I really want to get the CFP asap but I’m torn bc all of my time & energy is currently going into building my practice and I’m only about 16 months in with a relatively long way to go. Continued....

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It took me 8 weeks to finish all courses, study and pass the exam. You can crank it out.

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Ok.. so actual nuts and bolts. You would need to take the capstone course. If you do this online through Bryant you are looking at anywhere between 1 week to a month. Other providers it’s 2-3 months. After that it’s. a review course. Choose zahn dalton or Brett danko (IMO) that is recommended you study 100-130 hours pre, the. A 4 day course and 30-60 hours after. I allowed 3 month (which seems to be the normal time) but this can be accelerated if you study a ton for a short period of time and have great retention. I personally would just bang it out and get it done now while you have the time. I delayed and then ended up delaying more because life got in the way.

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I’m a CPA so it’s my understanding that this allows you to wave the education requirement and go straight to the exam. I have 3 years combined experience as a paraplanner/Advisor so not concerned with experience requirement. Realistically and based on your experiences, what sort of time commitment would I be looking at if I’m just preparing for the exam and taking the exam? I feel like if I can just dedicate two months and get it knocked out, it might be worth it to get it done now instead of waiting til my practice is self-sustaining..

Why do you want the CFP? Is it the knowledge, letters, or some other reason.

As a CPA, the CFP should be relatively easy for you so it won’t take the 6 months to a year to study for (hence the waving of the education part, they assume you know enough).

If you don’t care about the “knowledge”, you could probably just pay for one of those courses and be done in weeks.

MP1 - my reason for wanting the CFP is a mixture of the letters and the knowledge. I’ve been around the business my whole life(Dad has 21 years in the biz) and I read up on different topics on my own nonstop. so I know a lot but I definitely know there is room to learn more and I always want to be learning. I like the structure surrounding the CFP process. In a perfect world, I would just go through the 6-12 months to go through it as recommended and refresh my memory on certain topics and learn the new topics in depth. But the reality is that I have a deadline to build up my practice in the next 2ish years. I just got married and don’t have kids, so I’m afraid if I don’t get it done now, family and an even bigger, busier business will make it even harder in 2-3 years, which is why I’m so torn

You sound like someone doing it for the right reasons. I would suggest putting it off as it won’t help you grow in the next 2 years. The time commitment would be too great for the reason you want it. Build your practice, learn what helps your specific practice and maybe pick a designation focused on that part. The CFPS is a fire hose of knowledge when you (in the start of a practice) only needs a squirt gun.

Just my opinion. Good luck!

Do you want it now or not, suck it up or wait...it’s that easy

Thanks all for the insight! You’ve all given me lots to think about.

FA1 - curious...what did you use for the courses and studying?

Also FA1 - assume this 8 weeks was working and studying? how many hours per day would you say?

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