Required courses:

HS 311 Fundamentals of Insurance Planning:
This course focuses on the role of planning for risk management needs. The topics covered include:

• Fundamental principles of risk management
• Principles of insurance
• Human capital risk
• Liability risk
• Property risk
• Financial wealth risk

HS 323 Individual Life Insurance:
Focuses on life insurance policies and annuities available for the personal needs of individuals and their use in financial planning. Covers individual insurance products, insurance reserves regulation, and the organization, operations, and investments of insurance companies.

HS 324 Life Insurance Law:
Examines legal rights and obligations of the policy owner and the insurance company, the way disputes between the insured and insurers are resolved and general principles of the judicial process. Covers legal aspects of life insurance, including basic principles of contract law; policy provisions and the incontestable clause; assignments, ownership rights and creditor rights; beneficiary designations and disposition of proceeds; the law of agency; and advertising and privacy issues.

HS 330 Fundamentals of Estate Planning:
This course provides a basic understanding of the estate and gift tax system, including strategies of estate planning. Covers various aspects of estate and gift tax planning, including:

• Nature, valuation transfer, administration, and taxation of property
• Gratuitous transfers of property outright or with trusts, wills and powers of appointment
• Use of the marital deduction
• Valuation of assets
• Buy-sell agreements
• Client interview/fact finding
• Ethical standards
• Development of personal estate plans

HS 331 Planning for Business Owners and Professionals:
Focuses on tax and legal aspects of organizing a business; compensation planning for the business owner; business succession planning; buy-sell agreements; estate planning and estate freezing techniques; methods for transferring a family business; lifetime disposition of a business interest.

Elective courses (choose three)
HS 300 Financial Planning: Process and Environment:
This course provides an overview of the financial planning process, including the role and responsibilities of a financial planner along with analytical tools to aid in financial decision-making. Topics include:

• Communication techniques
• Ethics
• Education planning and funding
• Time-value-of-money concepts
• Financial planning applications
• Regulatory issues
• Legal and economic environment for financial planning

HS 321 Income Taxation:
The course examines the federal income tax system with particular reference to the taxation of individuals.
Concepts covered include:

• Gross income, exclusions from gross income
• Deductions
• Tax credits
• Capital gains and losses
• Taxation of life insurance
• Taxation of annuities
• Entity taxation of partnerships, LLCs, corporations, and proprietorships

HS 326 Planning for Retirement Needs:
This course focuses on selecting the right retirement plan for the business and on individual retirement planning. Covers:

• Qualified plans, SEPs, SIMPLEs and 403(b) plans
• Nonqualified deferred compensation plans
• Practical knowledge needed for choosing the best retirement plan, especially for the small business, and designing a plan that will meet a client’s needs
• Individual retirement planning including IRAs and Roth IRAs, Social Security benefits, saving for retirement and planning for retirement plan distributions

HS 328 Investments:
This course covers various aspects of the principles of investments and their application to financial planning. Topics include:

• Risk analysis, risk and return computations
• Risk reduction through diversification
• Expected returns of various investments
• Nature of securities markets and investment companies
• Tax issues in investing
• Issues in the practice of portfolio management
• Examples of ethical and practical investment considerations

HS 375 Introduction to Disability and Lifetime Planning:
This course introduces students to the field of disability and provides an orientation to working with individuals with disabilities and their families. It covers philosophical approaches, legislation, special education policies and procedure, disability etiquette, and how to work collaboratively with families. Students will learn the categories of disabilities such as emotional and behavioral challenges, sensory impairments, autism, and learning disabilities. Special attention is given to the planning requirements for transition of a child with disabilities into adulthood, when many educational programs and financial supports are no longer available. It also provides videotaped interviews with families in their home settings, providing powerful testimonies to the families’ determination to assist their children to become fully integrated into society and to reach their full potential.

HS 376 Legal and Financial Issues for Special Needs Families:
This course covers unique legal techniques and tools that apply to special needs planning. Of particular importance are special needs trusts, wills, powers-of-attorney, and guardianships. The applicable issues surrounding Social Security and Medicaid are covered. In addition, special income tax topics enable financial advisors to understand and identify tax deductions and/or credits that may be available to families with special needs. It addresses some unique aspects of the medical expense deduction, the child and dependent care credit, the adoption credit, and the dependency exemption rules for families of individuals with special needs. The student will examine some potential alternative minimum tax traps that may affect many of these families. This course builds upon Introduction to Disability (HS 375) by providing the detailed legal and financial considerations crucial to the special needs environment.

To receive a Huebner School designation (including ChFC^®, CLF^®, CLU^®, RICP^®, and WMCP^®), you must successfully complete all courses in your selected program, meet experience requirements and ethics standards, and agree to comply with The American College Code of Ethics and Procedures. 

Experience

Three years of full-time business experience is required for all Huebner School designations. The three-year period must be within the five years preceding the date of the award. An undergraduate or graduate degree from an accredited educational institution qualifies as one year of business experience. Part-time qualifying business experience is credited toward the three-year requirement on an hourly basis, with 2,000 hours representing the equivalent of one year full-time experience. The following activities meet the required business experience qualifications included in the certification process.

       Insurance and health care

• Field underwriting and management, including sales and service activities, supervision and management of persons involved in sales or services, or staff support of persons in these activities.
• Company management and operations in positions involving substantial responsibility.

       Financial services and employee benefits

• Client service and related management, including direct contact with clients, supervision and management of persons involved directly in the process of providing financial services or employee benefits, or staff support of persons in these activities.
• Financial institution management and operations in positions involving substantial responsibility.

       Other

• University or college teaching of subjects related to the Huebner School curriculum on a full-time basis at an accredited institution of higher education.
• Government regulatory service in a responsible administrative, supervisory, or operational capacity.
• Activities directly or indirectly related to the protection, accumulation, conservation, or distribution of the economic value of human life; these include the work of actuaries, attorneys, CPAs, investment advisers, real estate investment advisers, stockbrokers, trust officers, or persons in other similar occupations.

See the Student Resources and Policies page for comprehensive details on refund policies, learning policies, recertification information, and more.

Because the CLU® certification shares common courses with the ChFC® and CFP® designations, you have the option to work towards multiple designations at once. View this chart to see how these courses overlap — and how you can earn multiple designations faster.