Free Continuing Education Classes for Financial Advisors

Obtaining professional certifications or designations can enhance your credibility and help you attract new clients. Roughly one-third of advisors have a Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP®) credential, according to self-reported data maintained by the CFP Board.¹ Maintaining your credentials often requires completing continuing education (CE) credits to ensure that you’re up to date on the latest rules, regulations and practices. If you’re looking for free continuing education for financial advisors, there are several resources available.

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Free Continuing Education for Financial Advisors

Continuing education requirements vary by designation. If you’re exploring CE credits for the first time, you may want to contact the organization that issued your credential to learn the exact number of hours you’ll need, how often you’ll need to earn them, and any specific coursework requirements you must complete (such as credits in ethics).

With that in mind, here are some of the options you may use to complete your CE requirements at no cost.

1. Vanguard

Vanguard offers free continuing education for financial advisors through its partner, Quest CE. ² Advisors can create a free account with Vanguard, then navigate to the Quest portal to view courses available for their designation and state. Courses may be offered live or on-demand, and some qualify for dual credit, which means they can be applied toward CE requirements for multiple designations.

Each course has a final exam you must pass to earn CE credits. Coursework spans the range of core financial planning topics, including life and health insurance, long-term care, advisor ethics and annuities.

2. My CPE

My CPE offers access to more than 15,000 hours of CE courses for a yearly fee, but it’s possible to find continuing education for financial advisors here for free. ³ Some of the free courses offered as of January 2026 include:

• 2026 Tax-Efficient Retirement Strategies for Market Shifts
• Investing in REITs: Strategies for Financial Success
• Education Tax Benefits
• Financial Planning After the BBB: Tax Law Changes You Need to Know

Each course is worth one CE credit hour and offered in an on-demand format, so you can complete them at a pace that fits your schedule. You can view an in-depth description of each course, including which certifications or credentials you can earn CE credit for, and learn more about the instructor before registering.

Should you want or need access to more CE hours, you can sign up for a My CPE subscription. The annual fee is $189, as of January 2026.

3. CFP Board

The CFP Board is the issuing body for CFP marks. ⁴ While the CFP Board does not offer CE credit directly, it does authorize other organizations and institutions to do so. You can use the CFP Board’s search tool to look for continuing education classes, filtering by:

• Topic
• Format
• Level of compatibility
• Credit hours

While you’ll be able to view the basic details of each course at a glance, you’ll need to click links to individual classes to learn whether it’s a free offering or requires a fee.

4. BlackRock

BlackRock enables advisors to earn free CE credits in a watch-and-answer questions format. ⁵ Course offerings listed as of January 2026 include:

• The growing high-net-worth practice
• The growth formula
• Earn tomorrow’s clients
• Transform Social Security into a winning retirement strategy
• Engaging women investors
• Bitcoin & Blockchain fundamentals

Each course is worth one CE credit. Course descriptions include a brief snippet of what you’ll learn, as well as a list of the credentials for which you can earn credit. It’s free to create an account and start earning credits. BlackRock also offers additional non-CE courses to help you expand your advisor knowledge base.

5. Foundation for Financial Planning

The Foundation for Financial Planning offers a free continuing education course for financial advisors who are interested in doing pro bono work. ⁶ The Pro Bono Financial Planning Volunteer Training is a free, one-hour course that guides financial planners through the basics of how to offer pro bono services in their local communities.

You’ll watch the training online, then complete a self-assessment to earn CE credit. The course is worth one CE credit and is approved by the CFP Board.

6. Financial Planning Association

The Financial Planning Association (FPA) Learning Center hosts a library of free and paid continuing education courses for financial advisors. ⁷ Courses are offered live and on-demand; recent and upcoming classes cover:

• Client experience
• Tax planning
• Behavioral finance
• Legal planning strategies for advisors
• Medicare planning

You’ll need to be an FPA member to view the course catalog and register for classes. There are five membership categories, each of which has an annual dues requirement. Certain categories also require you to pay local chapter dues. Once you’ve joined, you can browse CE course listings to look for free webinars and seminars.

7. Orion Advisor Academy

Orion Advisor Academy offers free online practice management CE courses for advisors. ⁸ Example courses include:

• Applied Behavioral Finance
• Communicating With Empathy
• Ethics for CFP Professionals
• Creating Persuasive Client Communications
• Explaining the Economy to Clients in Terms They Understand
• Understanding the Life of the Business Owner

Some courses earn one CE credit hour; others may help you earn up to five. Classes are offered on demand, so you can complete them at your convenience. It’s free to register with Orion Advisory Academy, and you don’t need to use Orion’s services to take advantage of CE course offerings.

8. Capital Group

Capital Group offers a CE credit center with multiple courses and webinars advisors can complete for continuing education requirements. ⁹ Credits are designed for advisors who have CFP marks or a designation from the Investments & Wealth Institute (IW), such as a CIMA or CPWA designation.

Courses may help you earn up to eight CE credit hours, while webinars are typically worth one credit hour. Example courses include a client acquisition masterclass, a guide to digital marketing analysis, and an in-depth look at how to plan and host Social Security education events.

Capital Group also sponsors small-group workshops, as well as CE credits for Investment Advisor Representatives (IARs). To earn credit for webinars, you’ll view the training and complete a credit request form. Courses require you to pass a quiz at the end.

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Bottom Line

Completing continuing education requirements is non-negotiable for maintaining your credentials, but you don’t necessarily have to pay for it. When exploring free continuing education for financial advisors, consider how many credit hours you can earn, the format the course is offered in, and who offers it. The most important thing is to ensure that any CE credits you earn, whether paid or free, are authorized by your designation’s issuing body.

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