ChFC study guide
ChFC · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The ChFC® - Chartered Financial Consultant® - designation is a financial planning credential offered through The American College of Financial Services. It is built for advisors who want applied, case-based planning skill rather than theory alone, and its curriculum spans financial planning process and environment, insurance and risk management, income taxation for individuals and businesses, retirement planning, investments, and estate and gift planning, plus special needs planning, gift and inheritance planning, business succession, divorce and behavioral finance. The ChFC study guide has 8 sections and about 2,591 words.
01HS 300 Financial Planning: Process and Environment
CFP Board-style questions are built on a fixed sequence: (1) understand the client's personal and financial circumstances; (2) identify and select goals; (3) analyze the current course of action and potential alternatives; (4) develop the recommendations; (5) present the recommendations; (6) implement; (7) monitor and update. Steps are iterative, but ordering questions expect data gathering before goal identification and analysis before recommendation.
330 words, about 2 min02HS 311 Fundamentals of Insurance Planning
Distinguish pure risk (loss or no loss) from speculative risk. The five techniques are avoidance, reduction, transfer, retention, and sharing.
321 words, about 2 min03HS 321 Fundamentals of Income Taxation
Follow the return from gross income to tax: gross income, less above-the-line adjustments, equals adjusted gross income; less the standard or itemized deduction and the qualified business income deduction, equals taxable income; tax is computed at ordinary or preferential rates, then credits reduce the liability dollar for dollar. Basis starts with cost, is adjusted for improvements and depreciation, and carries over on a gift but is stepped up (or down) at death.
325 words, about 2 min04HS 326 Planning for Retirement Needs
Build the income floor first: Social Security, pension income, and annuitized assets. Know how the primary insurance amount relates to full retirement age, the reduction for claiming at 62, the delayed retirement credits up to age 70, and spousal and survivor benefits.
312 words, about 2 min05HS 328 Investments
Total return combines income and price change. Standard deviation measures total risk; beta measures only systematic risk.
324 words, about 2 min06HS 330 Fundamentals of Estate Planning
Start with how property passes: wills and intestacy (probate), beneficiary designations and transfer-on-death accounts, joint tenancy with right of survivorship, and trusts (nonprobate). Intestacy statutes control when no valid will exists, and the result rarely matches client intent.
324 words, about 2 min07HS 333 Personal Financial Planning: Comprehensive Case Analysis
Case questions reward synthesis, not isolated recall. Work the same seven-step process across a full fact pattern: gather and organize data, identify strengths and weaknesses, quantify the gaps, prioritize, recommend, and state how you would monitor the plan.
323 words, about 2 min08HS 347 Contemporary Applications in Financial Planning
Clients are not rational optimizers. Expect loss aversion, overconfidence, anchoring, recency bias, mental accounting, confirmation bias, and herd behavior.
332 words, about 2 min