Mission & Overview

It could be said that the essence of a capitalist system rests upon the belief that families can make decisions that improve their financial destiny. In our complex world it is apparent that unbiased professional financial advice can help achieve this end. Financial planning is the integrative process leading to the adoption of strategies which are expected to aid in achieving individual and family goals. The process takes into account the client’s personality, financial status and the socio-economic environment, as well as their goals.

Goal of the Financial Planning Program at SDSU
The goal of the program is to provide the educational background to allow graduates to provide professional financial planning services at the highest level possible. But most important, they should be qualified to provide comprehensive and integrated advice resulting in better lives for their clients. We believe that this program will provide much of the academic background students need to enable them to pass the examinations to earn the CFP®, CFA and Enrolled Agent professional designations.

Necessary Skills
A financial planner is often a counselor. She may answer specific questions or solve a particular financial problem a client may have. Or a planner may provide a global set of recommendations reaching into every aspect of their client’s financial life. But in either case, planners must integrate all fields of financial concern into their advice: liquidity planning, risk management, tax, investment and estate planning. Financial planners need not to wonderwomen or supermen; but it wouldn’t hurt. They must be able to deal with people sensitively in an area that most clients would rather not discuss. You must be able to instill the desire to take action in an area of life where fear and ignorance is rampant. Financial planning is very much a people profession.

A planner must be able to understand complex social and economic trends, a huge variety of products and services, and the complexities of illogical tax law, unfathomable estate law and arcane investment theory. He must possess both the people skills and technical aptitude necessary to practice financial planning competently.