FPA Launches Groundbreaking Competency Model to Shape the Future of Financial Planning

A new learning framework for the behavioral and interpersonal skills needed for financial planning excellence.

DENVER (June 11, 2025) – As the Financial Planning Association® (FPA®), the leading membership organization and trade association for CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professionals, celebrates its 25th anniversary of supporting planners and advancing the profession, the organization is proudly launching the FPA® Competency Model™—a bold new framework that defines the behavioral skills that drive success in financial planning and offers a structured path to lifelong professional development.

Developed through years of collaboration between FPA, academic leaders, practitioners, and subject matter experts, the FPA Competency Model is a unique behavior-based model that goes beyond technical knowledge to focus on the skills that truly set financial planners apart—how they communicate, think, lead, and show up for their clients and teams.

“The FPA Competency Model is about clarity, intention, and giving financial planners the tools to lead with purpose,” said 2025 FPA President Paul Brahim, CFP®, CEPA®. “We’re not just introducing a framework, we’re elevating the behavioral competencies that shape how planners build relationships, inspire teams, and advocate for the profession.”

Six Core Behavioral Domains

Designed for financial planning professionals of all backgrounds and career stages, the FPA Competency Model is built around six key domains that are essential for modern financial planners:

  1. Interpersonal Impact: Cultivating effective relationships through empathy and collaboration
  2. Client Communication and Care: Building client understanding, trust, and experience
  3. Critical Thinking: Monitoring, adapting, and commanding one’s thinking to solve problems
  4. Leadership: Influencing positive change for clients, the profession, and society
  5. Professionalism: Promoting integrity and accountability
  6. Advancing the Profession: Supporting the reach, capability, and impact of financial planning

Each domain includes specific, observable behaviors—not abstract ideals—and is further built out across three levels of proficiency: foundational, intermediate, and advanced. This tiered structure enables planners to identify where they are today and map their development over time and experience.

“Whether you’re a student, a new planner, or a seasoned firm owner, this model helps you assess your strengths, uncover growth opportunities, and pursue the skills that matter most to your clients and your career,” said Dennis J. Moore, MBA, CFP®, FPA chief operating officer and interim CEO.

The FPA Competency Model is accompanied by an evolving suite of tools and resources to support adoption, including:

  • A centralized digital hub with detailed breakdowns of each competency
  • Self-guided assessments to help planners evaluate where they stand in each domain
  • Curated educational content mapped directly to the model and tailored to the individual planner’s identified learning journey—from live and on-demand webinars to national conferences and events to the award-winning Journal of Financial Planning
  • The model also establishes a shared language for firms, employers, educators, and mentors to support the holistic development of financial planners throughout their careers.

FPA would like to acknowledge and thank those who volunteered their time and talents as part of the task force charged with conceptualizing and designing the FPA Competency Model. Their efforts have laid an important foundation for the future of learning at FPA and in the profession. They are:

  • Hannah Moore, CFP® (chair): Guiding Wealth in Richardson, Texas
  • Stephen Brody, Ph.D., CFP®, ChFC®: MML Investors Services in Greenville, North Carolina
  • Dan Heibert, Ph.D., CFP®: Minnesota State University—Mankato in Mankato, Minnesota
  • Kimberly Bridges, Ph.D., CFP®, CPWA®, CDFA®: BOK Financial in Mesa, Ariz.
  • Jamie Hopkins, JD, CFP®, ChFC®, CLU®, RICP®: Bryn Mawr Capital Mgmt in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
  • JD Bruce, CPA, PFS: Abacus Wealth partners in Santa Monica, California
  • Ajamu Loving, Ph.D., CFP®: University of North Texas at Dallas in Dallas, Texas
  • Swarn Chatterjee, Ph.D.: University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia
  • Nick Nicolette, CFP®: Sterling Financial Group in Sparta, New Jersey
  • Destre Downing (FPA staff lead): Financial Planning Association in Denver, Colorado.

“The members of the task force played a vital role in envisioning how we can continue to elevate the profession,” added Mr. Brahim. “By focusing on the behaviors that define great planning and supporting our members in developing them, we’re lighting the path for the next generation.”

The FPA Competency Model is now available and being updated frequently with additional content and resources at fpalearning.onefpa.org/FPACompetencyModel.

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About the Financial Planning Association
For 25 years, the Financial Planning Association® (FPA®) has been the leading membership organization and trade association for CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professionals and those engaged in the financial planning process. FPA is the CFP® professional’s partner in planning by helping them realize their vision of professional fulfillment through practice support, learning, advocacy, and networking. Learn more about FPA at financialplanningassociation.org.