Free CFP Practice Exam

What’s on the CFP

• Professional Conduct and Regulation8%

  • CFP Board Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct

    Covers the fiduciary duty and ethical obligations CFP professionals owe clients when providing financial advice.

  • CFP Board Procedural Rules

    The disciplinary and enforcement process CFP Board uses to investigate and sanction violations of its standards.

  • Financial Industry Structure and Regulation

    How financial institutions, securities/insurance regulators, and consumer-protection laws frame the delivery of financial advice.

• General Principles of Financial Planning15%

  • Financial Planning Process and Cash Flow Management

    The steps for gathering client data, analyzing financial statements, and managing budgets/cash flow that underlie any plan.

  • Debt and Financing Strategies

    How loan structures and credit decisions affect a client's overall financial position.

  • Economic Concepts and Time Value of Money

    Core macro/microeconomic ideas and time-value-of-money calculations used to evaluate planning decisions.

  • Education Planning

    Projecting education costs and matching them with appropriate savings and funding vehicles.

  • Gift and Income Tax Basics

    Foundational income and gift tax concepts that intersect with general planning recommendations.

• Risk Management and Insurance Planning11%

  • Risk Identification and Exposure Analysis

    Evaluating a client's exposure to personal, property, and liability risks.

  • Health, Disability, and Long-Term Care Insurance

    Structuring coverage for medical costs, income replacement, and long-term-care needs.

  • Life Insurance and Annuities

    Comparing qualified and non-qualified life insurance and annuity products for protection and income purposes.

  • Business Owner Insurance Solutions

    Insurance strategies tailored to business owners, such as key-person and buy-sell funding.

  • Insurance Needs Analysis and Carrier Selection

    Quantifying a client's insurance needs and comparing insurers and products against them.

• Investment Planning17%

  • Investment Vehicles and Taxation

    Characteristics and tax treatment of common investment vehicles such as stocks, bonds, and funds.

  • Investment Risk and Market Cycles

    Types of investment risk and how economic/market cycles influence portfolio behavior.

  • Asset Allocation and Diversification

    Building diversified portfolios aligned to a client's risk tolerance, time horizon, and goals.

  • Bond and Stock Valuation

    Methods for valuing fixed-income and equity securities to support recommendations.

  • Alternative Investments and Digital Assets

    Alternative, less-liquid investments and their risk/liquidity tradeoffs; the current outline adds explicit coverage of digital assets here.

• Tax Planning14%

  • Income Tax Fundamentals and Calculations

    Core tax law concepts and how an individual's income tax liability is computed.

  • Business Entity Taxation

    How different business structures (sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, etc.) are taxed.

  • Trust and Estate Taxation

    Tax treatment of trusts and estates as they interact with a client's broader plan.

  • Tax Reduction Techniques and Property Transactions

    Strategies for lowering tax liability and understanding the tax consequences of buying or selling property.

  • Charitable Giving Strategies

    Tax-efficient approaches to structuring charitable contributions.

• Retirement Savings and Income Planning18%

  • Retirement Needs, Social Security, and Medicare

    Estimating a client's retirement income needs and incorporating Social Security and Medicare benefits into the plan.

  • Retirement Plan Types and Qualification Rules

    Employer-sponsored and individual retirement plans and the rules governing their qualification and use.

  • Distribution Strategies and Business Succession

    Approaches to drawing down retirement assets and planning for business succession as part of a retirement strategy.

• Estate Planning10%

  • Property Titling and Beneficiary Designations

    How the way property is titled and beneficiaries are designated determines how assets transfer at death.

  • Estate Documents and Transfer Tax Compliance

    Core estate planning documents and compliance with gift, estate, and generation-skipping transfer tax rules.

  • Trusts and Business Transfer Techniques

    Using trusts, the marital deduction, and business-transfer techniques to accomplish estate planning goals.

• Psychology of Financial Planning7%

  • Client Attitudes and Behavioral Finance

    How client values, attitudes, and cognitive/behavioral biases (e.g., money scripts, resistance to change) shape financial decision-making.

  • Communication and Crisis Counseling Foundations

    Communication techniques and basic crisis-counseling skills planners use to guide clients through difficult financial situations.