Traditionally, the knowledge and skills of financial planning were learned by financial advisors on the job. Most financial advisors started as either stockbrokers or insurance salespeople and then moved into financial planning simply as an extension of their career. A common educational path was to simply take the state-required insurance licensing courses and the state-required securities licensing courses and then to take further courses (such as CLU, ChFC, CFP, etc.) only after getting started in the career.
That approach is changing. Today, there are dozens of colleges and universities around the country offering formal financial planning educational programs.
Of course, there are pros and cons to either approach. Today, we dig into some of those factors with an in-depth discussion of the academic side to financial planning with Dr. Nathan Harness.
Dr. Harness is an assistant professor of finance at Texas A&M University - Commerce. He received his Bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Central Arkansas, Master’s degree in finance from Texas Tech University, and Ph.D. in personal financial planning from Texas Tech University.
His research interests include personal financial ratio analysis, household heuristics and wealth accumulation, and individual stock selection.
He has published in Applied Economic Letters, Financial Services Review, International Journal of Business and Finance Research, Journal of Financial Services Professionals, Financial Counseling and Planning, and the Journal of Personal Finance.
Dr. Harness has taught at the University of Georgia – Athens prior to joining TAMU-Commerce and currently teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in the areas of investments and financial management.
Enjoy the show!
Joshua
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Dr. Harness's contact info: http://faculty.tamuc.edu/nharness/