CFP Continuing Education Requirements 2026: 30 Hours, Rising to 40

The CFP Board requires CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER professionals to complete 30 continuing education credit hours in each two-year reporting period, including a 2-hour CFP Board ethics programme. The period ends in your own renewal month, not on a fixed calendar date. The Board has also announced that the requirement will rise to 40 hours in a future cycle. This guide sets out the current rules, the 2027 change and the points on which the Board's own pages disagree. For the Irish qualification, see our CFP in Ireland explainer.

At a glance

30 hours every two years

The CFP Board's CE policies say CFP professionals must complete 30 CE credit hours each two-year reporting period. CE credit must be earned during the current reporting period, which ends on the last day of your renewal month. You must meet the requirement by the end of your cycle, which is usually the same month as your certification renewal. We did not find any rule that periods end on December 31 of a particular year, so work out your own end date from your CFP Board account.

The ethics programme

Every reporting period, CFP professionals must complete a pre-approved 2-hour CFP Board ethics CE programme, and the Board says exceptions are not made. The two hours sit inside the 30, so the remaining 28 are general CE. An ethics programme that is not approved counts only as general CE.

What counts

Programmes must address the Board's Principal Knowledge Topics and contribute to your competency in providing financial planning. They must be at least 50 minutes long. Eligible activities include college courses, authoring publications and teaching, but credit for teaching and authorship may not exceed 50 percent of the required hours, and college courses may not earn more than 28 credit hours in a period. Repeating the same programme in a period earns no extra credit.

Reporting and audit

Sponsors that are registered with the Board report completions within 14 days, so most CFP professionals do not need to report them. For CE that is not from a registered sponsor, you use the online reporting form, and a $60 non-refundable fee applies to each such programme. The Board audits self-reported registered programmes at random. Audited professionals have seven business days to provide documents, and deficiencies of more than five hours must be fixed within 15 business days of the denial notice.

Fees and late fees

The Board's renewal FAQs say the annual CFP certification fee is $575 from October 1, 2025. If requirements are not processed by the end of the reporting period, a $75 late fee applies. The Board's FAQs also mention a short grace period, typically six days, for last-minute CE submissions, but you should not plan around it.

Expiry and reinstatement

After your certification expires you are shown as not certified and cannot use the CFP marks. Reinstatement carries a non-refundable $100 fee, and you must finish the requirements within 90 days of approval of your intent to reinstate. If less than a year has passed you complete the outstanding CE plus the 2-hour ethics course. After one to five years you also accrue 1.25 CE hours for each month, up to 60 hours, and after five years or more you must pass the current CFP exam. The Board's page words the five-year point two ways, so ask the Board how it applies to you.

The move to 40 hours

In January 2026 the Board announced that the minimum CE requirement will increase to 40 hours every two years. The 2-hour ethics requirement stays separate and mandatory, up to 5 of the 40 hours may be practice management, and CFP professionals may carry over up to 10 excess hours into the next two-year cycle. The change is not retroactive. It applies to the first full two-year cycle that starts after the effective date, so cycles already in progress are unaffected. The effective date was changed from the first quarter of 2027 to the fourth quarter of 2027 as of September 1, 2026.

Waivers

The Board reviews waiver requests for extenuating circumstances case by case. We did not find a formal extension process for certified professionals.

What we could not confirm

The Board's pages disagree in places. The CE policies and FAQs say to keep records for three years, while the requirements page says four. One page still gives the 40-hour start as the first quarter of 2027, though the Board's January 2026 news page, updated in September 2026, says the fourth quarter. The requirements page also says up to 10 hours can roll over for cycles starting from 2027, while the current policy says excess hours may not be applied. The CE policy page itself was last updated in October 2018. Keep records for the longer period, and check your own account for the end date.

Frequently asked questions

How many CE hours does a CFP professional need?

Thirty hours in each two-year reporting period, including a 2-hour CFP Board ethics programme.

When does my CFP CE period end?

On the last day of your certification renewal month, not on a fixed calendar date.

Can I carry over extra CFP CE hours?

Not under the current policy. The Board has announced that up to 10 excess hours can carry over from a future cycle.

What is changing in 2027?

The requirement will rise to 40 hours every two years, with the effective date now the fourth quarter of 2027.

How much does CFP certification cost?

The Board's FAQs say the annual certification fee is $575 as of October 2025, and a $75 late fee applies if requirements are not processed on time.

Finding courses that count

Learnsignal publishes accounting, tax, audit, ethics and finance courses in its CPD and CPE library. Before you pay for any course, check the awarding body's own rules on what it accepts, and keep the certificate and the course details. See also CPE versus CPD and our overview of CPD for accountants.

Source: CFP Board continuing education requirements, CE policies, CE FAQs, report-CE-credits page, renewal policies and FAQs, reinstatement page and the January 2026 Competency Standards announcement (cfp.net), checked October 2026.