Required ChFC® Courses:
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 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 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 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 333 Personal Financial Planning: Comp. Case Analysis:
This course applies students' knowledge and skill set in personal financial planning techniques to a comprehensive case study. Students will integrate into a prioritized comprehensive financial plan the core financial planning disciplines of:
- Retirement
- Investment
- Risk management
- Income tax
- Employee benefits
- General principles
HS 347 Contemporary Applications in Financial Planning
This premium course examines contemporary financial planning challenges through a series of modern case studies, including:
- Aiding divorcees and blended families
- Financial planning for families with special needs
- Serving non-traditional families and LGBT clients
- Unique challenges associated with modern retirement income portfolios
- Hands-on application of behavioral finance, ethics, and estate planning
*The course HS 347 is replacing HS 314 and HS 319 on Dec. 31, 2019. If you enrolled prior to July 1, 2018 and wish to complete the ChFC® program with HS 314 and HS 319, you must complete these two courses prior to Dec. 31, 2019. If HS 314 and HS 319 are not completed prior to Dec. 31, 2019 you will be required to do HS 347.