Scheduling the CFP exam, and Why I Have Been Putting This Off

In this blog post, I’d like to talk about scheduling the CFP exam, more specifically the first part of the CFP exam that I am ready to take. The CFP program, at least by the American College of financial services, which is the one that I am currently going through is something that is broken up into seven different classes, each with their own different pieces of the financial planning puzzle.

My first final exam for the CFP, on the financial planning section known as HS 300, is scheduled for the night of Sunday, September 19. I believe I am ready and I only need about a 62% on the final exam to pass the class, however I am a tad bit nervous, in that I have been putting off the CFP for a while, and have been taking some thing of a half cocked approach to taking the class. Especially when I compare my study habits to the study habits I had when I was studying for the Series 7 or the Series 66 exam in the financial services industry, I am maybe studying at 15 to 20% capacity of how much I normally would be. And so, in this blog post, I will walk through some of the topics on my first CFP final exam, why it has been something of a difficult class for me, and why I have been kicking it down the road.

HS 300, The Financial Planning Portion of the CFP Exam

Once again my first class is financial planning. In this class, I’ve been learning things like the downsides of student loan interest, how to calculate mortgage interest for a client, what type of risk a client should take based on what points are out in their life, and certain things like a tax planning and how to deal with clients in meetings. A lot of this is pretty self-explanatory so far, and a lot of it is a refresh that I already know, Like for instance with the time value of money calculations that I have been studying, I already knew a decent amount of these, from my bachelors degree in finance that I got several years ago.

It is a little bit weird to be worrying about scheduling a final exam once again, especially in the field of finance, and then I thought those days were long behind me. The securities business would have other plans for me, and it looks like I will be taking tests for at least the next several years, in order to maintain and grow at my current company. I’m not complaining, but it is something that I didn’t necessarily expect when entering the 9 to 5 workforce.

Final Thoughts on Scheduling the CFP Exam, And Why This Exam Series is a Rigorous Program

The way in which the exam works, or at least the final exams for the seven pre-requisite CFP classes, or that the student schedules the exam either through an online proctor, or at a testing center at Pearson View. I chose to go with the online proctor, only for the fact that it has more leniency in how it is scheduled, you can take the test at 7 PM on a Sunday night, compared to in person which only lets you take it during weekdays when I had work. I will post back once I pass the first CFP class, which I have no doubt I will as I still have two weeks left to study.

Sources:

https://www.bankrate.com/banking/cds/cd-rates/

https://money.cnn.com/data/markets/

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