CTFA Study Guide 2026
Everything you need to pass the CTFA exam in one place: the exam format, every topic to study, real practice questions with explanations, flashcards, and full-length practice tests. Free, no sign-up needed.
📋 CTFA Exam Format at a Glance
📚 CTFA Topics to Study (25)
✍️ Sample CTFA Questions & Answers
1. Which fixed-income measure describes the sensitivity of a bond's price to changes in interest rates?
Duration measures the approximate percentage change in a bond's price for a 1% change in interest rates—longer duration means greater interest rate sensitivity.
2. The IRC Section 7520 rate is used in charitable planning primarily to:
The Section 7520 rate (120% of the applicable federal midterm rate, published monthly) is used to calculate the actuarial present value of income and remainder interests in split-interest trusts such as CRTs and CLTs.
3. A trust contains a spendthrift clause. Which of the following creditors can typically still reach the beneficiary's trust interest despite this clause?
Most states create exceptions to spendthrift protection for claims related to child support and alimony, recognizing that public policy favors enforcement of family support obligations.
4. What is dollar-cost averaging and what is its primary behavioral benefit for long-term investors?
Dollar-cost averaging invests fixed amounts on a schedule regardless of price, automatically buying more shares when prices fall and fewer when prices rise.
5. Which statute governs the delegation of trustee investment functions to agents such as investment advisors?
The UPIA expressly permits trustees to delegate investment functions to qualified agents and defines the standard of care trustees must apply when selecting, monitoring, and instructing agents.
6. The 10-year rule under the SECURE Act requires most non-spouse inherited IRA beneficiaries to do which of the following?
The SECURE Act eliminated the stretch IRA for most non-spouse beneficiaries and requires full distribution of the inherited IRA within 10 years of the original owner's death.
🎯 Free CTFA Practice Tests
📖 CTFA Guides & Articles
What Practice Test Geeks adds beyond an AI chat for CTFA
An AI chatbot can quiz you, but it can't reproduce the exam conditions or keep your record. Here you get:
- A timed, full-length CTFA mock exam — 200 questions in 240 minutes with a 72% pass mark, modeled on the official exam's question count and time limit, followed by a score report broken down by exam domain.
- A fixed CTFA question bank: the same test every attempt, so your score is comparable from one try to the next instead of changing with every regenerated quiz.
- Progress saved on your device: completed tests, scores and missed questions stay in My Progress, so you can retake only what you got wrong.
- A printable CTFA cheat sheet you can print or save as a PDF.
- CTFA flashcards built from the same question bank.
- Free CTFA practice tests with the correct answer shown after each question.