The short version: the CKA® designation from Kingdom Advisors requires an existing professional credential or ten years of experience, a 16-module program, a proctored exam, and three references including one from a pastor. It costs an advisor about $1,250 to earn and $495 a year to keep. But the credential tells you about training and values, not competence or cost — verify anyone on SEC IAPD before you hire them.
Two things to get right here: what the Christian-specific credentials actually mean, and how to check the things a credential does not cover.
What the CKA® actually requires
The Certified Kingdom Advisor is the designation people mean when they say “Christian financial advisor.” It is a registered designation of Kingdom Advisors, not a government credential.
The prerequisite is broader than commonly reported. An applicant must either hold one of CFP®, ChFC®, CPA, CPA/PFS, EA, CFA, CIMA®, AAMS, CLU®, FIC, RICP®, CLTC®, or JD — or have ten years of experience in the discipline. So a CKA is not necessarily a CFP, and the ten-year path means some CKAs hold no other credential at all. Ask which route yours took.
Step one: a 16-module educational program of 95 video lessons taught by Ron Blue and faculty, at roughly three to four hours per module, with a six-month completion window and a 70% required average. Each candidate is assigned an instructional mentor who grades a case study. It is delivered with the Ron Blue Institute and administered through Indiana Wesleyan University, and earns up to 28 hours of CFP® continuing education.
Step two: a proctored online exam of 100 multiple-choice questions plus a case study, 70% to pass, taken within 90 days of registering. Kingdom Advisors’ own pages contradict each other on the exam length — one says up to five hours, another says three — so do not treat either as definitive.
Step three: an application requiring three references: one pastoral and two client, all non-family, all of whom have known the applicant at least two years. The Certification Review Board responds in four to six weeks.
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Educational program | $999 |
| Membership and program bundle | $1,359 |
| Exam | $199 |
| Application | $50 |
| Annual dues once designated | $495/year |
| Renewing the designation itself | No fee |
Maintenance requires 10 hours of Kingdom Advisors continuing education annually with no carryover — conveniently, attending their annual Redeeming Money conference covers all ten at once.
One correction worth making, because it circulates widely: there is no signed statement of faith requirement. What Kingdom Advisors requires is agreement to uphold its Code of Ethics, a commitment to biblical stewardship, and the pastoral reference. That is meaningful, but it is not a doctrinal subscription.
And nobody publishes how many CKAs exist. Kingdom Advisors says only “thousands of advisors.” Treat any specific number you see as invented. Their directory now lives at faithfi.com/find.
Some context on why this market exists: Kingdom Advisors’ own research puts $22.4 trillion of investable wealth in the hands of US Christian church members, and found that 50% of religiously affiliated high-net-worth investors consider it very important that their advisor shares their religious values.
The CFP® and the credential that matters most
If I could check only one credential, it would be this one, because it covers technical competence in a way the CKA does not attempt to.
There were 109,482 CFP® professionals as of July 2026. The requirements:
- Education: coursework through a registered program plus a bachelor’s degree in any discipline. Coursework typically takes 12 to 18 months.
- Exam: 170 multiple-choice questions across two three-hour sessions, offered three times a year. The March 2026 pass rate was 67% — 4,391 registered, 2,927 passed.
- Experience: 6,000 hours by the standard pathway, or 4,000 under direct supervision by the apprenticeship pathway.
- Ethics: a signed declaration, a background check, and a commitment to CFP Board to act as a fiduciary under standards effective since October 2019.
Continuing education runs 30 hours every two years, including 2 hours of ethics, with no carryover.
The other Christian credential you may encounter is the CFCA® from the National Association of Christian Financial Consultants. Note the letters — it is frequently miswritten.
Verify before you hire
This takes ten minutes and almost nobody does it.
Look up the firm on SEC IAPD at adviserinfo.sec.gov, and any individual broker on FINRA BrokerCheck. Both are free and both show disciplinary history.
Then read the Form ADV. It comes in parts, and knowing which is which saves time:
- Part 1A — regulatory data: ownership, assets, client counts, affiliations, discipline. Item 11 is the disciplinary section; Item 9 is custody. Most articles get these two backwards.
- Part 2A — the brochure, in plain English: services, fees, and conflicts of interest. This is the document to actually read.
- Part 2B — the supplement covering the specific individuals who will advise you.
- Part 3 (Form CRS) — a two-page relationship summary. Start here if you read nothing else.
One structural fact that tells you something about a firm’s size: an adviser may register with the SEC at $100 million in assets, must register at $110 million, and need not withdraw until dropping below $90 million. A state-registered adviser is therefore generally smaller than $100 million, which is not a problem — it is simply information.
Three questions to ask directly, and get the answers in writing: Are you a fiduciary at all times, or only when giving certain advice? How exactly are you paid, including anything you receive from third parties? And what happens to my accounts if you retire or sell the practice?
What fees actually look like
The best published survey I could verify gives these averages for assets-under-management fees:
| Portfolio | Average fee | Annual cost |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | 1.18% | $590 |
| $250,000 | 1.07% | $2,675 |
| $500,000 | 1.05% | $5,250 |
| $1,000,000 | 1.02% | $10,200 |
| $2,000,000 | 0.91% | $18,200 |
| $5,000,000 | 0.84% | $42,000 |
So the familiar “1% rule” holds around $500,000 to $1 million and breaks down above roughly $1.5 million, where you should be negotiating. Note that this survey is a few years old — treat it as a benchmark rather than a current quote.
Other models: hourly at $120 to $300, where a limited-scope engagement of six to ten hours runs $1,800 to $3,000; annual retainers of $6,000 to $11,000; and flat fees from $7,500 for smaller portfolios. If your situation is simple and your portfolio large, hourly or flat-fee advice is dramatically cheaper than a percentage.
Fee-only has a specific meaning: NAPFA members accept no commissions and are paid directly by clients. Fee-based permits commissions alongside fees. The two words look alike and describe different businesses, and the similarity is not accidental.
Layer these on top of fund costs. Paying 1% for advice on top of 1.2% for actively managed faith-based funds means 2.2% a year, which our guide to Christian investment calculators shows compounding into a very large number over thirty years.
The fiduciary rule that died
Anyone researching this in 2026 will find articles about a Department of Labor fiduciary rule. It is gone, and the sequence matters.
The 2024 Retirement Security Rule would have replaced the 1975 five-part test for who counts as an investment advice fiduciary. Two district courts stayed it in July 2024. In November 2025 the Fifth Circuit dismissed the consolidated appeal on the Department’s own motion — the government stopped defending its rule. Final judgments followed in March 2026, and on 20 March 2026 the Department published a notice of court vacatur, effective that April.
So: the 2024 rule never took effect, and the 1975 five-part test governs. The related exemption for conflicted advice remains fully operative, but the Department has stated its entire preamble is effectively vacated — meaning the old guidance on rollover advice can no longer be relied on. If an advisor recommends rolling your 401(k) into an IRA he will manage for a fee, that recommendation carries less regulatory protection than articles from 2024 suggest. Ask him to explain in writing why the rollover beats leaving the money in the plan.
Named firms, with real numbers
For scale, from current filings and company disclosures:
- Blue Trust — about $62 billion under advisement, 11,000+ clients, 18 offices, founded 1979 by Ron Blue. A correction that matters: it is not a Thrivent company. That relationship began in 2017 and ended around mid-2022; its affiliates today are the Movement group.
- GuideStone — founded 1918, 250,000 members, 24,000+ churches and ministries; GuideStone Funds held $22.6 billion at 31 March 2026.
- Thrivent — a fraternal benefit society with over $212 billion and 2.4 million clients.
- Everence (Mennonite) — $8.9 billion, founded 1945.
- Christian Brothers Investment Services — $11.9 billion, founded 1981, serving 800+ Catholic institutions.
- OneAscent — $7.1 billion, 93 advisors, founded 2017.
- Inspire Advisors — $1.3 billion across 8,330 accounts and 72 branches.
What a shared faith does and does not guarantee
Proverbs is emphatic about seeking counsel and equally emphatic about its plurality: “For lack of guidance a nation falls, but victory is won through many advisers” (Proverbs 11:14). Many. A single trusted advisor with no second opinion is the arrangement the proverb warns against, however godly he is.
And “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed” (Proverbs 15:22) sits alongside a warning the same book gives repeatedly about dishonest scales and unequal weights. Scripture is simultaneously pro-counsel and clear-eyed that people who handle other people’s money face particular temptations. Both things are true at once, which is why “he’s a believer” is a reason to consider someone rather than a reason to skip the background check.
The most useful posture is the one Jesus commends when he tells his followers to count the cost before building (Luke 14:28). Count this cost specifically: the annual fee in dollars rather than percent, the fund costs underneath it, and what you are getting that you could not get for a flat fee. Then decide.
Our guides to Christian robo-advisors and Christian investment platforms compared cover the cheaper alternatives to hiring a person.
Related reading
- How to Talk to Your Spouse About Christian Investing
- Christian Investment Calculator
- Christian Finance Conferences
- Best Christian Investment Funds, ETFs, and Platforms in 2026
- Christian Investing for Women
- Everything You Need
- Best Christian Investing Apps
- Best Christian Investing Books
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