Continuing Education (CE) Guidelines

2024-2025 Continuing Education (CE) Guidelines

NAPFA鈥檚 continuing education (CE) policy is an important part of NAPFA's commitment to maintaining the highest competency standards in the profession. NAPFA-Registered Financial Advisors complete 60 hours of CE every two-year CE cycle, or a prorated total depending upon when they join NAPFA.

Each NAPFA CE cycle begins January 1 of an even-numbered year and ends December 31 of the following year for all members.

NAPFA members are currently earning CEs for the 2024-2025 NAPFA CE cycle. This cycle began 01/01/2024 and ends 12/31/2025.

Members can review their and a in the . You must report any CEs earned outside of NAPFA into your account in NAPFA's Learning Center.

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FAQs

How many CEs do I need?

All NAPFA-Registered Financial Advisors who joined NAPFA on or before June 30, 2024, must complete 60 CEs during the two-year CE cycle, including an approved 2-CE Ethics course, with at least 30 of these 60 CEs coming from NAPFA or from NAPFA-approved sources. Within these guidelines, you are responsible for deciding what educational programs/material you consider to be appropriate and valuable for your continuing professional development as a NAPFA-Registered Financial Advisor.

Prorated requirements for those who join NAPFA later in the two-year CE cycle are:

If you joined July - December 2024: 45 total CEs required, including an approved 2-CE course in Ethics, with at least 30 of these CEs coming from NAPFA or NAPFA-approved sources.
If you joined January - June 2025: 30 total CEs required, including an approved 2-CE course in Ethics, with all 30 of these CEs coming from NAPFA or NAPFA-approved sources.
In you join July - December 2025: 15 total CEs required, including an approved 2-CE course in Ethics, with all 15 of these CEs coming from NAPFA or NAPFA-approved sources.

All CEs must be earned within the two-year reporting period and may not be carried over to the next reporting period. You can monitor your CE requirements and progress toward them on your .

What programs are NAPFA-approved sources for CEs?

As part of your total CE requirement shown on your in the , at least 30 CEs (or 15 CEs for those joining on or after July 1, 2025):

Are required to come from NAPFA or NAPFA-approved sources, and
Must be from live programs or recorded/self-study courses (excluding reading trade journals/ magazines) that are offered by and/or accepted by NAPFA, CFP庐, CFA, CPA, CLE, CLU, EA, ChFC, CIMA, CIMC, CPWA, CRPS, RICP, CDFA, AIF, IAR or state licensure requirements. You鈥檒l report these CEs under the Study Type of 鈥淐lassroom/Web鈥� in the except for the Ethics course, which should be reported under "2-CE Ethics Course."

Those members with a prorated CE total (who are in their first CE cycle) may report any appropriate CEs they completed since the start of the two-year CE cycle, regardless of when they joined NAPFA.

College-level courses in financial planning, or courses taken to attain a designation, count for the number of semester hours earned or the number of approved CEs earned; otherwise, they do not earn NAPFA CEs. To seek approval of other programs, please submit complete information, including program links, to the NAPFA Education Department.

For members with the 60-CE or 45-CE requirement ONLY: The remaining CEs to achieve the total CEs required may come from a wider range of structured education programs, and may also include CEs from other Study Types, including Reading, Teaching/Presenting, Writing, or Pro Bono Service.

I have the 60-CE or 45-CE requirement for the two-year CE cycle. How do I earn CEs for the activities of Reading, Teaching/Presenting, Writing, or Pro Bono Service?

Reading (record as Study Type 鈥淩eading鈥�) 鈥� A total of 8 hours of the remaining 30 CEs to achieve the 60 CEs required (or the 15 CEs to achieve 45 CEs) may be acquired by reading books/journals/magazines. (To self-report reading CEs, you鈥檒l list the publisher/publication/author鈥檚 name in 鈥淪ponsored By鈥� and the book/magazine title and published/issued date in 鈥淧rogram Name.鈥�)

Each book counts as 1 CE, regardless of the number of pages. Books should have been published within the last 5 years.
Each trade/professional magazine/journal counts as 1 CE (or the approved amount) if you pass the associated quiz. These publications often have 鈥淢agazine鈥� or 鈥淛ournal鈥� in their titles, and they may be differentiated with month/year or issue/volume designations. They must have been published within the two-year CE cycle.
This Reading study type does not include self-study courses that you complete for CEs by reading the course content, like a tax update course or the CFP-accepted postings on a site like kitces.com, which can be classified as the study type of 鈥淐lassroom/Web.鈥�

Teaching/Presenting (record as Study Type 鈥淧resenting鈥�) 鈥� A total of 8 hours of the remaining 30 CEs to achieve the 60 CEs required (or the 15 CEs to achieve 45 CEs) may be earned from presenting consumer-, student- or advisor-oriented sessions, at 1 CE per each 50 minutes of instruction. No CEs are available for prep time. (To self-report teaching/presenting CEs, you鈥檒l list the academic institution/host organization in 鈥淪ponsored By鈥� and the course/presentation title in 鈥淧rogram Name.鈥�)
Writing (record as Study Type 鈥淲riting鈥�) 鈥� A total of 8 hours of the remaining 30 CEs to achieve the 60 CEs required (or the 15 CEs to achieve 45 CEs) may be obtained by authoring a publication. Any article or book published by an independent third party will earn 2 CEs. Writing blogs, articles for company newsletters and websites, or legislative responses are not considered being 鈥減ublished.鈥� (To self-report writing CEs, you鈥檒l list the publisher/publication in 鈥淪ponsored By鈥� and the book/article title in 鈥淧rogram Name.鈥�)
Pro Bono Service (record as Study Type 鈥淧ro Bono Service鈥�) 鈥� A total of 4 hours of the remaining 30 CEs to achieve the 60 CEs required (or the 15 CEs to achieve 45 CEs) may be earned by providing free, no-strings-attached financial advice and planning for underserved people, including low-income individuals and families, military personnel/veterans (see Building Homes for Heroes), and domestic violence survivors, as well as people affected by natural disasters, serious medical crises, or bankruptcy. This pro bono service must be provided by or in conjunction with a volunteer CFP庐 professional. (To self-report pro bono service CEs, you鈥檒l list the coordinating agency in 鈥淪ponsored By鈥� and the type of service in 鈥淧rogram Name鈥� 鈥� debt management, budget planning, mortgage or college savings plan evaluation, retirement checkup, etc.).

How do I report my CEs to NAPFA and measure my progress?

In the , CE hours will posted to your NAPFA online CE record in two ways:

NAPFA uploads your CEs earned from attending NAPFA educational programs. NAPFA requires 50 minutes of participation time to award 1 CE, with 0.5 CEs earned for every subsequent 25 minutes of instruction.
You must self-report the information for all other CEs earned outside of NAPFA. Enter complete information for each unique session (does the CE information you entered match what鈥檚 on the documentation you鈥檇 submit for proof of attendance if you鈥檙e chosen for the NAPFA CE audit?).

I see I鈥檒l need to pick a subject area for each CE I report. What are those?

As the attendee, you are best suited to evaluate the content of your programs; pick the NAPFA subject area () for each course you self-report. If a program covers more than one subject area, pick the predominant one from the list.

How do I obtain a Certificate of Completion for a NAPFA program?

You can generate Certificates of Completion by clicking on the purple 鈥淒ownload鈥� button next to each course in your . Any CFP庐 CEs, NASBA CPEs or IRS CEs offered through these NAPFA sessions are noted on the Certificates in the required format. (Per IRS regulations, IRS CEs earned are rounded down to the nearest whole number.) IAR CE Certificates will be added shortly.

NAPFA reports the CEs earned through NAPFA for CFP CEs, IRS CEs and IAR CEs, but members must self-report any appropriate NASBA CEs earned through NAPFA.

What records do I need to maintain in case my CEs are audited by 海角社区?

At the end of each two-year CE cycle, a percentage of members are randomly selected to undergo an audit of their CEs. NAPFA recommends that you maintain a copy of all your self-reported CE materials for at least six months after the close of a CE cycle in case you are chosen for audit. Those who are audited must submit the appropriate documentation for each self-reported CE; you have the option to upload that support material when you self-report the CE. Acceptable audit documentation for all courses earned outside of NAPFA includes:

For the 30 CEs (or prorated 15 CEs) from approved sources: Certificates of attendance/completion, or your CFP庐 CE report from the CFP庐 Board or CE report from other approved CE sources.
For the balance of the self-reported courses 鈥� any of the above, or:

Receipts for registration fees, email registration confirmations, or participants鈥� agendas
Proof of passed quizzes for journals/magazines, copies of published articles, speaker's contract/confirmation/program listings
For pro bono service, confirmation of assignment, while maintaining client confidentiality

What if I鈥檓 having difficulty completing my CEs?

CE extensions. You may request a CE extension application from the NAPFA Education Department and complete/submit it by December 15, 2025. Extensions will grant the members until April 1, 2026, to complete their CEs. Please note that CE extensions are granted for extreme circumstances; acceptable reasons include:

The critical illness of the member or a close relative
Fire or flood damage to the advisor's office
Data breaches
Other events that are catastrophic to the member or their business

Members approved for an extension may still be included in the required CE audit; members to be audited will be chosen at random in early January 2026.

Failure to comply. Members who have not completed their CE requirements by the deadline of December 31, 2025, and have failed to secure an extension will have their membership put on hold the week of January 1, 2026, for the CE deficiency, and consumer and media referrals will cease. This includes being removed from NAPFA鈥檚 Find-An-Advisor online consumer referral service. Consumers who call NAPFA after not locating these advisors on Find-An-Advisor as expected will be told that the member is 鈥渃urrently not in good standing due to a CE deficiency.鈥�

Members who are still CE deficient by April 1, 2026, will have their membership role changed to NAPFA Associate and must immediately relinquish all benefits and reference to being a NAPFA-Registered Financial Advisor. Members are then not eligible to apply to return to NAPFA-Registered Financial Advisor status (with any applicable fees) until their 2028 renewal date and will carry the full 60-CE requirement regardless of when they re-join during that CE cycle. Members not meeting audit requirements are subject to similar action.

View the CE Credits you have earned and download Certificates on the page.
Keep track of your progress for the 2024-2025 CE Cycle on the .
Browse the Learning Center (all items you register for will be found on your 鈥淢y Courses鈥� page:

to view upcoming programs
to view NAPFA's online education