The CFP® Foundations study package
Professional conduct, general principles, insurance, and investment planning — the four domains the rest of the CFP® exam is built on, taught through client cases rather than definitions. One full domain is free, no card required.
4
Principal Knowledge domains
190+
Practice questions
~150 hrs
Guided study plan
Everything in the Foundations package
Domain-mapped study notes
Every reading mapped to a CFP Board Principal Knowledge Topic, with the insurance need analysis, time-value work, and suitability rules applied to a client fact pattern rather than defined and left there.
4 domains · 70 readings
Case-anchored question bank
Exam-style items that re-weight toward your weakest domain, each with a full explanation of why the wrong answers are wrong — the misconception, not just the key.
190+ questions
Full-length mock exams
Timed mocks built the way the real exam is — client scenarios spanning several items — so you find out where your pace breaks down before exam day does.
4 mocks · real format
Spaced-repetition flashcards
The definitions, ratios, and regulatory thresholds that have to be automatic, scheduled by an algorithm keyed to your forgetting curve.
Keyed to your gaps
Performance analytics
Readiness by domain, benchmarked against the wider candidate pool, so you can tell a weak topic from a weak day.
Benchmarked vs peers
A worked client case in every domain
Each domain closes on a full client case — the numbers run and the recommendation justified — because that is the shape the exam actually tests.
On every domain
Foundations topic reference
Review this topic reference together with its source and applicable exam cycle.
- Investment Planning33%
- General Principles of Financial Planning29%
- Risk Management & Insurance Planning22%
- Professional Conduct & Regulation16%
CFP Board · Principal Knowledge Topics (2021 Practice Analysis) — domain weights renormalised across this study part
Foundations curriculum
4 domains · ~150 hrs
- Investment Planning33%
- General Principles of Financial Planning29%
- Risk Management & Insurance Planning22%
- Professional Conduct & Regulation16%
Source: CFP Board · Principal Knowledge Topics (2021 Practice Analysis) — domain weights renormalised across this study part
A worked study example
Sizing a life insurance need two ways
The human life value method capitalises the client’s future earnings net of self-consumption and taxes — an economic figure, indifferent to what the family actually plans to spend.1
The needs approach instead totals what the survivors require — final expenses, debt payoff, income replacement, education, legacy — then subtracts existing resources.2 A client earning $150,000 with 20 working years left can carry a human life value near $2.1m while the needs approach returns $1.3m once a paid-off mortgage and $400,000 of existing coverage are netted out.3
- 1
The distinction the exam tests
Human life value ignores the family’s actual budget. Naming that is what separates the two methods on an exam item.
- 2
The full deduction list
Existing coverage, liquid assets, and survivor benefits all net down the need. Candidates lose the mark by forgetting the offset.
- 3
The numbers, run both ways
We work the actual dollar figures so you can reproduce the gap under exam time rather than recall which method is "bigger".
Choose your Foundations plan
Same source-cited content in every tier — pick how far you want the support to go. Move up anytime and pay only the difference.
Foundations questions, answered
About the CFP® charterIs Foundations a separate CFP® exam?
No. The CFP® exam is a single comprehensive test covering all eight Principal Knowledge Topics at once. Foundations and Advanced Planning are our study split, so each domain is built before the exam asks you to combine it in a case. If you are sitting the exam, you need both.
What does Foundations cover?
Four of CFP Board’s eight domains: professional conduct and regulation, general principles of financial planning, risk management and insurance planning, and investment planning — 70 readings across 25 chapters.
Do I need the CFP Board education coursework first?
CFP Board requires the education coursework, a bachelor’s degree, and qualifying experience alongside the exam — the “four E’s”. Our materials prepare you for the Exam; they are not a registered education program and do not satisfy the coursework requirement.
How current are the tax figures?
Contribution limits, brackets, and thresholds carry the tax year they apply to and are re-versioned every year, so you never revise a stale number and then meet the current one on exam day.
Can I upgrade later?
Yes. Move from Practice to Complete or Forever at any time and pay only the price difference — your progress carries over untouched.
Try a topic before you decide.
One full Foundations topic is free — notes, questions, and the tools — so you can judge the material against how you actually study before paying anything.
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