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The online certificate in financial planning is an 18-credit program of study with six required courses offered in a time frame comparable to a traditional semester schedule, with fixed start and end dates. Successful completion of the online certificate satisfies the entire education coursework requirement for CFP® certification, and prepares students to take the CFP® Certification Examination. The education and examination components are two of the core prerequisites to obtain full CFP® certification.

Course List - Undergraduate Certificate in Financial Planning 

Core Courses (18 credits)
Title Abbreviation Description Credits

Principles of Taxation I

OR

 

Principles of Taxation

ACCTG 405

OR

 

ACCTG 310

Elements of tax policy and tax-planning concepts for personal and business decision making; with emphasis on taxation of individuals.

Prerequisites: ACCTG 211, B A 301 or FIN 301

 

 

Study of income determination concepts for individuals and corporations, impact of taxation on decisions, elementary research techniques, and ethical standards.

Prerequisite: ACCTG 211 or FIN 301

 

 3 credits
Personal Financial Planning FIN 330 Developing financial plans including cash budgets, credit purchases, investments, and insurance.

Third semester standing or permission of instructor.		 3 credits
Investment and Portfolio Analysis FIN 420 Investment and risk, types of security investments, sources of investment information, the broker, the stock market, portfolio management.

Prerequisite: FIN 301		 3 credits
Estate Planning FIN 430 Liquidity planning, titling and transfer of property, trusts, federal unified tax system, gifting, incapacity planning, legal documents.

Prerequisites: FIN 330 and ACCTG 405		 3 credits
Retirement Planning FIN 450 Retirement planning: qualified and non-qualified plans, characteristics, provisions, regulations administration, application approach with case studies. 3 credits
Financial Planning Capstone FIN 491 Critical thinking and decision-making about personal financial planning topics in the context of the financial planning process.

Prerequisites: completion of first 15 credits of the certificate curriculum		 3 credits

 

Course Availability

If you're ready to see when your courses will be offered, visit our public LionPATH course search (opens in new window) to start planning ahead.