From educational requirements, to review courses and the test itself, please follow along on my journey to become a CFPⓇ professional.

You may have noticed that after I posted my Q2 Goals update in July, things have been fairly quiet in my little corner of the internet. Today, I’d like to share what I’ve been up to these past few months.

In July I briefly mentioned that I signed up for the educational courses required to become a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional.

Here’s the full story about my experience:

To Challenge or Not To Challenge

As a CPA, I had to choose between taking the full load of seven courses or just the “capstone” course as a challenge candidate. My prior education had significantly overlapped with the full curriculum so I qualified to “skip” the first 6 courses and go straight to the final course, which tasked the student to develop a financial plan based on a given set of circumstances.

This was a very difficult decision for me. On one hand, I wanted to get the best education I could so I can use the knowledge to help others. On the other, we all know how frustrating it can be to spend time taking a course when you already know the material.

I started to review some of the coursework samples from the education providers. It helped me realize that I had a good grasp of much of the material from my prior education. I chose the “challenge candidate” route jumping straight to the final class.

Committing to the Education

On June 14, I signed up with Kaplan for a package to take “course 107” along with their review course for the exam. Kaplan seemed to have a good reputation and the price was right for the challenge candidate package. With this plan, I also had the option to audit the other six classes at a discounted price if I thought it was necessary.

Hitting submit felt really exciting. I’m weird, I know. Thirteen years after graduating from college, I was going back to school again. This was the beginning of a new career path in the direction I’ve wanted to go for years.

Course 107 Financial Planning Development

Once I had the information from my case study, I attacked it right away. The study plan provided gave 7 weeks to get the job done. I figured I’d just quickly knock it out in two. Technically, I had 90 days to complete the work.

You Can’t Do It All

I soon realized that I did not have enough time to work, spend time with my family, study and blog. Of these opportunities to spend my time, only the blog could go. That’s why I’ve been internet MIA.

School Never Feels Like Real Life

The requirements for the financial plan were not exactly what I expected. The assignment was more about addressing the very specific questions my hypothetical family had. I also expected to create a more comprehensive financial plan, which was not required.

The other difference from my expectation was that we could not use any software for the plan. Just a financial calculator, and we had to document our keystrokes to show how we calculated each value. This was a bit different than the “real world” experience I was hoping for. Still, it was just another hurdle in the way of my goal and I went after it.

I’ll Pass on Being a YouTuber

Finally, I had to create a video of myself delivering a few key aspects of the plan. I have the utmost respect for all you professional YouTubers and podcasters. I can’t stand the sound of my own voice – and seeing my face in the video made it even worse. After two takes, I decided to let the content speak for itself and not let perfect be the enemy of good. You won’t find me starting a YouTube channel any time soon, that’s for sure.

On August 10th I found out that I’d passed course 107 with a score of 97%. Boom!

I was on track and moving to the exam study review with confidence.

The Review Course

On August 30, I signed up for the CFPⓇ Exam. My test was scheduled for November 10, exactly three months from when I passed course 107.

I watched all the Kaplan lectures in the review course. I answered EVERY SINGLE QUESTION in the Kaplan test bank. Thousands of them. Of those I got wrong, I went back and reviewed them all again at the end of my studies.

Thankfully, I was able to use my long daily commute on the train to attack these questions which optimized my “free” time.

Supplemental Audio Study Material

After watching all the Kaplan videos, I was improving on the scores on my the test bank quizzes. When thinking about the cost of the review course and exam – and more importantly – the time I was investing to study, I knew I needed to do anything I could to pass.

I purchased the CFPⓇ Exam Audio Review from Dalton Education as an additional study aid. It’s a series of audio files that covers the key concepts covered in the exam.

This was the best purchase I made. I could not stand the idea of listening to the Kaplan lectures again and these were available offline. Being able to listen on the train and during my four miles of daily walking on my round trip commute was ideal. I went through all 78 lectures once and even started listening to some a second time before test day.

I found it easy to remember some of the concepts I missed the first time around. The sections with numbers were a bit hard to follow while walking around the city, but those areas tended to be my strengths anyway. These audio files really helped me grasp some of the key test taking strategy I needed.

Test Day

I was lucky there was a Prometric test center very close to my house and took a ride share over to the testing site.

Going into it, I was both confident and nervous. I’ve always done okay on standardized tests including passing each of the four parts of the CPA exam on the first shot. Still, I’ll admit that I feared failing. As a self-described money nerd and aspiring financial planner, I did not want to be the guy who failed the test.

After all, since the new format started in March of 2016, the pass rates have ranged between 56.1% and 65.5% and I believe that most test takers are experienced full-time financial planners, not a guy essentially doing this for fun on the side.

I did some deep breathing exercises before starting the exam. When I started, my heart was beating faster than when I was running my first marathon. Eventually I calmed down and settled in.

Some questions were easy and straightforward. A few were probably fair questions but I had no clue and just took a random guess. Most were as I expected and I was able to eliminate two of the four choices quickly and decided which of the remaining two was the “better” choice.

I finished both of the three hour sessions with 10-15 minutes to spare and did quick review of my answers. I ended up changing one answer. After the test I looked it up and found out I changed it to the right answer. That was a huge relief!

Then, All I Could Do Was Wait

Unlike those who took the exam in the testing windows before me, there were no immediate results this time. This has something to do with it being the first test based on the new tax laws. There was no choice but to wait.

I went home and had an afternoon beer and celebrated that at least the studying was over for a while. I had no idea if I’d passed or failed. My brain was fried. Mostly, I was relieved to have put forth my best effort and have a break from the studying.

As soon as the burden of studying was lifted, I felt free again. Due to my fear of failing and high expectations, I’d put a ton of pressure on myself to succeed. This led to feelings of guilt when I chose to relax, watch some TV or just have a leisurely dinner some nights. I was not truly enjoying these things at the time because I knew I could have used that time to study.

The feeling of being done was wonderful. It reminded me of when a semester ended during college and there was nothing else that could be done. I really enjoyed the mental break.

The Results

Based on the guidance provided, I was not expecting the results until the week of 12/17. This worked out great for me because we had a family trip to Disney World the week before and I did not want this test to ruin my vacation.

Early in the evening on December 10, my wife was riding the Barnstormer with our 4 year old while I hung out on a bench with our sleeping 1 year old. I did a quick check of my email and saw a subject line “Your Score Report is Available.”

Oh (expletive), I thought, I hope this does not ruin what started as such a fun trip.

I opened the email but it just had a link, no text.

I clicked it. It said, your score is being prepared (or something like that). Still no results. I’m watching the little circle spin round and round in my web browser with no results. Grrrrrr this is frustrating.

Then I gave up, went back into the email and there it was.

In case you can’t see the image, I PASSED!!!!

I was one step closer to reaching my goals and it just felt great!

I’m Not a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Yet!

I’m still NOT a CFPⓇ professional. I’ve yet to meet the experience requirement and it will take me years to do so. What I’ve done by passing is prove to myself that I have the knowledge I need to start helping people.

After taking a day to enjoy the win, my mind immediately went to what’s next.

More on that soon.

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading!

Have you made some strides towards a big goal? Let me know in the comments!

P.S. If you’re looking for a financial planner and would like to work with me, send me a note from this form.

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