CFP(R)

I've been thinking about posting about this exam for some time.  I guess I haven't because I really just don't know how to succinctly describe it.  But as it has taken up the greater part of the last year of my life, I feel it my duty to devote at least one post to it.

I decided a year ago to start taking steps to try to earn the Certified Financial Planner certification.  This is not for the faint of heart.  It is a massive test.  Kind of along the lines of taking the bar for lawyers, or the CPA exam for accountants.  You aren't even allowed to sign up for the test until you've taken prerequisite classes.

So that was step one.  I signed up for the accelerated classes because I just didn't want this to drag on forever.  My classes were online and would go in 2 1/2-week stints for each module, with a break for a few weeks before the next class started again.  The classes covered the following subjects, in depth:

- General Financial Principles (this covered things like saving for education/retirement, ethics, budgeting, mortgages, and the like)
- Insurance (like, every kind you can think of)
- Investments (and getting into the theory behind them)
- Income tax (this is so much bigger than I ever imagined)
- Retirement (this is what I do for work, yet I had no idea how many details I did not know)
- Estate Planning (I enjoyed this a lot more than I anticipated)

Each 2 1/2-week stint involved 3-hour-long classes, three times a week.  After the classes end, you're tested on everything.  Then you get a little break, and the next module begins.  After the final subject, there is one more "capstone" module where you get a case study of a hypothetical family, and you are to create a financial plan, pulling from all subjects from all previous modules.  You write a 30-40-page plan (it was easier than I expected to get that many pages), and you record yourself talking about part of it for 5-10 minutes.

This took me from November to the end of August.  When I wasn't in the middle of one class, I was feverishly preparing for the next.

As soon as I finished with the "capstone" class, I began going over my review material, because of course I needed a review class to just try to wrap my mind around all of the things I'd just learned.  It took me two months of studying every morning before work and every night after work, to get through the review material.  And I barely finished in time for the review class, where we went over everything in just four days.  (See how the window of time just keeps getting smaller and more condensed?)

After that, I had two weeks to go over and commit to memory anything I thought I still didn't quite understand before the exam.  By the end, I was completely burned out, felt like I would never have enough time to really feel ready, and yet 100% ready to get this thing over with.

I think the picture up top says it best.  Over the course of the last year, I have read every page you can see in the picture, at least once.

The exam itself took a day and a half.  Which seems really bad, but given the amount of time I've been sitting around preparing, the endurance piece really wasn't bad.  Now that it's done, I wait.  Even though it was all on a bubble sheet, I won't know whether or not I passed until at least 5 weeks from now.  Just like much of the questions on the exam, whether you pass or fail is quite subjective.

So now I'm waiting.  If they're on time with their results, I'll know before Christmas.  And you know what?  Even if I don't pass, it's been worth it.  I've learned so much that has been so useful to me personally, and in helping customers and clients at work.  I'm thrilled to have my life back and eager to fill in all the new holes in my free time, but I've deeply enjoyed learning all these new things that really are so interesting to me.  I'm really not sure how to top this.  (Well, maybe I have a few ideas...)

**UPDATE: I PASSED!!!**