Expanding In-Classroom Tech Partnerships with Holistiplan and fpPathfinder

Key Points

• The College is partnering with several financial planning technology services to give students more real-world experience
• Partnerships announced include Holistiplan, Envestnet, and fpPathfinder
• Tech partnerships will enhance the student experience and continue to innovate on The College’s online learning model

KING OF PRUSSIA, PA – November 4, 2026 – The expansion adds leading tax planning software Holistiplan into its fast-growing Tax Planning Certified Professional Program® (TPCP®) program. Students can currently apply what they learn in TPCP 102 (Tax Planning During Retirement), with further integration tied to student feedback.

The integration adds to a growing partnership suite that already includes Envestnet | MoneyGuide in its CFP® certification education program and its Chartered Financial Consultant® (ChFC®) program, and fpPathfinder across most of its designation education platform. Through these relationships, students in The College’s educational programs gain hands-on experience with the same planning, tax-analysis, and decision-support tools that they rely on in practice.

As the industry’s preeminent lifelong learning platform, The College is partnering with technology firms across comprehensive planning, tax analysis, and planning guidance. Each of the tools is integrated where it best reinforces a particular College program’s learning objectives.

Partnership With Envestnet

MoneyGuidePro® is used in the capstone course of The College’s CFP® Certification Education and ChFC® programs. In the capstone, students bring together the concepts and strategies learned throughout the program as they develop and present comprehensive recommendations for a realistic client case.

Partnership With Holistiplan

Utilizing the industry’s most-adopted tax planning software, students can work through realistic client case studies to analyze tax returns, identify planning opportunities, and model alternative tax-planning strategies. This hands-on experience helps students evaluate potential outcomes and develop recommendations tailored to each client’s financial situation.

Partnership With fpPathfinder

fpPathfinder is integrated into The College’s platform through its applied knowledge designation programs and its Knowledge Hub+ continuing education subscription center. fpPathfinder guides, consisting of visual checklists and flowcharts that help advisors navigate complex planning decisions, appear in 96 places across the CFP®, ChFC®, TPCP®, Retirement Income Certified Professional® (RICP®), and Wealth Management Certified Professional® (WMCP®) programs. The guides have been accessed 20,480 times between May 1 and October 28, 2026.

How Tech Partnerships Affect College Programs

“Knowing the concepts is only the start, and the gap between that and using it when a real person is in front of you is where most of the actual learning happens,” said Chet R. Bennetts, PhD, CFP®, ChFC®, CLF®, CLU®, RICP®, department chair and associate provost at The American College of Financial Services. “When our students build and present a comprehensive plan in MoneyGuidePro, or work through a tax return in Holistiplan as an assignment, they are making the same judgment calls they will make in their own practices, and that practice with the tools advisors actually use is what we are trying to put in front of them.”

The College will continue to pursue technology partnerships that align with its mission as an applied knowledge institution, which is focused on strengthening human judgment and advisor value in a world of AI.  

“A century ago, a Wharton professor declared application to be The College’s value proposition. Through modernized delivery, deep partnerships, and many faculty who have sat across from clients, we continue to live that mission,” said Jared Trexler, executive vice president and chief growth officer of The American College of Financial Services. “This is just the beginning. We remain focused on incorporating the right technology at the right time to make our curriculum more relevant and develop real competency across the 18,000-plus students we will educate this year.”

For more information, contact:

Jared Trexler
610-526-1268
jared.trexler@theamericancollege.edu 

Sarah Tremallo
908-967-0381
americancollege@jconnelly.com 

About The American College of Financial Services

The American College of Financial Services is the nation’s largest nonprofit and accredited educational institution devoted to financial services professionals. Nearly one in five advisors or agents is an alum of The College. The College offers a learning platform that includes professional designation, certification, and degree programs and encompasses early-career foundational knowledge as well as deep, specialized education in tax, retirement income, philanthropy, risk management, and more with the highest-quality combination of rigor and relevance. The College’s faculty represents the foremost thought leaders in the financial services industry. Its educational programs, research, and events offer professionals the opportunity to expand earnings, deepen relationships, and deliver improved client outcomes.

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