Financial Planning major

Financial Planning: courses, careers, and where to study

Financial planning teaches you to help individuals and families set and reach money goals across investing, taxes, insurance, retirement, and estate planning; it suits people who like advising others.

A financial planning major prepares you to guide individuals, families, and sometimes institutions in managing their money and reaching long-term goals. Students study how to build and review portfolios, weigh investment choices, plan for retirement and estates, structure insurance coverage, and account for the tax effects of financial decisions. Much of the coursework centers on assembling a complete picture of a client's situation and recommending a coordinated plan, so you also practice client communication, gathering and interpreting financial information, and explaining trade-offs in plain terms. This focus on the personal advising relationship sets financial planning apart from a broader finance degree, which leans more toward corporate finance, capital markets, and institutional investment analysis rather than working directly with people on their household goals.

The major is typically offered as a bachelor's degree, often housed within a business school or a finance department, and many programs include a capstone in which students build a comprehensive plan for a sample client that ties together investing, tax, insurance, retirement, and estate elements. Some curricula are aligned with the education requirements for voluntary professional certification in personal financial planning, and graduates who sell securities or insurance must hold the relevant state licenses and pass the required examinations, so prospective students should verify a program's certification alignment and any licensing rules with the school and their state. Graduates commonly work at financial advisory firms, banks and credit unions, brokerage and wealth management practices, insurance companies, and independent planning offices, with some moving into roles focused on retirement or estate planning.

In federal data for the closely related occupation of personal financial advisors, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a 2024 median wage of $102,140 and projects employment to grow about 9.6% from 2024 to 2034; a bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education for that occupation. National figures are occupation-wide medians across all experience levels, not starting wages or graduate outcomes.