The CFP® exam has a pass rate of around 65%, making it as challenging as the bar exam. (Read: This isn’t a test to take lightly.)
To join the prestigious ranks of certified financial planners, you’ll need more than ambition—you’ll need the right tools and preparation.
The Kaplan company is known for being an education and testing juggernaut, so it’s probably no surprise that they also offer a CFP® exam prep review course catalog. However, any exam prep course is an investment, and the pricing reflects that. That’s why it’s so important to choose a course that balances quality and value.
Is Kaplan CFP® right for you? Let’s find out.
Key Takeaways
- Two Package Options: The Premium package for a full learning experience at $1,399 and the Essential package for independent learners at $599.
- PassProtection™ guarantee: If you don’t pass the CFP® exam, you can retake the course for free with minimal requirements.
- Excellent Premium Features: The premium package includes live online classes, on-demand videos, a mock exam, and access to CFP® podcasts and topic summaries.
- Study Materials: These consist of ebooks, a pre-study assessment, a bank of 2,500+ practice questions, and performance trackers.
- Incomparable Value: Though it lacks a middle-tier option, Kaplan is priced competitively, especially compared to competitors like Dalton and Zahn.
Kaplan CFP® Review Course: Options and Information
Kaplan offers two CFP® exam prep packages:
Kaplan Premium Review Package ($1,399):
Naturally, the Premium package is loaded with additional resources to help you pass the CFP® exam, including live classes held in a virtual classroom, on-demand video lectures, CFP® exam podcasts, summaries of common test topics, and a mock exam.
Kaplan’s use of three formats—audio, video, and reading materials—caters to all learning styles. This approach increases the likelihood of success for diverse types of learners, which I am a massive fan of.
The Premium review package also includes PassProtection™, which serves as a pass guarantee. This is pretty common in the exam prep space, but often, these guarantees are convoluted and require students to take a lot of specific and time-sensitive steps to be eligible. However, the only requirement Kaplan has is that you submit your score to them within 30 days of receiving it. Easy peasy!
Kaplan Essential Review Package ($599):
Whereas Kaplan’s Premium review package comes with a lot of bells and whistles, not everyone needs video content and live classes to succeed. Kaplan’s Essential package is for the independent learner who just needs some study materials and they’re off to the races.
And, if you don’t struggle with test-taking, the guarantee won’t be as important for you.
Everything included in the Essential package is also included in the Premium package, and those features include a pre-study assessment, study tools like ebooks, and a library of practice questions. Kaplan’s learning platform includes an activity feed, performance trackers, and email access to CFP® instructors via InstructorLink™.
Kaplan CFP® Discount
Kaplan CFP® Standard Features
To begin, let’s discuss the standard features you’ll get in both packages. Later, we’ll discuss features exclusive to the Premium review package, so you can decide which of the two choices is right for you.
CFP® Prep Study Tools
- Pre-Study Assessment: One of Kaplan’s features that I love is their Pre-Study Assessment. Often, you’ll dig into a CFP® exam prep course and you’ll dig in immediately, without any guidance for which topics you should focus on (and which are a waste of your time). The Kaplan Company saves you those precious study hours with this assessment, which helps students identify the strengths and weaknesses in their general financial planning principles.
- CFP® Exam Prep Ebooks: Kaplan offers a set of seven ebooks to help students prepare for the CFP® exam. These books not only help you prep for your exam, but serve as a rigorous education program that teaches you everything you’ll need to know for your future career in financial planning. And, while seven books sounds like a lot, they’re relatively short. The books include practice questions modeled after the questions you’ll find in the real exam. One successful exam-taker said,
“I did enjoy the review books as well. They were condensed down nicely for easy review without all the fluff.” - Bank of Practice Questions: So much of CFP® exam prep is just doing practice questions until your fingers start to cramp. When it comes to practicing and refining your financial planning prowess, Kaplan CFP® has you covered. The bank features over 2,500 questions. You can go through them randomly, but for even better use of your study time, you can filter questions by topic and even create custom quizzes.
Kaplan Company Learning Platform
- Activity Feed: Your learning dashboard has an activity feed that tracks your progress and offers personalized suggestions for what to work on completing each week. This adjusts automatically to your progress, and even your schedule, where you can mark days off. This feed is such a huge boost for keeping students on track in their courses, giving them the best chance of becoming a certified financial planner come exam day.
- Performance Tracker: Working in tandem with your activity feed, your performance tracker shows you how you’re progressing through the program. It monitors your performance, strengths, and weaknesses, and adjusts to help you identify what to focus on in your financial planning education. This tool can help save you so much time by taking the guesswork out of the next steps you should take in your CFP® prep courses.
- Instructor Email Access: Stuck on a question or struggling with a certain topic? The Kaplan Company offers candidates a team of expert faculty from their College for Financial Planning®. With decades of professional experience, you can get all of your burning CFP® exam questions answered from a certified financial planner who’s successfully passed the exam.
Kaplan CFP® Premium Features
CFP® candidates can get a great deal for independent learners with the Essentials package. However, for candidates who need a little more 1-on-1 support, the Premium review package has a lot of exclusive features worth considering.
CFP® Prep Study Tools
- Video Library: The Kaplan Company includes a video library for Premium students who want to go deeper into their CFP® prep content. In particular, students seem to appreciate their High 5 videos, which are quick guides to financial planning concepts that appear on the CFP® exam. An instructor walks you through the topic, as well as strategies for approaching that topic specifically within the CFP exam. Videos even cover topics like test-taking skills and stress management.
- CFP® Exam Podcasts: If you frequently find yourself doing chores in the background, check out Kaplan’s CFP® exam podcasts. One student who passed multiple exams with Kaplan swears by the videos and podcasts for CFP® prep:
“Spent all of Wednesday listening to the high 5 videos as a run-through of the need-to-know topics and shut down everything yesterday around 3pm. I actually didn’t do the Kaplan mock exam, spent more time just reading and listening to those podcasts/high 5 videos.” - Financial Planning Topic Summaries: If you’re a reader, these summaries are a gold mine to quickly understand complex financial planning topics. Specifically, these PDFs are created for each topic covered in the review course. Not only do they help you understand the topic, but they also focus on the aspects of that topic that candidates can expect to see on the CFP® exam.
- Mock Exam: The mock exam is designed to operate exactly like the CFP® exam, so you can practice your skills and evaluate your financial planning knowledge in an environment that simulates the real thing. Like the exam, you’ll participate in two three-hour sessions. After the exam, you’ll be able to review your answers. Not only will you see where you answered correctly and incorrectly, but the exam will give you question rationales to help deepen your understanding of the topics.
Live Classes and the Kaplan CFP® Guarantee
- Review Course Classes: One of the most notable premium features is the Kaplan CFP® Review Course classes. If you benefit from a more traditional approach to education, the Kaplan Company offers live in-person instruction, live online CFP classes, and of course, on-demand course options. Live online classes occur over the course of eleven, three-hour long sessions where you can interact with your instructor and ask questions. Meanwhile, you can experience live in person instruction in four-day sprints onsite at Kaplan’s College for Financial Planning® in locations like Chicago, IL, Denver, CO, and Dallas, TX. Finally, you can view the Kaplan CFP on-demand CFP prep course video library in your own time and at your own pace whenever you’d like.
- PassProtection™ for the CFP® Exam: Imagine going through the CFP® prep course you dropped hundreds–and possibly thousands–of dollars on. You’ve paid the CFP Board $825-$1,025 just to take the exam. You come out on the other end, 6 hours later, and you got a big, fat F. It’s grueling, devastating, and confidence-destroying. With PassProtection™, the Kaplan Company promises that you can retake your CFP® prep course without having to pay them again. No minimum quiz scores, no “do this, not that, and get it done in 2 days.” Just send them your score and you can re-start your access period.
Pros
- The College for Financial Planning®—a Kaplan Company: Kaplan is an education giant, and they offer an education program for the aspiring certified financial planner in addition to their online CFP® exam prep review courses. This is done through the College for Financial Planning®, which was actually the original creator of the Certified Financial Planner designation. And, with over 300 to choose from, 1/3 of students turn to the College for Financial Planning® education program to help fulfill their financial planning education requirement. All of this is to say, Kaplan CFP® is built on the best possible foundation to help aspiring CFP® candidates succeed.
- CFP® Exam PassProtection™: I’ve reviewed many a review course, and nearly all of them have some sort of guarantee that you’ll pass your exam on your first try, and if you don’t, you can get extended access for the course or program you were taking to prepare. However, many of these promises can get a little predatory, with loopholes and unforgiving time limits that punish, rather than prioritize, candidates–who are also their customers. However, Kaplan’s College for Financial Planning® has one of the simplest, easiest, most forgiving guarantees I’ve seen in this space.
- Unique Class Formats: Whether you prefer live instruction, an in person course with direct access to your instructor, or an on-demand review course that you can complete the education program in your own time, Kaplan CFP® has an option that will work for you. Personally, I’m passionate about education, and I’m passionate about empowering students to succeed by tailoring their education to their unique learning style. Not everyone enjoys and learns well in live classes. For some, a bad instructor can ruin everything, and they’d rather learn on their own. For others, a comprehensive program is a waste of time, because they only need an on-demand class or two and plenty of time to teach themselves. Kaplan and the College for Financial Planning® understand this, and that’s why so many options are available for their students.
- Financial Planning Education That Works: I go through the course materials myself in my research for these articles, but I also look to forums to see what the rest of the world thinks. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a review like, “I swear by Kaplan; I passed the first time.” We already talked about the history of Kaplan and the College for Financial Planning®, so it’s really no surprise that Kaplan CFP® customers are as successful as they are. When you have such an effective, time-tested program, an impressive instructor faculty, and you’re the organization that came up with the certified financial planner in the first place? A fantastic education is the only obvious result. Here’s a great summary from a candidate who became a certified financial planner thanks to Kaplan CFP®:
“I really enjoyed using Kaplan for my review with them. I did not do the live lectures, and instead opted for the pre-recorded. I feel like their material is a good mix of objective questions and subjective application. I would recommend them.”
Cons
- No Money-Back: While I truly do love and appreciate how the College for Financial Planning® approached their guarantee to pass, I also think it’s important to recognize that if you fail the exam, you’re not able to get any reimbursement for the cost of the exam. I’m nitpicking a bit, but I love when companies put their money where their mouth is. Maybe this is something the College for Financial Planning® would consider incorporating in the future.
- No Middle Tier: Frequently, exam review education program packages will include three tiers, so those of us who are more in the middle have an option as well. And again, this isn’t a big criticism, but it may be a feature that turns some candidates away.
Kaplan CFP® vs Competitors
Kaplan vs Dalton
Dalton’s program tends to be a little more hands-on than Kaplan’s College for Financial Planning®. Dalton offers individual coaching as well as supplemental lectures and Q&A sessions. Both offer a live class option for a more traditional education experience; however, it’s important to keep in mind that airfare and travel aren’t included in the pricing for either (nor any in the comparisons below).
However, Kaplan offers a much more affordable education in their premium package, at a nearly $900 discount. In my opinion, Kaplan has more value than Dalton compared to the price, but it depends on what you need.
Kaplan vs Zahn
Zahn also offers a live review class, as well as scholarships for said class, which I thought was a nice touch. However, the live class alone with pre- and post-study materials costs $1,195, and, although a discount from Kaplan’s $1,399, doesn’t include nearly as many resources.
Again, I just think that Kaplan and the College for Financial Planning® have a better overall value when you compare the resources and education you’re getting for the price.
Kaplan vs Brett Danko
If Brett Danko just sounds like a person to you, well, he is. He’s a certified financial planner with a small team who has grown a loyal following over the years, particularly for his CFP® live review class. Though his lowest tier for the live class is $1,395, which is comparable to Kaplan, the higher tiers range from $2,195 to $2,895.
Brett’s testimonials suggest to me that his course is best for poor test-takers, and he has a lot of tips and tricks that have helped students who previously failed the exam finally succeed. However, if you’re a good or even decent test taker, the price seems like overkill and doesn’t include half of what Kaplan’s College for Financial Planning® does.
Final Verdict
Kaplan’s College for Financial Planning® has everything going for it. The price is right, the quality is outstanding, and the success rate seems to be strong.
And historically? They’re the best. Heck, they literally created the certified financial planner.
Kaplan appeals to every kind of learner with its packages and content, which I am a massive fan of. And, with features like their pass guarantee, mock exams, and concise yet comprehensive materials, I truly believe you can’t go wrong with choosing Kaplan for your CFP® prep.
FAQs
The Essential package includes ebooks, a pre-study assessment, 2,500+ practice questions, and access to instructors via email.
If you fail the CFP® exam, you can retake Kaplan’s course for free by submitting your score within 30 days.
The Premium package adds live classes, on-demand videos, podcasts, topic summaries, and a mock exam to the Essential package.
Yes, Kaplan offers live online classes and in-person review sessions for Premium students.
Many students recommend Kaplan for its comprehensive materials, flexible learning formats, and pass guarantee, making it a strong choice for CFP® exam prep. Save with our exclusive CFP® promo codes or Kaplan discounts.
