Three different things
Securities are offered through Cetera Wealth Services, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services are offered through Cetera Investment Advisers LLC, a registered investment adviser. Cetera is under separate ownership from any other named entity. This material is general information and is not individualized investment, tax, or legal advice.
Start by separating three words that appear on the same business card and mean unrelated things.
A registration is regulatory. Giving investment advice for compensation requires registration as an investment adviser or as a representative of one. Effecting securities transactions requires broker-dealer registration. These are recorded publicly and carry disclosure obligations.
A license is also regulatory, issued by a state, and is what permits someone to transact insurance products.
A designation is a private certification. An organization sets coursework, an examination, sometimes an experience requirement and continuing education, and grants the right to use its letters. No regulator approves it. FINRA is explicit on the point: it maintains the designations database as a reference and does not endorse or approve any credential listed in it.
The letters tell you what someone studied. The registration tells you what they are permitted to do, and under which standard.
That distinction is the whole reason the database exists. Consumers were being shown letters that implied regulatory standing nobody had granted.
Designations you will see
Five come up regularly in retirement planning. They are described below as they describe themselves, without ranking, because which one is relevant depends entirely on what you need and because the quality of the work is not a property of the letters.
| Designation | Issuing body | Stated focus | Notes on requirements |
|---|---|---|---|
| CFP® | CFP Board | Broad financial planning across investment, tax, retirement, estate, and insurance | Coursework, a comprehensive proctored examination, an experience requirement in thousands of hours, and an ethics commitment with continuing education |
| ChFC® | The American College of Financial Services | Broad planning with additional depth in insurance and estate topics | Course-based rather than single-exam, with continuing education |
| RICP® | The American College of Financial Services | Retirement income specifically: distribution, claiming, health costs | Positioned as a follow-on credential, with proctored exams, an experience requirement, and continuing education |
| CRPC® | College for Financial Planning | The transition into retirement across the full lifecycle | No enrollment prerequisite; renews on a stated cycle |
| RMA® | Investments & Wealth Institute | Portfolio construction and risk management aimed at funding income | Positioned as advanced, with an experience or prior-designation requirement |
Requirements are set by the issuing bodies and change. Confirm the current ones in FINRA's database or on the issuer's site rather than from any summary, including this one.
Many more exist. FINRA's database lists a large number, and some of them require a weekend and a fee. The ones above are listed because they recur, not because the list is exhaustive or ranked.
What a designation does not tell you
Four things in particular, and each is checkable another way.
- Which legal standard applies to your account. That follows from the service and the registration. Advisory accounts carry a fiduciary duty under the Investment Advisers Act. Brokerage recommendations to retail customers are governed by Regulation Best Interest. Insurance is transacted under state law. A professional holding more than one registration operates under more than one standard depending on which part of the plan is in front of them. An issuing body's ethics code is a separate obligation owed to that body.
- Disciplinary history. Some issuers publish disciplinary records and some do not. Registration records on BrokerCheck and the SEC's adviser database are the consistent source.
- How much of this work they actually do. Coursework completed years ago says nothing about the current practice. The number of households someone is currently taking withdrawals for says a great deal.
- Whether the credential is still active. Certifications lapse, and websites are not always updated promptly.
More letters is not more expertise, and FINRA's own guidance makes that point. A long string after a name can indicate deep specialization or a collection of weekend courses, and the only way to tell is to look each one up.
Verifying any set of letters
Four steps, all free, about ten minutes.
- Look the designation up in FINRA's professional designations database to see the issuing organization, the training required, whether continuing education is mandatory, and whether the issuer accepts and acts on complaints.
- Confirm the individual's current status in the issuing body's own directory. CFP Board maintains one for the CFP certification, and the other established issuers maintain their own.
- Search the person on FINRA BrokerCheck for registration history, examinations passed, states registered, and disclosure events. This is the regulatory record and it is separate from any designation.
- Ask directly which standard applies to each of your accounts and how the firm is paid for each, in writing.
We walk through the registration side of that in more detail, including Form ADV Part 2A, in how to verify a financial advisor's credentials.
What to ask instead
Once the letters check out, they have told you what they can, and the remaining questions are about practice rather than credentials.
How many households are you currently taking withdrawals for, and what does a typical one look like. What is your process when markets fall in my first two years. How do you decide which account a withdrawal comes from, and who do you coordinate that with. Who will I be working with in year five.
Those questions separate practices in a way that a credential list cannot, and we go further into them in finding a CFP® in the Chicago suburbs for a 30-year retirement and choosing a retirement planning firm in the Chicago suburbs.
What this practice holds
For the sake of being specific rather than abstract: Richard Casolari, Financial Advisor, Investment Advisor Representative, CFP®, holds the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certification issued by CFP Board, and has spent roughly fifty years in financial services. The registration record sits on FINRA BrokerCheck under CRD 42779 and can be checked in a minute.
The practice is founder-led and based in Palos Heights. Securities are offered through Cetera Wealth Services, LLC, advisory services through Cetera Investment Advisers LLC, and insurance through licensed affiliates, so the standard that applies depends on which part of the plan is in question. The work coordinates retirement income planning, investment management, tax-aware withdrawal sequencing in coordination with your CPA, and Medicare enrollment timing, into one written plan.
Fees, charges and expenses are detailed in the Cetera Wealth Services LLC's ADV Part 2A. For a comprehensive review of your personal situation, always consult with a tax or legal advisor. Neither Cetera Wealth Services LLC nor any of its representatives may give legal or tax advice.
Securities offered through Cetera Wealth Services, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services offered through Cetera Investment Advisers LLC, a registered investment adviser. Cetera is under separate ownership from any other named entity. Insurance products are offered through licensed affiliates.
This material is for general information only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security or insurance product, or a solicitation in any jurisdiction where the advisor is not properly registered. Designation requirements are set by their issuing organizations and change; the descriptions here reflect publicly stated requirements as of the publication date and are not an endorsement or evaluation of any credential or of any organization that issues one. Third-party databases referenced here are operated independently and their content and availability are outside this firm's control.
