Free ChFC Practice Exam

What’s on the ChFC

• HS 300 - Financial Planning: Process and Environment

  • The financial planning process

    Introduces the step-by-step methodology planners use to gather client information, set goals, and build recommendations. Serves as the foundational course that frames how the rest of the ChFC curriculum fits together.

  • Regulatory and professional environment

    Covers the legal, ethical, and regulatory backdrop advisors operate within, including standards of conduct expected of financial planning professionals.

  • Client relationship fundamentals

    Looks at how planners establish scope of engagement and working relationships with clients before diving into technical planning areas.

• HS 311 - Fundamentals of Insurance Planning

  • Risk management principles

    Examines how individuals and families identify and prioritize the personal and property risks they face before selecting coverage.

  • Life and health insurance products

    Surveys the major insurance product types used to transfer risk, including how they're structured and when each is appropriate.

  • Insurance planning strategy

    Applies risk-management concepts to build a coherent insurance plan integrated with a client's broader financial picture.

• HS 321 - Fundamentals of Income Taxation

  • Individual taxation basics

    Covers how personal, professional, and investment income is taxed, along with the deductions and credits that reduce taxable income.

  • Capital assets and basis rules

    Explains basis calculation, depreciation, and how gains and losses on capital assets and nontaxable exchanges are treated.

  • Passive activity and AMT rules

    Addresses passive activity loss limitations and the alternative minimum tax as they affect individual filers.

  • Business entity taxation

    Introduces how different business structures are taxed, giving planners a baseline for advising business-owner clients.

• HS 326 - Planning for Retirement Needs

  • Qualified plans and administration

    Covers how pension, profit-sharing, stock bonus, and ESOP plans are set up, administered, and terminated for employer sponsors.

  • Individual retirement vehicles

    Reviews IRAs, SEPs, SIMPLEs, and 403(b)/457 plans as accumulation tools for individuals and small employers.

  • Deferred compensation and Social Security

    Looks at nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements alongside Social Security benefit planning and employee benefits generally.

• HS 328 - Investments

  • Investment principles

    Builds core knowledge of asset classes, risk/return tradeoffs, and portfolio theory as applied to client planning.

  • Applying investments to financial plans

    Connects investment selection and portfolio construction back to a client's overall goals, time horizon, and risk tolerance.

• HS 330 - Fundamentals of Estate Planning

  • Estate and gift tax framework

    Covers the probate process, basic estate planning documents, and the types of property interests relevant to transferring wealth.

  • Trusts and transfer strategies

    Explores lifetime and at-death transfer techniques, including the use of trusts and generation-skipping transfers.

  • Charitable giving and life insurance in estates

    Examines charitable giving vehicles and how life insurance is used within an estate plan, plus post-mortem planning elections.

• HS 333 - Personal Financial Planning: Comprehensive Case Analysis

  • Integrated case analysis

    Requires synthesizing insurance, tax, retirement, investment, and estate concepts from prior courses into a single client case.

  • Recommendation development

    Focuses on producing coherent, prioritized planning recommendations rather than isolated technical answers.

• HS 347 - Contemporary Applications in Financial Planning

  • Special circumstances planning

    Covers planning for clients with special-needs dependents, divorce situations, and other nontraditional family circumstances, unique to the ChFC curriculum.

  • Business succession and behavioral finance

    Introduces business succession planning alongside behavioral finance concepts that affect how clients make financial decisions.

  • Capstone application

    Serves as the final ChFC course, tying estate, retirement, and other advanced topics together as a closing applied exercise.