PFFP Course Listing
PFFP 150B2 Personal Finance Foundations
This course describes the prominent characteristics of consumption behavior, societal change that has influenced consumer-driven societies and pressures for change in the future. The course will examine the important economic variables that, on the one hand, have led to a rapidly growing worldwide consumer demand for goods and services and, on the other hand, have resulted in increased debt, overspending and an inability to achieve long term personal financial goals. An objective analysis of both personal and global consumption habits will provide the transition into sustainable strategies to increase personal financial solvency. The course will not provide you with the answers to achieving your personal financial goals, but rather will examine our consumer society and expose you to the major reasons why people spend and save. The aim of the course is to provide you with sufficient information to make judgments for yourself about your consumption patterns and long-term financial health.
PFFP 196A The MONEY Class: Financial Well-Being in College and Beyond
This course is designed to introduce students to challenges and opportunities associated with managing money. The course will cover key personal finance topics and money management strategies relevant for college students in the early stages of their financial journey. This course will approach money topics from a personal point-of-view and students can expect to gain objective financial knowledge as well as insight into their own individual approaches to money. By the end of the semester, students will have a clear understanding of how they can set and achieve financial goals.
PFFP 216A MSExcel and Financial Services Analysis
This course is designed to introduce students to the fundamentals of financial services analysis in the context of developing and managing a client's financial and strategic direction. The core focus of the course will cover such business analytic tools as basic financial performance analysis, pro forma financial projections, business model simulation, and sensitivity analysis. Particular attention will be given to the financial performance metrics and standards used within the financial services industry.
PFFP 310 Fundamentals of Personal and Family Financial Planning
This course is designed to introduce students to a broad overview of personal and family financial planning, with specific emphasis the financial planning process, financial strategies, savings and cash flow management, insurance, investments, taxes, use of credit, and time value of money.
PFFP 311 Applied Family Investment Planning and Savings Strategies
This course is designed to familiarize students with the understanding and evaluation of investment options, plus the risks and rates of return of each type of investment. Study will also incorporate, among other topics, cash flow management, time value of money, measurement of investment returns, investment strategies, asset allocation and portfolio diversification, and alternative investments.
PFFP 314 Risk Management and Insurance Planning
This course is designed to provide students with an introduction to the techniques and issues of risk management and insurance. While businesses will be included in the discussion, the emphasis of the course will be on personal risk management and insurance. Topics to be examined include life, disability, and health risks, social insurance, real and personal property liability risk, insurance companies and product markets, insurance pricing, insurance taxation, government regulation of insurance, legal principles in risk and insurance, types of insurance contracts and the contents thereof, and professional ethics and market conduct.
PFFP 315 Applied Personal and Family Income Tax Planning
This course is designed to introduce students to federal income taxation and the role of the tax code in financial planning for individuals, businesses, and business owners. Topics addressed include fundamentals of income tax planning, the measurement of taxable income, the taxation of business income, individual income taxation, and the tax compliance process.
PFFP 320 Client Communication and Counseling for Financial Planners
This course is designed to familiarize students with the relevant communication and counseling skills for enhancing client-financial planner relationships and building successful financial planning practice. The course focuses on developing and strengthening the soft skills (rather than the technical skills) aspect of financial planning.
PFFP 370 Legal and Ethical Issues in Retail Services
This course is designed to introduce students to an overview of the ethical, legal, and social environment of the retail services marketplace. Topics, among others, to be covered include social responsibility, sustainability, ethics, and the basic concepts of law, structure, and characteristics of the retail services marketplace.
PFFP 402 Personal and Family Estate Planning
This course is designed to familiarize students with the principles and fundamentals of the estate planning process for individuals and families, as well as the various strategies and techniques available for generating a constructive estate plan. Course topics will include: gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer taxes coupled with planning techniques to minimize taxes on wealth transfers; strategies to transfer property, real and personal; non-tax characteristics of estate planning, including, probate, estate administration, and property ownership; and estate planning documentation.
PFFP 403 Retirement Savings and Income Planning
This course is designed to provide students with the knowledge of both public and private retirement plans, with an appreciation of the usefulness of employee benefits and the ability to counsel others on important retirement and employee benefit decisions. Discussion will include corporate pension and profit sharing plans, self-employed Keogh plans, IRAs, annuities, health insurance, and social security, as well as additional issues individuals face in retirement, including insurance, medical, and life-style and community choices.
PFFP 406 Professional Conduct and Fiduciary Responsibility
This course is designed to introduce students to an overview of the ethical, legal, and fiduciary environment in financial planning and wealth management. It is based on the assumption that financial planning, like business and law, is a profession whose practitioners carry out an important role not only in the financial planning industry, but also in society in general. As individuals enter the profession, they take on a distinctive set of responsibilities that go with the role. The purpose of the course is to provide students a pragmatic understanding of professional conduct, ethics, and fiduciary responsibility, and to provide students an array of functional tools to meet the expected standards of the industry.
PFFP 476 Retail Financial Services
This course provides an introduction to the retail financial services industry. The primary focus will be on firms and markets that provide retail credit (e.g., consumer loans, auto loans, credit cards, mortgages) and other banking services, with some occasional examples from the insurance and investment/retirement products sectors. The early weeks will cover determinants of consumer demand and market supply, trends in new product development, new account acquisition strategies, target-market supply, trends in new product development, new account acquisition strategies, target-marketing tools and cross-selling. The second half of the course will focus on public policy issues related to improving consumer access to credit and banking services. The focus will be on regulatory constraints, reputation risk, and ethical challenges that profoundly affect marketing in the financial services industry.
PFFP 493 Internship
Specialized work on an individual basis, consisting of training and practice in actual service in a technical, business, or government establishment.
PFFP 495A Securities Industry Essentials (SIE) Exam Prep
Introduction to the FINRA-sponsored Security Industry Essentials (SIE) exam, a new introductory level exam for prospective financial services industry professionals. Its purpose is to assess a candidate's basic knowledge of products, rules, structure, and foundation of the securities industry and regulatory agencies, their functions, and prohibited practices.
PFFP 496 Special Topics in Personal and Family Financial Planning
This course provides an in-depth exploration of varying special topics within the family financial planning field. The topics of the course vary depending on instructor and semester. Each course will overview core concepts, foundational knowledge, and practical applications about the topics presented. The course will focus on contemporary issues in the field and those issues- contextual positioning within industry, family, community, and societal contexts.
PFFP 498 Capstone: Family and Personal Family Plan Development
This capstone course bridges academic coursework with actual practice management, introducing students to the skills and tools needed for developing a comprehensive financial plan for a client. The first part of the course provides a review of the financial planning CFP Board topics, including ethics and principles of communication and counseling. Classes also review/apply the process and techniques for preparing and presenting a financial plan in an environment of non-liability.
PFFP 499 Independent Study
Qualified students working on an individual basis with professors who have agreed to supervise such work.