Any financial professional worth the title has to keep up with the latest changes in in꧙dustry rules and regulations and the latest enhancements in products and🅰 planning techniques used in the field. However, they have another incentive: Continuing education coursework is required for licensed or credentialed financial professionals.

Below are the continuing education (CE) requirements for financial professionals. They include the regulatory element, the firm ele🐠ment, state-approved education for insurance professionals, and continuing edu♌cation for professional designations.

As you'll see, there are ways to streamline the process so that you won't find yourself buried under a pile of rules and regulations when your continuing education deadline rolls around.

But first, consider who needs which coursework.

CE Requirements

Each license or designation co🐭mes with its own continuing education requirement.

For example, a 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:stockbroker who is also a 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:certified financial planner® (CFP®) mus💜t fulfill a number of CE requirements, inc𝓡luding:

• A FINRA-approved regulatory element for the Series 6 or Series 7 license
• A FINRA-approved firm element for the Series 6 or 7 license
• State-approved CE for all insurance licenses, such as life and health
• CFP® board-approved CE coursework for the CFP® designation
• 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Certified Asset Protection Analyst (CAPA)

The Regulatory Element

The FINRA-approved regulatory elemenꦬt is divided into subsections for three groups of professionals:

1. Series 6 licensees
2. Series 7 licensees
3. Those who supervise securities licensees.

All licensees have 120 days to comp𓃲lete this portion of their continuing education requirements after they have been licensed for two years. The requirements will then come due every three years for as long as the licensee maintains FINRA registration.

The regulatory element covers essential rules and regulations, compliance, sales, and communication issues, as well as supervisory topics for registered principals.

The Firm Element

Firm element CE applies to a financial professional considered by FINRA to be a covered person. That includes anyon♓e involved in the sales or trading of securities in virtually any capacity.

Firm element training is created either by the company or obtained from outside sources and is implemented at the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:broker-dealer level yearly.

The course focuses on chꦆanges within the industry from one year to the next. It tends to be most relevant for financial planners because it covers practical topics such as new product training and the latest strat🤪egies that may generate new business for planners.

State-Approvಞed Education for Insurance Licensees

There are no uniform federal requirements for insurance continuing education. Each state has its own CE program that agents and brokers must satisfy to maintain licenses to practice in the state. While most states require license renewals every two years, some stateꦡs require renewals every three or four years.

Each state also sets the minimum number of CE hours that license🃏es must periodically meet. The norm is 24 hours every two years, although some states require as little as 10 hours or as much as 60 hours.

It is the licensee's responsibility to know the CE requirements in the state or states where they intend to practice the insurance business. In addition to core courses, licensees may also need to complete general ethics courses.

Cไontinuing Education for Professional Des🧜ignations

Financial planners who have earned professional credentials such as the CFP®, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:chartered life underwriter (CLU), or 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:chartered financial consultant (ChFC) desi꧂gnations will have additional continuing education requirements that go beyond what is needed to maintain their licensure.

For example, certified financial planner® practitioners must complete at least 30 hours of continuing education every two years. Two hours of this coursework must be in ethics training, while the remaining 28 hours can be derived from any financial educational topic or coursework that has been approved by the CFP® Board of Standards.

All other professional designations, in addition to those listed above, have separate continuing education requirements as well. Some examples include the CPA, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:enrolled agent (EA), Life Underwriter Training Council Fel💎low (LUTCF), and registered health underwriter (RHU).

Complete the Courses Online

Continuing eꦓducation requirements are much easier to complete than they were in the pre-internet days. There are a number of excellent providers of approved CE materials online, including and .

These sites allow you to select and pay fo🍨r a relevant course and complete the final exam online. Some sites even report the results directly to the requi𒐪red states or designation boards.

Getting Credits Across Multiple Designations

It is important to know that many hours of coursework can be credited toward more than one license or desi🐼gnation.

For example, a great deal of the ♔coursework approved by the CFP® Board of Standards for continuing education also counts꧃ toward fulfilling insurance or securities CE requirements. These hours may also count for other designations, such as the CLU or ChFC.

The 🥃same course will probably be credited with a different number of hours by differ♉ent institutions.

For example, consider a CFP® practitioner with a life insurance license, who takes a course on life insurance from an online provider. The licensee may discover that their state of residence grants a particular course six hours of CE credit, while the CFP® Board of Standards considers the course to be worth only four and a half hours of credit toward fulfilling 🐈its CE requirements.

🃏 To maxim🎐ize the efficiency of your coursework, find out in advance how many hours of credit each institution will allow for a given course.

Maintaining Qualifications Program (MQP)

FINRA launched the Maintaining Qualifications Program (MQP) in 2022 through Rule 1240(c), Supplementary Material .01 and .02. This rule established a program for eligi💮ble individuals who terminate their professional registrations to maintain their qualifications so long as they complete annual CE.

To be eligible f𝓡or MQP, you must meet the following requirements:

1. have been registered in the terminated registration category for at least one year immediately prior to the termination of that category;
2. elect to participate within two years from the date of termination of the eligible registrations; and
3. complete all  requirements by their due dates.

You can enroll for MQP through the Financial Professional Gateway (FinPro), the online resources hosted by FINRA that gives financial professionals direct access to tools to maintain their registrations.

The Bottom Line

Financial professionals must complete continuing education periodically to maintain an active registration and continue providing financial services. To maintain your registration, it's important to know what courses you need and where to complete your education. Course requirements vary by state and license, and having multiple designations may require you to complete numerous courses.