ChFC® Curriculum
Candidates must pass eight examinations through The American College-one for each of the following six required courses and two elective courses-to
earn the ChFC® designation:
Click on each course name below to view the course description and difficulty ratings ranging from 1 (easy) to 10 (difficult).
Required Courses
Difficulty: 7
Provides an overview of the financial planning process, including communication techniques, ethics, risk tolerance, time-value-of-money concepts,
financial planning applications, regulatory issues, and the legal and economic environment for financial planning. Offers an understanding of the
role and responsibilities of a financial planner along with some analytical skills to aid in financial decision-making.
Difficulty: 8.5
Focuses on the role of planning for insurance needs. Covers basic concepts in risk management and insurance, insurance industry operations, legal
principles pertaining to the industry, and regulation of insurers. Examines social insurance, life insurance and annuities, medical and disability
income insurance, long-term care insurance, and personal property and liability insurance. Concludes with an overview of commercial property and
liability insurance and a case study.
Difficulty: 8
Examines the federal income tax system with particular reference to the taxation of individuals. Covers such items as items of gross income,
exclusions from gross income, deductions, tax credits, capital gains and losses, taxation of life insurance and annuities, income taxation of
partners, partnerships, corporations, and shareholders.
Difficulty: 8
Focuses on retirement planning for the business, the business owner, and the individual. Covers qualified plans, nonqualified plans, and IRAs
and deals with retirement needs for individual clients. Emphasizes the practical knowledge needed for choosing the best retirement plan and
designing a plan that will meet a client's needs. Discusses personal retirement planning and retirement distribution planning.
Difficulty: 10
Covers various aspects of the principles of investments and their application to financial planning. Discusses risk analysis and risk and return
computations. Looks at stocks, bonds, investment companies, options, and futures contracts. Includes an extended discussion of tax issues in
investing, as well as of issues in the practice of portfolio management, including strategic and tactical asset allocation. Provides many examples
of ethical and practical issues in managing a client's portfolio.
Difficulty: 9
Covers various aspects of estate and gift tax planning, including the nature, valuation, transfer, administration, and taxation of property.
Provides a basic understanding of the estate and gift tax system, including strategies of estate planning. Discusses gratuitous transfers of
property outright or with trusts, wills, and powers of appointment; use of the marital deduction; valuation of assets; and buy-sell agreements.
Covers the client interview, fact-finding, ethical standards, and development of personal estate plans.
Elective Courses (Select two)
Difficulty: 9
Presents an overview of the global financial system and its influence on the financial services industry. Examines financial markets,
their principal institutions, and their economic functions, products, and services. Examines the rapidly changing regulatory and competitive
environment and major trends that shape the industry.
Difficulty: 9.5
Covers estate and gift tax principles with emphasis on life insurance planning applications. Discusses forecasting the gross estate, life
insurance trusts, valuation principles, the use of charitable contributions as an estate planning technique, planning opportunities stemming
from the marital relationship, the taxation of trusts, implications of employee benefits, and estate freezes. Includes a case study reflecting
procedural aspects of estate planning.
Difficulty: 9
Focuses on financial decisions clients face as they approach, reach, and pass retirement age and on the tools and techniques financial
advisers may employ to assist their clients with these decisions. The course covers source of income, retirement calculations, investment
considerations, annuities, housing decisions, insurance needs of the older client, and estate planning concerns. Especially valuable for
practitioners who advise retirees in decisions on rolling over lump-sum pension distributions to IRAs. Provides extensive perspectives on
dealing with aging and retired clients and their families.
Please visit The American College website for more information on course descriptions for ChFC®.
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