The BYU Marriott finance major integrates the full CFP® Board education requirement into your undergraduate degree. Students in other majors have five other routes to the same certification.
About the CFP® Certification
The CFP® certification is the financial planning industry’s most respected credential. Earning it has four parts: a bachelor’s degree, coursework covering CFP Board’s core planning areas, passing the CFP® exam, and logging 4,000–6,000 hours of qualifying work experience. The coursework comes before the exam, since CFP® Board requires it before you can register for the exam; the experience hours are more flexible and can be logged before (10 years), during, or after (5 years) of passing the exam. Many students finish the coursework and pass the exam while still in school, well before their experience hours (and, in some cases, their degree) are complete.
Most candidates have not passed the exam while in college, so doing it while you are still a student puts you ahead of nearly everyone else applying. The certification also opens doors well beyond the title financial planner into such fields as: private wealth advisor, portfolio manager, family-office advisor, planning roles at banks, RIAs, and fintech firms. CFP® Board’s own compensation research shows CFP® professionals earn meaningfully more than non-certified peers, and the gap widens the longer they’re in the field. Students who pass the exam before graduating also tend to field more competitive job offers than those who haven’t yet passed.
The BYU Finance Path
For finance majors, beginning in January 2021, BYU folded the CFP® Board coursework into the degree. This is the integrated CFP® track, officially the Private Wealth and Financial Planning Track. It’s an official CFP® Board Registered Program, and its seven required courses are integrated into the finance curriculum, so there is no separate program to apply for or pay tuition to. As soon as you finish the coursework, you are eligible to sit for the exam. Many students do this and sit for the exam either their junior or senior year. You do NOT need to register for the track. You simply complete the courses and then Brother Brau can submit your name to the CFP® Board so you are eligible to sit for the exam.
Beyond the coursework, plan on 250–400 hours of exam prep and 4,000–6,000 hours of qualifying work experience, which can be logged before, during, or after the exam.
Required courses for the track
- From Your Prerequisites: ACC 200, FIN 201
- From Your Finance Core: ACC 310, FIN 410, FIN 453
- From Your Finance Electives: FIN 200, FIN 418
The Four-Year Roadmap
Dr. Brau’s suggested sequence for coursework, licensing exams, experience hours, and the CFP® exam, adjustable to your own schedule.
If You’re Not a Finance Major You Can Still Earn the CFP® Marks
Admission to the finance program isn’t a requirement for the CFP® certification, and neither is a business major. Other routes lead to the same credential, from low-cost online certificate programs you can complete alongside any major to CFP® Board–registered master’s degrees after graduation. Once the coursework is done, the exam and experience requirements are the same for everyone.
See Other Paths to CFP® Certification for all five routes and what each one costs.
Where to Go From Here
Study Strategies and Exam Prep
A potential study plan for the CFP® exam, the Dalton discount available to BYU students, and Open Exam Prep. This is just an example, you may prefer a different study plan from Kaplan or somewhere else.
Other Paths to CFP® Certification
Five routes to certification for students who are not in the finance program.
Resources
Disclaimer: This website is created and hosted by Dr. Jim Brau, the BYU CFP® Director. It is not an official BYU, Marriott School, or BYU Finance website. It is designed to answer the questions I constantly receive from students interested in our CFP® program.
