The impact of financial planning designations on financial planner income

This paper examines the impact of three of the main financial planning designations on financial planner income. This study uses a sample of over 1800 financial planners including those with the Certified Financial Planner (CFP®), Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC), Personal Financial Specialist (PFS), and no designation. The study results indicate that the CFP® designation is associated with a significant increase in income when compared with planners with no designation or holding the other designations cited. The researchers find no significant impact on earnings of the ChFC designation or the PFS designation. It is also found that the impact of the CFP® designation is greater for those planners relying on performance-based earnings rather than salary-based earnings.