The Meaning Behind Financial Advisor Designations and Licenses

Bonnie Kirchner, CFP®, MST

The more letters a financial professional has after his or her name does not necessarily correlate with the quality of the advice he or she provides. Some designations carry more clout because they require more dedication to obtain and maintain. Some are general and others specific. Depending on your needs, some designations and licenses will be more important to you than others. Following are some of the longest lived and more common designations you might come across and what they mean:

• CFA—Chartered Financial Analyst: The CFA designation is investment-oriented. A candidate must have an under-graduate degree and 3 years of professional experience in-volving ...