4/02/06

Financial Certifications

Chartered vs. Certified

      There are many different ways for a financial planner to gain credence in the eyes of the public and if you’ve 
looked into hiring someone to either actively look after your investments or advise you on your choices, you should 
be aware of the real meaning behind the letters.  

            First off, don’t let the terms “chartered” or “certified” get you worked up. Neither one really has the market cornered 
as far as education or expertise. They are merely labels different bodies have given to their graduates. Is there a
difference? Only in semantics. All of the designations below have stringent testing and boards or colleges that back 
the standards. 

            A CertifiedPublic Accountant (CPA) may be great to have on your team, but they may not know a whole lot about 
the market. Their specialty is accounting and tax preparation, not judging stocks. I love my accountant, but she 
does not advice me on my portfolio. Some accountants add Personal Financial Specialist (PFS) to their qualification 
and they have taken financial training in addition to their accounting. 

            A Certified
Financial
Planner
(CFP) has a broad range of education having studied stocks, bonds and estate
planning, among other topics. They seem to be everywhere, employed by
franchised investing firms as well as having their own businesses in some
cases. Because their education is wide ranging they often are used to cover all
bases for individuals. They often help individuals define their goals and
plans.  

            A Certified Fund Specialist (CFS) is an expert in mutual funds, fund families and a wide variety of fund
related topics. Generally speaking they might be employed by a firm to assist more as a specialist, rather than 
for an individual as an advisor.  

            A Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) is one of the designations appearing more and more often. This is
similar to a CFP, but another qualification is three years of experience working as a professional in a financial 
capacity.

            A Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) has to have three years experience in the financial arena and pass a series of 
financial exams. They specialize in portfolio management and analyzing worth of securities. According to the CFA 
Institute they are “globally recognized standard for measuring the competence and integrity of investment 
professionals.”

A Chartered Investment Counselor  (CIC) is a high level CFA. They would be considered the heavy hitters of the 
analysts world. Also certified by the CFA Institute  

http://www.cfainstitute.org/          

Hopefully you aren’t more confused than you were before. These designations can all be looked up on any search
engine to give you a more detailed description of standards or tests a person has to pass to earn them.  Check out
anyone you are trusting with your money, and see what the hodgepodge of letters they carry mean. 

Until next week, good investing, and remember your due diligence.

Thanks, 

Rob

RobertEBritt@yahoo.com

The columns, articles, message board posts and/or any other features provided on Wealth Training Source are provided for personal finance and investment information and are not to be construed as investment advice. Under no circumstances does the information in this content represent a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security. The views and opinions expressed in an article or column are the author’s own and there is no implied endorsement by Robert Britt of any advice or trading strategy

copyright Robert E. Britt 2006