialized knowledge — and, in turn, specialized services.

After extensive consumer research and message testing, The College identified a consistent consumer pain point. Consumers have no way of determining an advisor’s specific expertise without “trial and error.” In medicine, if a patient has a specific ailment, he or she goes to a specialist; the same is often true with legal issues. The financial services profession is now going through a similar maturation in the development of both generalists and specialists.

Consumers need education to help them determine an advisor’s advanced education in certain areas. The campaign will highlight the value of specialization and drive consumers to www.YourAdvisorGuide.com to learn more about College designations and find a designee who holds them.

There are several potentially effective approaches to public awareness. In communicating the value of multiple designations, an all-in national TV and radio approach would carry risks and substantial increases in recertification fees to fund such an effort. We believe a prudent path is to first demonstrate success in the "sea of sameness" plaguing specialized designation awareness. Currently, consumers have little to no awareness of specialized designations that carry immense value to their complex financial lives. The College is confident our investment can make a significant impact in overall awareness of our designations, and in turn, the designees who hold them.

The initial campaign, which launched on October 8, 2025, will target an identified mass-affluent to high-net-worth consumer subset across streaming television (think Roku TV, Fire TV, Apple TV, Peacock, Disney+, etc.), digital video pre-roll on main financial websites, cross-device digital display advertising, and social media.

You can amplify the campaign in many ways! First, share our social posts and watch and like the video on YouTube. Second, your advisor toolkit will be modified to include campaign assets (launch in mid-October). Use the commercial, a press release, brochure, microsite, and more to share the message with your clients and prospects.

All designees in good standing have access to these materials in My Learning Hub.

The College has already filmed a second commercial under the “Specialists Need Specialists Too” theme. It will launch at a date to be determined in 2026. We are committed to a multi-year campaign and will continue to gain feedback from our designees to improve.

This is their campaign, not ours.