Best Practices

CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals are individuals who have met CFP Board's education, examination and experience requirements, are committed to high standards of ethical conduct and who complete CFP Board's continuing education requirements to use the certification marks CFP®, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™.

Total interest paid by the US Goverment on debt held by the public was $1 billion every 46 hours and 21 minutes in 2009. Total public debt reached $7.54 trillion in 2009. Public debt is defined as all federal debt held by individuals, corporations, state or local governments, foreign governments, and other entities outside the US Government. (Source: Congressional Budget Office)

40% of US banks failed during the 5-years from 1929-1933. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, guaranteeing an individual's account up to a maximum threshold of $2,500 initially, was signed into law on 6-6-33 and became effective on 1-01-34, sadly too late for thousands of US savers. The maximum deposit insurance level was raised to $250,000 in May 2009 (Source: FDIC)

In the 1930s, the average length of a home mortgage taken out by an American homebuyer was only 3-5 years (source: Financial Times)

The deduction Americans receive for the home mortgage interest expense they pay reduces the tax receipts taken in by the Internal Revenue Service by $127 billion a year. Citizens of Britain had a deduction for home mortgage interest expense paid until 1999 when the deduction was eliminated from their tax code. (source: Internal Revenue Service)

Small businesses pay on average 18% more per worker than large firms for the same level of health insurance coverage. (Source: Small Business Owners Association)

The bottom 50% of US taxpayers pay 3% of all federal income tax (source: IRS, Tax Foundation)