As the financial advice industry evolves and grows more complex, more universities are helping advisors navigate the challenges by offering master’s programs in financial planning and wealth management.
Currently, 47 master’s programs for financial planning are registered with the CFP Board of Standards, according to John Loper, managing director of professional practice with the board. Loper noted the CFP Board does not keep track of other master’s programs.
The directors of four master’s programs — at Columbia University, Kansas State University, New York University and Texas Tech University — recently discussed their programs with Rethinking65 via email. One thing is abundantly clear from their comments: Financial planning master’s programs are not all the same.
Diverse Offerings and Specialties
“The supply of master’s programs in the areas of financial planning or wealth management is growing … but the programs do not all serve the same purpose and audience,” says Tracy Schwartz, senior program director of Columbia University’s Master of Professional Studies in Wealth Management Program.
Some master’s programs prepare students for a career in wealth management and meeting the requirements of the Certified Financial Planner designation, she says. These programs focus on serving mass-affluent and high-net-worth clients, but Columbia has carved out its own niche with a program that focuses on serving ultra-high net worth families and family offices, she says.
The Kansas State Personal Financial Planning Master’s Program has a unique financial therapy offering that incorporates financial counseling, theory, research, behavioral finance, client psychology and financial relationship dynamics, says Derek Sensenig, program director and practicing professor.
Master’s programs need to offer new perspectives because the personal financial landscape is evolving, including a surge in later-life divorces, increases in blended families, and a diversification of goals and objectives, Sensenig says. Additionally, advisors face increasing complexity in estate planning, retirement strategies, investment practices, and tax legislation, he says.
Consequently, there’s “a pronounced necessity for educational initiatives aimed at enhancing practitioners’ proficiency with a holistic comprehension of these perpetually evolving subjects,” says Sensenig, “as well as an appreciation of the significance of behaviors, attitudes, and heuristics within the financial planning framework.”
Colin M. Slabach, clinical assistant professor and faculty lead of the new financial planner master’s program at New York University, says there is room for more for such programs and for current programs to expand.
“The average age of a financial advisor is in their 50s, the industry is growing, and financial planning is shifting from investment product sales to offering more comprehensive advice,” Slabach says. One area in particular, retirement income planning, needs more attention, he adds.
Where Training Falls Short
“Master’s in financial planning programs are primarily built to train holistic financial planners,” says Slabach. “However, there is a huge gap or opportunity for these programs to expand into the retirement income planning space. Not many master’s programs are focused on this area.”
The NYU program offers several unusual concentrations, including behavioral finance and data analysis, Slabach says. “We also focus on case study-based education, integrating fintech applications,” he says.
Sonya Lutter, director of the Financial Health & Wellness Master’s Degree Program at Texas Tech University, agrees there are shortcomings in some schools’ offerings. “There is a shortage of quality programs offering empirically based programming in the ‘why’ behind financial planning or the psychology of financial planning.” Lutter says.
Schools should pivot their instructional modes to accommodate the needs of today’s students, she says. “I would like to see more experiential learning opportunities. Attention spans among all generations is shortening, so lecturing for 50 minutes is simply not going to cut it anymore.” Instead, “there needs to be engagement where students are learning from each other through discussions (written or auditory), case applications, real-life observations, etc.,” Lutter says.
Other Academic Options
Texas Tech’s certificates are “unique and taught by experts in the field,” says Lutter, adding that the school offers professional development opportunities for financial planners who want to learn but aren’t interested in earning a degree. Texas Tech is also one of the few schools that offers a doctoral program in financial planning, Lutter says. “As a program offering a PhD, our faculty are top-notch and up to date with industry trends and research. Programs that do not offer PhD programs often have lower research expectations of their faculty, so by having a Ph.D. program, we are by default generally more involved with research.”
Sensenig says KSU offers an innovative component in financial therapy that integrates principles from client psychology, behavioral finance and relationship dynamics. “This unique aspect is of paramount importance as it underscores the significance of understanding biases, heuristics, and interpersonal dynamics in effectively managing finances,” he says.
Additional Reading: Is College Worth It?
Like Texas Tech, KSU offers a financial planning doctoral program and is designated as a Tier 1 research institution. The designation makes the school “an exceptional environment for individuals aspiring to pursue this degree, facilitating the development of robust research skills essential for furthering advancements in the field of personal financial planning,” Sensenig says.
Student Bodies: Recent Grads to Professional-only
While the master’s programs differ in course offerings and areas of emphasis, they also differ in which students they accept.
Texas Tech has a wide mix of students, including those straight out of an undergraduate program, those who took a few years off, career changers and long-time practicing practitioners, Lutter says. “The mix allows for rich discussion if the professor allows the conversation to happen (which we do at Texas Tech) versus a straight lecturing or work-at-your-own-pace type of program.”
About 25% of the Texas Tech program participants are traditional undergraduate to master’s students, 25% are career changers, 25% are long-time practitioners, and 25% are professionals in other fields who want to learn about financial planning, Lutter says.
In contrast, the Columbia master’s program is online-only and does not accept recent college graduates.
“Our program is designed for working professionals with a minimum of two years of work experience,” Schwartz says. “Our program attracts current wealth management professionals seeking career advancement; career changers who want to become wealth managers; consultants, accountants, lawyers, tax specialists, and family office professionals looking to advance their overall knowledge and expertise in wealth management; and professionals looking to start their own registered investment advisor or family office.”
Career Changers Span the Gamut
Slabach said that at NYU, few students with undergraduate degree in financial planning immediately go on to get a master’s degree unless they want to get a PhD. But “quite a few” with an undergraduate degree in a related field immediately go for a financial planning master’s.
However, most NYU master’s program participants fall into two other groups, Slabach says. The first is career changers — individuals who have an undergraduate degree in another field, such as accounting, finance or social work, who want to get into the profession. Veterans, firefighters and police officers have also participated the program.
The other group is advanced-career individuals who are looking to accelerate their skills and become an expert in a specific area, such as executive compensation or charitable giving, Slabach says.
Asked if there are current instructor openings for advisors who are interested in teaching, the program directors said no. But Schwartz at Columbia offered some hope.
Columbia’s faculty, who are called lecturers, are part-time and most have had substantial experience as advisors in their careers, she said. Some top graduates of the program who are long-time advisors have been recruited as lecturers.
Additionally, many program graduates serve as course associates, who assist lecturers. This “provides an opportunity for them to stay connected and provide important feedback as we look to continuously improve our curriculum,” she said.
In a four-decade career in journalism, Ed Prince has served as an editor with many of New Jersey’s leading newspapers, including the Star-Ledger, Asbury Park Press and Home News Tribune.
