CFP-licensed advisors earn 12% more than other financial planners, a CFP Board compensation study found.
The Board announced the new data Feb. 1 from the study. A major finding: The median 2022 total compensation for financial planners was $198,500, and CFP professional earn 12% more.
According to the survey, annual compensation for financial planners grew over the past three years, with a 7% to 9% increase each year from 2019 through 2022. Planners with more than 20 years of financial planning work experience had median 2022 total compensation of $250,000, while those supervising six or more staff reported a median total compensation of $385,000 in 2022.
The median for financial planning work experience was 14 years.
Professional fulfillment, lifestyle and benefits played a role, too, in how CFP professionals rated their jobs. Approximately 84% of respondents rated personal fulfilment in their work as very high or somewhat high, and 89% say they plan to remain with their current company.
While 97% had defined contribution plans, less than half – 46% — had profit sharing. Only 15% had stock options, 9% had pensions and 8% had employee stock option plans.
Another interesting finding: The average CFP professional works away from the office one day a week, while 20% work remotely four days or more a week.
Most of the companies — 56% — represented in the survey have 20 or fewer employees. However, 51% of those who are employees work for companies with more than 100 employees. About 44% of respondents are self-employed business owners or equity partners.
Not surprisingly 92% offer wealth management/investment planning; 90% offer comprehensive financial planning, and 82%, retirement planning. However, only 67% offer estate planning and 50%, risk management/insurance. When asked about their primary focus, only 43% said it was wealth management and 41% said comprehensive financial planning.
CFP Board used Industry Insight to conduct the study. It received 980 responses to its survey by mid-October.
