People seem to imagine that certified financial planners are people who specialize in helping with business strategy and managing finances in big firms like huge multinationals. This is hardly the case in reality. For any ‘money problems’ in normal, everyday life, a certified financial planner would be the best person who might be able to assist you. Retirement planning and maybe even general financial problems are things for which you could use the assistance of a certified financial planner.

So what is the difference between a certified financial planner and any normal financial planner? There is indeed a big difference. Anyone can make the claim that he/she is a financial planner. But only a person certified by the Certified Planner Board of Standards can be considered to be a certified financial planner.

The first step towards becoming a certified financial planner is getting a minimum of a bachelor’s degree from a reputed college in the country. Many people might not know that you have to study and master integrated financial planning; you actually have to study 100 topics on this. So beware; it will not be a cake walk. The exam you have to pass, to become a certified financial planner might not be all that easy either. It has 10 hours worth of multiple choice questions. The case problems in the exam will test on your ability and talent to use your knowledge in a situation that calls for use of financial planning. So to get through the exam and become a certified financial planner you should have both the necessary academic knowledge and also practical skills.

A good certified financial planner must have the ability to understand the needs of the client, should be able to come up with creative solutions and must have the foresight needed in order to ensure that the needs of the client are fulfilled. A certified financial planner in short should be a real expert on the subject of finance in general.

With the recession and the inability of financial planners to predict the crisis and take steps to avoid it people seem to have somewhat lost faith in financial planners in general. This might not be very good news to all financial planners, certified financial planners included. So maybe there should be more foresight and transparency in financial affairs and as experts on this field certified financial planners should be very much involved in this attempt to create a better, more stable financial system.

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