Fiduciary Duty

I am a fiduciary: As a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional, not only am I obligated to not harm you, I am required to act in your best interests and to place your interests ahead of my own at all times.

Fiduciary Duty

At all times when providing Financial Advice to a Client, a CFP® professional must act as a fiduciary, and therefore, act in the best interests of the Client. The following duties must be fulfilled:

Duty of Loyalty. A CFP® professional must:

  1. Place the interests of the Client above the interests of the CFP® professional and the CFP® Professional’s Firm;

  2. Avoid Conflicts of Interest, or fully disclose Material Conflicts of Interest to the Client, obtain the Client’s informed consent, and properly manage the conflict; and

  3. Act without regard to the financial or other interests of the CFP® professional, the CFP® Professional’s Firm, or any individual or entity other than the Client, which means that a CFP® professional acting under a Conflict of Interest continues to have a duty to act in the best interests of the Client and place the Client’s interests above the CFP® professional’s.

Duty of Care. A CFP® professional must act with the care, skill, prudence, and diligence that a prudent professional would exercise in light of the Client’s goals, risk tolerance, objectives, and financial and personal circumstances.

Duty to Follow Client Instructions. A CFP® professional must comply with all objectives, policies, restrictions, and other terms of the Engagement and all reasonable and lawful directions of the Client.

Code of Ethics

As a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional, I am held to the highest of standards.  The CFP Board's Code of Ethics requires CFP® professionals to uphold principles of integrity, objectivity, competence, fairness, confidentiality, professionalism and diligence. 

As a CFP® professional I also must abide by the CFP Board’s Code of Ethics to:

  1. Act with honesty, integrity, competence, and diligence.

  2. Act in the client’s best interests.

  3. Exercise due care.

  4. Avoid or disclose and manage conflicts of interest.

  5. Maintain the confidentiality and protect the privacy of client information.

  6. Act in a manner that reflects positively on the financial planning profession and CFP® certification.

CFP® Marks

To attain the right to use the CFP® marks, an individual must satisfactorily fulfill education, examination, experience, and ethics requirements and must complete continuing education and ethics requirements in order to maintain the right to continue to use the CFP® marks.

The CFP Board’s complete Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct can be found here.