About Us
Financial Planning Experts
Your Trusted Partner
The best financial planning education comes from those who’ve done the work. Money Education’s textbooks—now the standard for CFP education programs nationwide—were created by practitioners who spent decades both serving clients and preparing thousands of candidates for the CFP exam.
Our Approach: Take complex financial planning topics and make them understandable through clear writing, relevant examples, and practical applications that show how concepts work in actual client situations. This is why faculty across the country trust our materials as their foundation for teaching the next generation of planners.
1981–2001
Foundation in Practice and Education
Money Education’s approach to financial planning education has deep roots. Dr. Michael Dalton spent two decades building the foundation that would eventually shape our materials—teaching Accounting and Personal Finance at Loyola University while simultaneously running a comprehensive financial planning practice serving individuals and small businesses.
This dual role wasn’t accidental. Dr. Dalton believed the best financial planning education required constant translation between academic theory and client-facing reality. At Loyola, he established one of the early CFP Board-registered educational programs, while his planning practice ensured every concept taught in the classroom was tested against real-world application.
Building Certification Standards
During this period, Dr. Dalton also played a pivotal role in shaping the CFP certification process itself, serving on the CFP Board of Governors (1993-1994) and as Chair of the Board of Examiners (1993). His work helped establish the rigorous certification standards and ethics requirements that define the profession today.
1995–2002
Creating the Industry Standard
In 1995, Michael, James, and Donna Dalton founded Dalton Publications to address a gap in the market: CFP exam candidates needed better preparation materials, and the profession needed comprehensive textbooks that integrated theory with practice. Robin Meyer joined the team in 1996, and together they built what quickly became the nation’s leading CFP exam review program, offering both live courses and self-study materials.
Expanding from Review to Textbooks
The team expanded beyond exam prep to create comprehensive textbooks for the profession. Mike and James co-authored Personal Financial Planning Cases & Applications (1996)—one of the first case study collections for comprehensive financial planning education. This was followed by Personal Financial Planning: Theory & Practice (2000), a groundbreaking textbook that introduced students and practitioners to financial planning as an integrated discipline rather than a collection of separate topics.
2004–Present
Money Education and CeriFi
In 2004, the original team—Michael, James, Donna, and Robin—founded Money Education and started from scratch. They reimagined everything: book structure, page layouts, how students actually learn complex financial concepts. It was a chance to build the ideal CFP education materials without compromise. The philosophy never changed—practitioner expertise translated into clear, practical materials—but the execution evolved based on years of classroom experience and educational research.
Building a Broader Platform
In 2017, Leeds Equity Partners invested in Money Education and Dalton Education, LLC, establishing them as anchor brands within CeriFi—a comprehensive financial education platform serving professionals across securities licensing, compliance, tax and accounting, and legal education. Today, Money Education textbooks remain the go-to for CFP education programs across the country. The same principles that made them the standard—practitioner insight, teaching experience, and commitment to clarity—now drive innovation across the entire CeriFi platform.
