Amir SohailCPSI Data Shows 14 Percentage Point Jump in Clients with Positive Financial Outlook
Negative Client Outlook at 8%, Lowest Since Winter 2025
WASHINGTON, Aug. 04, 2026 (ZM NEWSWIRE) — The CFP Board today released the results of the Summer 2026 CFP® Professionals Sentiment Indices (CPSI). The CPSI tracks Americans’ and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professionals’ financial outlook, serving as a leading indicator of overall economic conditions. The quarterly survey provides investors, the media and the public with a new set of data to evaluate the strength of the economy through the lens of the trusted advisor-client relationship, leveraging the insights and views of CFP® professionals, who guide and advise millions of Americans at every phase of their financial lives.
CFP® professionals report that their clients are more optimistic about their financial outlook this summer than they were three months ago. Client confidence rebounded from its past spring dip and was slightly higher than this time last year. The improvement in sentiment comes despite heightened national concern about inflation and affordability and greater market volatility driven by the conflict in the Middle East.
Key findings from the Summer 2026 CPSI survey were positive:
- CFP® professionals report that their clients are more optimistic about their financial outlook this summer than they were three months ago and one year ago.
- Half of CFP® professionals (51%) indicate that their clients’ sentiment has held steady over the past year, with similar proportions assessing their clients’ financial outlooks as having improved or worsened over the past 12 months.
- CFP® professionals themselves are also more optimistic, with 61% reporting a positive financial outlook.
- 70% of CFP® professionals report that their client bases have grown over the past year, and a similar share expects further growth over the next 12 months.
CFP® professionals note that their clients’ comments follow four major themes:
- Long-term optimism despite short-term uncertainty
- Market volatility creating anxiety
- Inflation and affordability, including the impact of higher energy costs
- Politics and the media influencing client sentiment
Read the full results and analysis of the Summer 2026 CPSI
METHODOLOGY
Each quarter since Fall 2024, CFP Board’s Research team sends an eight-question survey to 15,000 randomly selected CFP® professionals about the conversations they are having with their clients regarding their financial outlook, along with their own views. The Summer 2026 CPSI results reflect the responses from 423 CFP® professionals collected July 7–19, 2026.
ABOUT CFP BOARD
CFP Board is the professional body for personal financial planners in the U.S. CFP Board consists of two affiliated organizations focused on advancing the financial planning profession for the public’s benefit. CFP Board of Standards sets and upholds standards for financial planning and administers the prestigious CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® certification — widely recognized by the public, advisors and firms as the standard for financial planners — so that the public has access to the benefits of competent and ethical financial planning. CFP® certification is held by more than 109,000 people in the U.S. CFP Board Center for Financial Planning addresses diversity and workforce development challenges and conducts and publishes research that adds to the financial planning profession’s body of knowledge.
CONTACT: Jane Riley Jacobsen, Director of Public Relations, O: 202-379-2305 M: 703-801-5376, Email: media@cfpboard.org
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