Total number of CFPs, women certificants reach new heights

The total number of certified financial planner professionals reached a record 92,055 last year, while the number of women certificants hit new heights, the CFP Board of Standards Inc. announced Wednesday.

The CFP Board also touted significant gains in the number of Black and Hispanic CFPs, although they still represent a small fraction of the overall CFP population.

The 92,055 CFPs as of Dec. 31 was a 3.8% increase over 2020, according to CFP Board statistics. There were 21,504 women CFPs, a 4.2% increase from last year and a record total that represents 23.4% of all mark holders.

Black and Hispanic CFPs totaled 4,196 last year, an increase of 13.8% over 2020. The number of Black CFPs reached 1,652, or 1.8% of all mark holders. The number of Hispanic CFPs was 2,499, or 2.7% percent of mark holders. The growth in the Black and Hispanic CFP populations from 2020 was 10% and 15%, respectively.

“We are especially excited to see strong increases of women, Black and Hispanic individuals pursuing a career in financial planning, as diversifying the financial planning profession is one of CFP Board’s core strategic priorities and central to the work of our Center for Financial Planning,” CFP Board Chief Executive Kevin Keller said in a statement. “While we are proud of our growth, there is much work ahead of us as we develop initiatives to further strengthen the talent pipeline for years to come.” 

Promoting diversity in the financial advice profession is at the top of the agenda for new CFP Board Chair Kamila Elliott, who is the first Black person to serve in that role. The CFP Board’s Center for Financial Planning holds an annual diversity summit. The emphasis on diversity is also part of the board’s future of financial planning initiative.

The CFP Board said the 2021 class of 5,273 new CFPs was the largest and most diverse in the organization’s history, with a record number of women, Black and Hispanic CFPs.

“As the U.S. population continues to diversify, the demographics of wealth will change,” D.A. Abrams, managing director of the Center for Financial Planning, said in the statement. “More diverse CFP professionals will better meet the needs of their clientele and help them achieve their financial dreams. The Center will continue to develop innovative programs to build a financial planning workforce that better reflects the population it serves.”

The CFP Board sets and enforces the competency and ethical standards related to the CFP credential. The organization said it will publish statistics about the racial and ethnic diversity of mark holders, along with gender, age and geographic data, on a monthly basis.