The Certified Fund Specialist (CFS) designation is now celebrating its 19th year. Over 9,000 members of the financial services community have gone through the program. CFS is fully accredited and is the oldest designation in the mutual fund industry.

Your competitors offer mutual funds as a simple and effective way to invest. Yet, few advisors and brokers really understand how funds interact with other parts of the portfolio or how this investment vehicle should be analyzed. Criteria such as alpha, beta, correlation coefficient, first-auto correlation, R-squared, and standard deviation should be incorporated in the selection process.

The Certified Fund Specialist (CFS) is able to evaluate and compare financial measurements and benchmarks when constructing a portfolio. Modern portfolio theory (MPT) is a key part of the program; its components are broken down and detailed in terms the advisor can easily understand and convey to a client. Armed with MPT and other selection criteria, a suitable and efficient portfolio using closed-end, exchange-traded, and open-end funds can be derived.

Practitioners and academics continually update the CFS materials. Students obtain the best of both worlds—the practical as well as the theoretical. Closed-end funds, ETFs, REITs, and UITs are also covered, thereby providing the student with a more rounded education. With this additional investment knowledge, advisors and brokers offer ideas to clients that they would not receive elsewhere.