Editor's note: Este artículo está traducido al español.
A new program at UNR is making it easier for residents to become certified financial planners in a rapidly growing field.
The online Personal Financial Planning program is approved by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards and prepares students to sit for the CFP Certification Exam. Graduates can pursue careers advising clients on investment management, taxes, insurance, retirement planning and more.
“This is really filling the community need,” said DJ Lee, an instructor for the program. “Because if you look at other cities, they have established academic programs just like this. They also have a well-established wealth-management industry, so they can source professionals locally.”
The wealth-management field is highly compensated and filled opportunities in banks, family offices, wealth-management firms and more, said Serhat Yildiz, associate professor of finance at UNR and director of its new program, which launched this semester.
The wealth-management industry is growing fast, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates the employment of personal financial advisers to grow 10% by 2034—faster than the average for all occupations.
“So the people who start a career in this field will start in a growing industry,” Yildiz said.
To earn an official CFP designation, students must complete education and ethics requirements, sit for an exam and gain experience in the field. The UNR program takes care of part of the education piece, Yildiz said, by offering the six courses required by the CFP Board. Once students completes those, they can take the exam.
They must also have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university to get their certification, but that could be in any field. A student who plans to graduate with a degree could also start the CFP courses without it.
Based on a student’s background, they could complete the program—which costs $5,400—in a year, Yildiz said.
This is an opportunity for aspiring advisers to get their CFP designation and remain in Nevada “and then just make it better,” Lee said.
Unlike UNR’s many other finance programs available to full-time students, Personal Financial Planning is meant to cater to the needs of Nevadans overall, said Qun Wu, professor of finance and chair of the department of finance in UNR’s College of Business.
“If I want to manage my own money, or I’m planning about my own retirement in (the) next five, 10 years, or I’m planning about my (taxes) or estate, I could certainly pay to get some financial adviser,” he said. “But at the same time, it could be helpful for me to learn more about, for example, retirement planning, investment planning or estate planning or tax planning.”
Nevada residents can pick which classes they want to take within the program to satisfy their own personal needs, he said.
Being online makes the program flexible for nontraditional students who have full-time jobs or otherwise don’t have the time to attend a class on campus or in real time online, Wu said.
“Our program provides all the slides, videos and the class notes online,” he said. “So basically, you can take all the class work—you don’t have to do it real-time. You can do it with your little chunk of time, here or there.”
Most of the program’s instructors are UNR faculty members, Yildiz said, meaning they are experienced teachers with related degrees and experience in the industry.
That includes people like Lee, who is director of financial planning at American Wealth Management in Reno.
The industry has evolved from being “sales-y” to a provision of services by a professional, Lee said. A professional who wants to differentiate themselves from the former to the latter usually gets a CFP designation, he said, which really strengthens their education and reputation.
Clients may interview many different financial advisers, Lee continued, and one with a CFP stands out.
“Having the CFP, personally, (gives) you a lot of education, of course, but you do have that kind of confidence in yourself,” Lee said. “So you can better represent the firms, and then better help the client ... achieve their goals.”
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