Financial Planning

This course covers taxation for individuals, sole proprietorships, partnerships, and corporations, as well as the tax aspects of investments, insurance, annuities, and retirement planning. Students will be able to identify the likely tax consequences of personal and business financial activities and select appropriate and lawful tax-minimizing tactics and strategies.

This course provides a comprehensive examination of the general principles of financial planning, professional conduct and regulation, and education planning. These topics constitute thirty percent of the principle knowledge topics tested on the CFP® Certification Examination. The course introduces students to the financial planning process and working with clients to set goals and assess risk tolerance. In addition, students will learn to process and analyze information, construct personal financial statements, develop debt management plans, recommend financing strategies, and understand the basic components of a written comprehensive financial plan. The course also covers the regulatory environment, time value of money, and economic concepts.

The course is designed for students interested in pursuing careers in the financial planning and asset management profession. The course and curriculum are approved by the CFP® Board of Standards and meet one component of the educational requirement for becoming a Certified Financial Planner. This course explores the securities market, sources of information, risk/return, stocks, bonds, options, futures, and security analysis, and culminates in portfolio construction and analysis. You will learn how to evaluate different asset classes for different investment objectives and determine their suitability for investors considering investment goals, time horizons, risk tolerance, and tax situations.

This course provides a comprehensive examination of the general principles of risk management and insurance planning for individual and family clients. These topics constitute approximately seventeen percent of the principal knowledge topics tested on the CFP® Certification Examination. The course first introduces students to the risk management and insurance planning process and working with clients to analyze and evaluate risk exposures. Second, the core insurance lines of coverage are explored in detail, including: health, disability, long-term care, life, and personal property and casualty (homeowners’, personal auto policy, etc.). In addition, the student will learn to analyze an individual and family’s insurance needs, to select the most appropriate insurance policy and company, and to understand a business owner's use of insurance to protect the business’ assets and future income.

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

This course provides an introduction to federal gift, estate, and generation-skipping transfer taxes and the many planning techniques used to minimize the impact of these taxes on transfers of wealth. It also explores the income-tax effects of gifts and bequests, with particular attention to the limitations on income-shifting to family members. The non-tax aspects of estate planning, including the estate planning process, property ownership, planning for incapacity, and planning for business owners are examined as are the need for estate planning documents for individuals, spouses, and unmarried couples. The course stresses the need for balancing tax and non-tax considerations in creating successful estate plans.

This course provides students an opportunity to demonstrate the knowledge learned through the prerequisite six-course CFP® curriculum. Students will participate in developing a complete financial plan, through the use of case studies and interviewing mock clients. Presentations of a formal financial plan, demonstrating the ability to set client expectations and communicate with clients by answering questions and concerns, are also required.