Financial Planning –
From the Farm to the Household
The Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AAEC) is educating future financial planning professionals through its new degree option, Financial Planning. The program focuses on how households and small business owners choose to use their financial resources to maximize well-being.
The Financial Planning option prepares students to enter the rapidly growing financial planning profession, as well as the more traditional financial services careers in insurance, banking, brokerage, and retirement planning. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, demand for financial analysts and personal financial advisors is expected to grow “faster than average,” or between 18 percent and 26 percent, during the years 2004 to 2014.
“This option will attract new students to the department and allow us to better serve existing students,” says Kevin Boyle, department head of AAEC. “New classes in retirement and employee benefit planning, as well as managing relationships with financial services clients, will benefit our students in other degree options as well.”
Virginia Tech is one of only two universities in Virginia with an undergraduate degree program registered with the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) Board of Standards, Inc. and one of fewer than 100 nationally.
Compared to graduates with other degrees, CFP Board-registered program graduates have two distinct advantages. First, graduates meet the education requirement to sit for theCFP exam. Courses cover the process of financial planning a well as the six fundamental topic areas, including income taxes, investments, insurance, employee benefits, retirement planning, and estate planning. Second, graduates are eligible to sit for the exam prior to completing three years of related work experience.
Those who pass the rigorous 10-hour, two-day comprehensive exam will then carry the title “CFP® designee” until they have completed the required three years of work experience. At that time they will become “CFP® certificants”– the premier credential for financial advisors.