Making money isn’t free.

The CFP Board, the largest credentialing body in the financial services industry by advisor headcount, announced last month that it will be increasing its continuing education credit requirements to 40 hours every two years, up from just 30. The nonprofit also raised its annual fee to $575 in order to help fund an advertising campaign in October. The moves struck some experts across the industry as self-serving, particularly among CE credit providers who already have to pay by the hour for the programs they offer.

“CFP Board has extracted as much as $1.875 [million] per year … out of CE providers,” Michael Kitces, publisher of the blog Nerds Eye View, wrote on LinkedIn last week. “Our CE provider costs to CFP Board at Kitces have skyrocketed from $13k/yr to $90k/yr in just 3 years.”

To CE, or Not To CE?

The CFP Board certification isn’t the only way advisors can show potential clients they mean business, but it’s certainly the most common. There are more than 100,000 active CFP professionals as of year-end 2024, over a third of the roughly 300,000 personal financial advisors in the US. Melissa Caro, a CFP and CE provider at My Retirement Network, agreed that the value of CE stems from exposure to many sources of education, rather than just one credentialing body. “When education draws from many voices, advisors are better equipped to deepen their knowledge and refine how they serve clients,” she said.

Others maintained that having a well-known, gold-standard credential prevents bad actors from taking advantage of clients. “Most consumers have a hard time delineating real planners from PINOs, or planners in name only,” said Charles Failla, CEO of Sovereign Financial Group. “I’m not anti-CE, but I am pro putting the resources somewhere else where they may be better to help the cause.”

To Be Continued. And the educational resources are going to need to keep up with demand. According to the CFP Board and a recent McKinsey report:

• Last year, the nonprofit certified 6,709 new CFP professionals, a new record.
• US direct brokerages have trained over 5,000 new advisors in the last five years.

There are more than 1,200 CE sponsor providers in the US, but more providers doesn’t always mean better content, Failla said. “I don’t think there’s a real need for more CE providers, but there is a need for better education.”

Put in a good word for me, will ya?

Mergers and acquisitions in the wealth management space are as hot as ever, but organic growth remains the gold standard. Nearly 55% of referrals are clients telling their friends and family about their advisor, according to a recent Cerulli report. But “circle of influence” referrals from other professionals such as attorneys and accountants are steadily gaining ground. They accounted for 14% of referrals last year, up from 12.5% in 2021, the first year Cerulli tracked the data. As advisors expand into more services such as tax and estate planning, it is becoming growingly important to build strong professional networks.

“Advisors with strong professional relationships with [circles of influence] will be well-positioned to expand their client base as client needs grow more complex and as comprehensive financial planning becomes increasingly common,” said Noah Serianni, a Cerulli research analyst.

How’s Your Short Game?

One of the most effective ways to connect with other professionals is through shared interests like sports, wine or the arts, advisors said in the survey. Business on the golf course may sound cliché, but clichés stick for a reason. “Spending three to five hours together, plus food and drinks after, creates real connection,” said Joon Um, a CFP with Secure Tax & Accounting. “You don’t get that from a quick coffee or Zoom call. It’s not about pitching. Phones are away, no one’s rushed and trust builds naturally.”

But, not every referral partnership starts with formal networking. Some advisors bypass the links and drinks, and simply send clients to professionals they trust. “Some of our best referral partners I barely network with, maybe once a year,” said Dinon Hughes, a CFP with the Nvest Group. “The relationship being built on mutual respect is much more important for us than referring to someone we play golf with.”

Internet, eh? Traditional marketing and online outreach still represents a small slice of new-client acquisition overall, but for some firms, it’s a major growth driver. Daniel Lash, a CFP with VLP Financial Partners, said roughly 40% of his firm’s new business comes from social media and digital marketing across platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. “We have a podcast, and getting Google reviews helps significantly with coming up more in Google and AI searches,” he told Advisor Upside. “A great website that is regularly updated is helpful as well.”

Bitcoin, Solana, Ethereum. These names are familiar, but what do they actually mean as investments, and how should advisors explain them to clients?

Unlike dollars, euros and yen, which are all cash at the end of the day, digital currencies serve very different purposes both in the real world and in portfolios. Some are more speculative, while others function more like technology investments, and understanding those differences is essential for guiding clients in a world that’s being reshaped by decentralized financial systems. “Digital assets are not a one-size-fits-all investment,” said Kevin Feig, CFP and founder of Walk You To Wealth. “Bitcoin has a 21 million supply cap, making it more similar to a collectible from an investment perspective. Ethereum, however, is more like the Android or Apple App Store.”

How Do You Like Your Stake?

Bitcoin is often described as a store of value, but it’s more speculative than safe-haven. Gold, after all, has tangible uses: jewelry, electronics, even spacecraft. Bitcoin’s value is largely belief-driven, said Campbell Harvey, Duke University professor and Research Affiliates partner. “Any asset that has a 70% to 80% annualized volatility — like five times that of the stock market, five times that of gold — is going to be a risky store of value and is hardly a safe haven asset,” he told Advisor Upside. He added that crypto tech is evolving, so the Bitcoin of today may look very different in the future.

Other major cryptocurrencies, like Ethereum and Solana, are better understood as tech platforms. Their customizable blockchains enable fast, low-cost transactions and support decentralized financial systems that banks and businesses are building toward. Examples include:

• Robinhood, Fidelity and PayPal have launched their own dollar-backed stable coins on the Ethereum blockchain.
• The predictions market platform Polymarket is built on a system that coincides with Ethereum.
• Shopify uses Solana Pay to let vendors accept crypto payments in the form of SOL tokens or stablecoins instead of going through a credit card processor.

Ethereum and Solana also allow staking, which Feig compares to traditional bonds or CDs. “You’re pledging your tokens to help the network run efficiently, and in return you get rewards, similar to an interest or dividend payment,” he said.

Where Does This Leave Portfolios? Crypto adoption among advisors hit an all-time high last year: 32% reported allocating to crypto products, up from 22% in 2024, mostly through ETFs, according to a Bitwise report. Harvey emphasized diversification. “Even within the crypto space, you should be diversified: some Bitcoin, some Ether, some Sol, and maybe a few others,” he said.