CTFA study guide
CTFA · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Certified Trust and Fiduciary Advisor (CTFA) is a professional credential that appears within the American Bankers Association's certifications portfolio, listed alongside other ABA designations such as the CRCM, CFMP, CAFP, CERP, and CISP. It is intended for practitioners who administer trusts and support fiduciary decisions - trust officers, personal trust administrators, wealth management and private banking professionals, and advisors serving estates and fiduciary accounts. The subject matter to prepare for clusters into four areas: trust administration and fiduciary duties, trust and estate planning, investment management and financial planning, and the taxation and regulatory compliance rules that govern fiduciary accounts. Treat those four areas as a study map, not an official outline: the percentage weights shown on this page are a placeholder split, not published ABA figures. The CTFA study guide has 4 sections and about 1,224 words.
01Trust Administration and Fiduciary Duties
A trustee is bound by the trust instrument and by default fiduciary duties: loyalty, prudence, impartiality, confidentiality, the duty to account, and the duty to administer the trust solely in the beneficiaries' interest. The trustee must follow the terms of the trust, enforce claims, keep trust property separate, and avoid self-dealing unless the instrument expressly authorizes it.
331 words, about 2 min02Trust and Estate Planning
Candidates must understand wills, intestacy, probate, revocable living trusts, testamentary trusts, pour-over wills, durable powers of attorney, healthcare directives, and beneficiary designations. Key transfer-tax tools include the annual exclusion, lifetime gift and estate exemption, marital deduction, portability, GST exemption, ILITs, QTIP and bypass trusts, charitable trusts, special needs trusts, and dynasty trusts.
287 words, about 1 min03Investment Management and Financial Planning
Understand the investment policy statement, asset allocation, risk tolerance, time horizon, liquidity needs, and suitability. Core concepts include diversification, correlation, standard deviation, beta, modern portfolio theory, the efficient frontier, rebalancing, capital market assumptions, and Monte Carlo analysis.
295 words, about 1 min04Taxation and Regulatory Compliance
Trusts and estates file Form 1041 and may deduct distributions, but the deduction is limited to the lesser of distributions or distributable net income (DNI). DNI carries out income character and limits what beneficiaries report on Schedule K-1.
311 words, about 2 min