Chartered Portfolio Manager (CPM): Key Benefits and How to Earn Your Designation

Chartered portfolio manager is a professional designation offered by the Global Academy of Finance and Management (GAFM), formerly the American Academy of Financial Management. Chartered portfolio managers specialize in portfolio management and carry out investment decisions on behalf of individuals and institutions.

How Chartered Portfolio Managers Operate

A portfolio manager is a person or group of people responsible for investing a mutual, exchange-traded or closed-end fund's assets, implementing its investment strategy and managing day-to-day portfolio trading. Portfolio management can be active or passive. Certification and accreditation are not required to manage a portfolio.

Portfolio manager clients invest money with the portfolio manager to pay for future needs, such as pension fund liabilities or endowment funds for current university needs. On the investment side, portfolio managers work with a team of analysts and researchers and are responsible for establishing an investment strategy, selecting appropriate investments and allocating each investment properly for an investment fund or asset management vehicle.

Overview of the Global Academy of Finance and Management

The GAFM is a worldwide institution that offers candidates certification to improve their knowledge and credentials in financial management. The American Academy of Financial Management was originally founded in 1996 through a merger between the Founders Advisory Committee of the Original Tax and Estate Planning Law Review and the American Academy of Financial Management & Analysts. In January 2015, the academy sold its intellectual property to the Global Academy of Finance & Management.

The GAFM offers multiple professional memberships, certifications, and designations. Members must either have come through one of the GAFM-recognized university programs or through a government-recognized executive educational program, although the board may waive these requirements in some cases. The GAFM board has never directly provided training but has recognized hundreds of approved providers.

The GAFM awards several of its own designations, including chartered asset manager, chartered market analyst, chartered portfolio manager, chartered trust and estate planner, chartered wealth manager and master financial professional.

Requirements and Curriculum for the CPM Designation

The Chartered Portfolio Manager (CPM) program teaches equity valuation techniques, dynamics that drive financial markets, how to construct and manage portfolios, and many other portfolio management topics.

Chartered Portfolio Managers must have at least three years of experience actively managing investment portfolios and a GAFM-approved degree in finance, tax, accounting, financial services, law or a CPA, M.B.A., M.S., Ph.D. or J.D. from an accredited school or organization. After passing a GAFM accreditation course, chartered portfolio managers must take 15 hours per year of approved continuing education.