Six Core Courses

The six core areas of financial planning are:

Financial planning overview - This course goes over financial planning as a whole and focuses on things such as the time value of money.

Insurance - The fundamentals of insurance are covered in the second course, to include risk and risk management, life insurance, health insurance, and property/liability insurance

Income Tax - The third course covers income tax and its applications to business and the individual.

Retirement Planning and Employee Benefits - Retirement planning and employee benefits are covered in the fourth course. This goes over things such as 401ks, IRAs, etc.

Investments - The fifth course is about the various kinds of financial assets.

Estate Planning - The last course covers estate planning and its applications for businesses and individuals.

An overview of the ChFC curriculum

The ChFC core curriculum is the same as that of the Certified Financial Planner’s curriculum (CFP). The idea behind this core curriculum is to give designees a broad view of financial planning, or a good, all-around approach. With a ChFC or a CFP license, one should be skilled in all areas of financial planning. One should be ready for any kind of financial problem, and he or she should be able to make financial plans while seeing how it affects the rest of the individual’s financial life. There are many different areas of financial planning, and during the next post, we will go over the seven key areas.

What can a ChFC do for you?

The ChFC can help you get your foot in to the door to many different financial jobs. They will pay you more than you could get without one. There are many different “financial planning” jobs available, but ChFC holders can command higher salaries. The salaries are comparable to what college graduates make, but they tend to move up quicker. With a ChFC, one can start his or her own financial planning firm. Of course, before you start your own firm, it is wise to have quite a bit of experience under your belt, so that you can convince clients of your expertise. But, the option is available at any time with a ChFC.

What is a ChFC?

The Chartered Financial Consultant license (ChFC) is quite similar to the CFP in that it requires passing the same six core courses. However, instead of a comprehensive exam, like in the CFP, there are two elective courses a student will take. The ChFC focuses on all around financial planning as well, and it is also a well respected designation. This license will enable one, without a college degree, to earn a lot more money than somebody without a college degree normally could. One can become a professional financial planner with a ChFC license. The ChFC license is administered and given by The American College, which is located in Pennsylvania.

Financial Designations

There are many different financial designations. There are three that are recognized above all the others: Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), and the Certified Financial Planner (CFP). These all require tests which are very difficult. They all require a college degree (the CPA requires a Master's) except the CFA, in which four years of experience can be used instead of a college degree. The CFA requires three tests to be passed, and the average study time for each test is three hundred hours. These tests are very, very difficult. The CFP requires the passing of six core courses and one comprehensive exam. This license shows expertise in all-around financial planning/comprehensive financial planning.