Retirement Savings and Income Planning

This course is designed to provide students with the foundation to conduct a retirement needs analysis for individuals, to understand the different types of retirement plans available to individuals, and to recognize the key factors that affect retirement plan selection for business owners. Students will be able to evaluate and compare the characteristics of various retirement plans, address client suitability, and provide plan recommendations. The course covers tax-deferred retirement plans, IRAs, nonqualified plans, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, distribution strategies, taxation of distributions, and regulatory considerations.In particular, the course covers strategies used by financial planners to help clients assess employee benefits and to reduce the tax burden while planning for retirement. Topics include retirement needs analysis; defined benefit and contribution plans; profit sharing; 401k; 403b; ESOP; IRA; SEP-IRA; Roth-IRA; Keogh; TSA; social security benefits and integration; vesting; employee benefits analysis; funding vehicles; plan installation and administration; asset balancing; buy-sell agreements, ERISA; stock redemption and cross-purchase plans; evaluation of retirement timing; life-cycle planning; retirement lifestyle issues; distribution planning; and post-retirement financial and qualitative assessment of needs.Satisfies part of the educational requirements to sit for the CFP examination

Student smiling while sitting outside, using a laptop.
Syllabus

Course Topics

Course Level

300

Skills Covered

  • Retirement Financial Planning
  • Employee Benefits
  • Employee Sponsored and Personal Savings
  • Planning Recommendations

Common Prerequisites

All courses listed may not be required. Discuss with your advisor to learn more.

  • Sophomore status at home institution

Disclosure

This course is delivered online through an institution of the Lower Cost Models Consortium (LCMC) that is different than your degree-granting institution that awards the academic credit for the course.