As the culminating designation for the nonactuary ASPPA member, the Certified Pension Consultant (CPC) credential is intended as an opportunity for a successful candidate to demonstrate an ability to draw from his or her accumulated retirement plan knowledge and experience.
These modules provide opportunities for analyzing and solving consulting problems that might be encountered in real-life client situations. In professional practice, more than one statutory provision or retirement plan consideration often applies and the pension consultant must be able to recognize and evaluate in depth each potential issue for his or her client.
There are four core modules and four elective modules. ASPPA candidates who have completed ASPPA’s QPA examination series must complete 4 core modules and 2 of the 4 elective modules (in addition to the CPC proctored examination) to achieve the CPC credential.
CPC Core Modules:
- Distributions and Loans
- Investments
- Fiduciary Topics
- Related Groups & Business Transactions
CPC Elective Modules:
- ESOPs
- Governmental & Tax-Exempt Plans
- Nonqualified Plans
- Cash Balance
How Do the Modules Work?
Each module is offered online and includes study materials and an online exam. The study materials are available in PDF format and are available to download and/or print. The exam is online and candidates will have one attempt to achieve a score of 70% or better.
Each module exam consists of 20 multiple choice questions. Candidates will receive their grades immediately upon submission of the online exam.
CE Requirements
All credentialed members must acquire 40 hours of continuing education (CE) credits (2 of which must be Ethics) in a two-year cycle and renew their ASPPA Membership annually to retain their credential(s). Learn more about CE here.