Center for Financial Planning

Learn the entire CFP curriculum from the comfort of your home or office. Our 9-month certificate program was designed with the working professional in mind. The entire program is on-line. You need only a computer and an internet connection. Classes meet twice weekly for two hours each session. Successful completion of the program satisfies the CFP Board’s education requirement and will allow an individual to sit for the Certified Financial Planner Examination.

Why choose the Murray State University program?

1. Nine-month program. (Tuition cost: $3,600, textbooks not included.) Start in January…end in September. There is no reason to make a career out of studying to become a Certified Financial Planner.

2. Experienced “Financial Planning” faculty. Each course is taught by a professional with vast financial planning education experience.

   • David Durr, Ph.D., CFA, CFP® Since 1999, Dr. Durr has been involved in financial planning education for more than a decade. He has taught more than 150 CFP review courses/classes throughout the United States. Durr has taught classes for Kaplan/Schweser and for Dalton Education. He has taught in the New York University on-line CFP Certificate Program, and is an adjunct lecturer in the Georgetown University Center for Professional Development. Durr holds the Series 7 and Series 66 NASD licenses and maintains a professional association with Institutional Capital Management, Inc., a Houston, Texas full service investment management firm.

   • Rey Belyeu, MBA, CFP®
     

3. Our students get unlimited access to proprietary On-line Tutorials for help with the more complex financial planning topics. These tutorials are widely heralded as great learning tools. In carefully designed and scripted tutorials, the student is led through advanced topics. Challenging questions/problems are broken down into manageable and understandable components. The tutorials are provided to the Murray State students at no charge. Non-Murray State University students may obtain access to the tutorials by purchasing a subscription.

4. Small classes. Some programs have as many as 80 students in an on-line class. With class sizes that large, it is impossible for every student to have the chance to be heard, to ask questions. It is anticipated that the average class size for our program will be from15-30 students. This will allow students the ability to ask questions for further clarification and understanding. You will not be invisible in our program.

5. Advanced technology. Murray State University uses a platform called “Elluminate” to deliver the virtual classes. You will hear instructor explanations. You will learn as the instructor writes on the whiteboard. You can watch as the instructor writes on slides, or uses a virtual calculator. Have a question? Simply raise your virtual hand (click on the hand icon) and the instructor can give you the microphone. Would you rather send a text message? Elluminate allows that as well. Can’t make class tonight? No problem. All classes are recorded and available for later playback. 

Required Textbooks (PDF) (not included in tuition fee)

There is a growing awareness of the importance of financial planning, both as a component of our day-to-day lives and as a career choice for our students. Murray State recognized this importance and has created a financial planning track for undergraduate students in the Arthur J. Bauernfeind College of Business.

The degree program was designed with the Murray State University student in mind, and has proven to be quite popular with the students. Through careful scheduling of required and elective courses, Murray State students can meet the education requirement to sit for the CFP Certification Examination while earning their college degree.

Students pursuing a financial planning track must take the following courses:

• FIN 333 - Investments (Fall)

• FIN 336 - Retirement and Employee Benefits (Spring)

• ACC 302 - Taxation of Persons, Property and Other Entities (Fall, Spring, Summer)

• FIN 331 - Insurance and Risk Management (Summer)

• FIN 338 - Estate Tax Planning (Fall)

The CFP Board of Standards registers undergraduate and graduate degree programs offered by regionally accredited U.S. colleges and universities. At a minimum, each Registered Program must cover certain topics, generally at the highest cognitive levels. Those topics are determined by a job analysis study of financial planning practitioners who are currently certified by CFP Board and entitled to use CFP Board’s certification marks. This topic list helps to ensure that the curriculum content offered by Registered Programs covers the knowledge considered important to perform the tasks required of a CFP® certificant, thus meeting marketplace requirements.

The Murray State University program is registered with the CFP Board of Standards. By successfully completing these courses, the student will have comprehensively covered all eighty-nine topic areas as required by the CFP Board of Standards.

Want more information? Talk to your collegiate academic advisor and express your interest in starting the financial planning track.

Schedule for September 2010–May 2011

*All Class Times are Central Standard

1. Course 1: Fundamentals of Financial Planning and Insurance (FP 101)
   Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7 to 9 p.m.

2. Course 2: Investments (FP 102)
   Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7 to 9 p.m.

   • Instructor: Dr. David W. Durr, CFA, CFP®

   • Schedule: November 16, 2010 to January 11, 2011

     No classes: November 25, December 21–30, 2010

3. Course 3: Taxation of Persons, Property and Other Entities (FP 103)

   Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7 to 9 p.m.

4. Course 4: Retirement and Employee Benefits (FP 104)
   Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7 to 9 p.m.

5. Course 5: Estate Tax Planning (FP 105)
   Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7 to 9 p.m.

So, you have enrolled in a CFP program. Congratulations on this important step, and on your success thus far in your program. By now, you may realize that much of the material that is covered in a CFP Board registered program is computationally difficult and conceptually complex. To be successful, you must master the material, all the while, juggling the demands of job, family…life.

You may be interested in the line of CFP tools/tutorials that we have developed to assist CFP students, regardless of their current program of study. Our on-line tutorials focus on complex and difficult topics such as: education funding strategies and calculations, bond duration/immunization, modern portfolio theory, life insurance: taxation and policy comparisons, Social Security and Medicare, taxation, retirement plans and estate planning options. Our study aids are widely praised as professional, time-efficient, cost-effective ways to learn and reinforce the financial planning curriculum.