WASHINGTON–Results from a survey of CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER professionals has found its members are “overwhelmingly satisfied” with their career choice as a financial planner, and that during the pandemic more than half have increased their contacts with clients.
These are just two of the main findings from The Survey of CFP Professionals, which is conducted every two years to ascertain the views of CFP professionals about their careers, CFP Board and the financial planning profession, according to the organization.
The 2021 survey conducted by Fondulas Strategic Research found that:
- 93% are strongly satisfied with career choice in financial planning, compared to 93% in 2019 and 92% in 2017
- 93% are strongly satisfied with their decision to pursue CFP certification, compared to 92% in 2019 and 91% in 2017
- 93% would recommend the CFP certification to other financial professionals, compared to 89% in 2019 and 91% in 2017
- 87% agree that CFP professionals have a "competitive edge" over financial planners who do not hold the credential, compared to 83% in 2019 and 2017
- 82% agree that becoming a CFP professional has directly contributed to their success as a personal financial planner, compared to 78% in 2019 and 77% in 2017
- 81% agree that the value of CFP certification justifies the costs of renewing the credential, compared to 77% in 2019 and 76% in 2017
Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic
In addition, the survey found that CFP professionals' services are in demand during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Among the findings:
- To address client concerns, 58% of CFP professionals boosted the frequency of client contacts during the pandemic, with 71% reaching out to their clients 3x or more.
- The challenges facing financial advisors have evolved during the pandemic. In the survey, CFP professionals report that their top three challenges include: Virtual meetings (21%), which ranked as the fourth challenge in 2020 at 11%; Working remotely (13%), which ranked as the seventh challenge in 2020 at 9%, and New client acquisition (12%) remained as the third challenge in 2020 at 13%.
- The two top challenges in 2020 were reported by significantly fewer respondents in 2021. "Maintaining communication with clients and prospects," which was ranked first in 2020 with 18%, ranked last in 2021 (3%). The "emotional factor," which was ranked second in 2020 with 17%, ranked fourth in 2021 with 6%.