Why I Gave Up On The CFP Designation (For Now)

Why I gave up on the CFP designation is something of a loaded question. While there are a few reasons for this, the main one is that I have decided to pursue a degree in Accounting instead, hoping to eventually pivot and make more money/have more entrepreneurial opportunities, as a CPA one day. What I’m really doing is hoping to combine my SEO background with my Accounting background in order to build a company out of it. I sort of have this wacky idea that I can pull off 3 different LLCs that I run, a Tax Firm, an SEO-based Affiliate/content writing company, and a Real Estate company, mainly with duplexes, tri-plex’s and four-plex’s.

And so, in this blog post, I’ll tell you why I gave up on the CFP designation after finishing all the pre-requisite credits (all I had to do was take the final test) and will explain why I’m now going to go for:

A Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting from WGU starting August 1

Then on to the CPA Exam

Then probably the EA Credential (Enrolled Agent Designation) so I can move to an Associate Position at a Tax Firm

Then probably the CFP exam once I make it through my first tax season. I need about 6 months to study for it with a basic $400 Kaplan plan and then I can

Then I can move on to an MBA etc. I will explain why in this blog post!

Why I Gave Up on the CFP Designation (At Least For Now) When I Was So Close to the Finish Line

A lot of thought went into this, like literally months or as long as half a year of consideration, but I finally decided that if I get the CFP it is going to take me until November to do so, and that it is going to be about as expensive as going for the Accounting Degree, which I could start in 4 weeks, at the end of the day. Granted with the BA in Accounting I have to spend it all at once, I feel that the Accounting Degree will serve me better for a couple of reasons:

1. I feel that I really want to be in Public Accounting – I have a pretty strong tax background and the amount of tax videos and reading that I do for fun is just insane for someone who is not in the business.
2. I don’t think I am extroverted enough to be a Financial Advisor, and I don’t think it’s something I want to do anyway. I think I could honestly get more clients as a tax advisor since it is a much easier sell as well.
3. I really enjoy accounting and tax when I am learning them and studying them on my own.
4. I think I can make a killer CPA if I put my mind to it, and that the salary track will serve me better long term than my current role.
5. It also opens me up to more entrepreneurial options, like running my own tax firm or having more money to fund the SEO strategy of my blogs with

With all of these facts above that I now realize, I think it’s time to head in the CPA direction. Honestly from doing the Seven CFP courses in a relatively short period of time, from getting like 5 different securities designations, and from working in the industry in multiple different positions, both as a CSA and as a Financial Advisor apprentice, I most definitely have the knowledge of a CFP. So I’ll move on to Accounting for now, and I’ll circle back 2 years down the road and give another 6 months to the CFP to finally get the designation. I save like $800 in annual fees by delaying it 2 years anyway, so nothing wrong with that.

What Are the Seven Courses for the CFP

The CFP, if you go through The American College or another course proctor like Kaplan, typically has seven classes to it. They are:

Financial Planning

Insurance

Tax

Investments

Retirement Planning

Estate Planning

Capstone Financial Plan Course

In my experience, they typically start off with the easiest class and then progressively get harder. Financial Planning was pretty easy, insurance and tax were a lot harder, investments was about the same difficulty, and then Retirement and Estate Planning were absolutely brutal! Capping off I am finishing up the Capstone Financial Planning course right now, it is fairly easy and the hardest part really is “too many cooks in the kitchen” just setting up all these zoom calls and what not in order to make a fake financial plan under some teacher’s guidelines.

I have honestly made Financial Plans for real clients that were easier than the one I did in class, and that’s really saying something.

The New Classes I Will Need to Take for the BA in Accounting

There is like 18 classes in total, and only about 9 of them are accounting related. They literally have me taking like humanities classes and what not in order to get this degree, but I digress. The main accounting classes are:

Financial Accounting

Managerial and Cost Accounting

Intermediate Accounting I

Intermediate Accounting II

Intermediate Accounting III

Accounting Information Systems

Business Law for Accountants

Audit

Taxation I

I was able to exempt out of Taxation I so I am down to 8 Accounting classes in total. The rest are like general education classes that I should be able to breeze through.

In looking at the classes above, the first two should be fairly easy, and Accounting IS and Business law should be fairly easy as well. This leaves only 4 actual, difficult Accounting classes. From watching videos on Intermediate Accounting I, II, and III as well, it sounds like Intermediate I and II have a massive overlap with courses I took in my Finance degree, so I should be able to pull those of too. The hardest class will probably be the final one in the degree program, which would be Audit. I am aiming to get this degree in 6 months so I can jump right into the CPA exam and finish it in another 6 months. If I pull off both of these feats, I would say that I am cut out to be a CPA!

Final Thoughts on Why I Gave Up the CFP Designation, I’m Confident That I Am Making The Right Decision

And there ya have it, why I gave up the CFP Designation in the short term to get something else that is hopefully better in the long term. Hope you enjoyed reading, be sure to comment down below or subscribe for additional details and information.

Cheers!

*Inflation Hedging.com

Sources:

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

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

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