Majoring In Financial Planning? (1 Viewer)

[Cookie182]

What are everyone's thoughts on this. I like the look of the major as it blends some accounting and finance theory with real world personal application. The accounting major, whilst in my opinion is probably more regarded etc does not have a personal focus, but rather a corporation focus. Im far more interested in learning about personal finances etc however people keep saying do accy anyway.

What do you think is better?

 

[Affinity]

Acct.

You don't need to know much to know what advice to give to an average person/family about their finances:

1.) spend less
2.) how much goes in the bank
3.) how much goes in shares.. risky ones or not so risky ones
4.) spend less

 

[Cookie182]

Acct.

You don't need to know much to know what advice to give to an average person/family about their finances:

1.) spend less
2.) how much goes in the bank
3.) how much goes in shares.. risky ones or not so risky ones
4.) spend less

True that's what I thought. Its just that accy has stuff im not interested in ie management accounting and business info systems. I am much more interested in financial markets, planning and investment strategies etc. Whilst financial accounting is highly useful (and i find specific fields such as forensics interesting) the lack of finance subjects turns me off. However, some one told me that learning the statistical models in finance to predict investment flows is at most theoretical and the best practical skill you can gain for investing is being able to determine whether a company will be profitable from its balance sheet.

By the way the dream is to not work for very long. I only want to work for a few years to build up enough equity in order to begin an investment portfolio. I then hope to start investing in property with a partner. Whether this happens or not- time will see.

What type of jobs are open to a Finance major other then large scale IB etc? As you can probably tell, I'm more interested in achieving financial independence then slaving for a huge firm the rest of my life. In the very short run however I do recognise this as a necessary means to an end. Overall, I'm really seeking a degree which gives me the widest variety of skills, a good knowledge of tax and its loopholes along with a broad knowledge of various financial instruments ie derivatives, managed funds, risk and hedging etc

Personal skills would be good communication. I'm good at working on my own etc but I think i'd thrive on client exposure. I like giving advice on things and lecturing material to people, even if their not listening. In summary, I enjoy the sound of my own voice.

 

[Cookie182]

^^Bump^^ 45 views, was hoping for some more insights...

 

[Affinity]

Your view of the world is a little too rosy

If it is that easy to get money by playing the markets and property I would be retired by now.

For example, according to this:
http://findre.com.au/index_returns.html

annual nominal returns on stock markets and property is approximately 10%..
let's say you are GOOD and get about 15%. Factoring out inflation thats about 12% real.

assuming you want an income of 80000 you would need about 700K capital to start with
then you will need another 100-200 for the bad times.

That is all on top of your house and other assets which doesn't generate income.

so before you even start you will need to be a millionaire.

assuming a 60k income.. you can save (a liberal estimate) 40k a year.

that will mean you can't start until 15-20 years later

all this being the lucky scenario... with some bad luck it would be worse

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Ofcourse you could try derivatives (buying options or futures for example)..... but that's quite risky..
you will need to be lucky for the first 7-10 years with high risk investments



-------------------------------------------

You are more likely to make big bucks young being an engineer.

 

[deakin2009]

hey mate, i have looked into doing financial planning major because its something i really enjoy however having looked into it (only a little bit) i can gather

>absolute pain in the ass to get qualified (even compared to CA)
and from that legislation is constantly making it harder and harder to get qualified

>minimal jobs at grad level

>Even once getting qualified because there are so many aspects of fp which can be open to litigationost fp's either dont give advice on certain aspects or special (ie in social sec, super etc)<<who can be bothered?

>fee structures can be all over the place for fp. so depening on how fees are structured you may do hours and hours of work for mimimum return.

Having said this though i think it is a growing industry and has the potential to be massive so this MIGHT be the rright time to jump aboard

 

[Cookie182]

hey mate, i have looked into doing financial planning major because its something i really enjoy however having looked into it (only a little bit) i can gather

>absolute pain in the ass to get qualified (even compared to CA)
and from that legislation is constantly making it harder and harder to get qualified

>minimal jobs at grad level

>Even once getting qualified because there are so many aspects of fp which can be open to litigationost fp's either dont give advice on certain aspects or special (ie in social sec, super etc)<<who can be bothered?

>fee structures can be all over the place for fp. so depening on how fees are structured you may do hours and hours of work for mimimum return.

Having said this though i think it is a growing industry and has the potential to be massive so this MIGHT be the rright time to jump aboard

hmm thanks for the insight ey. Yea it interests me as well, more so then a straight acounting major. There are obvious career considerations, but i am doing a law degree as well, so hopefully i'd get work as a solicitior in a worse case scenario of not being hired in fp. Im not familar with the changing legislation regarding financial planning, could you link us some reading? I know that for a long time, anyone could become a fp and it was not seen as very pestigious etc. In fact, most fp's these days still only have tafe diplomas. Perhaps a finance major might be safer, but im not sure if it makes you eligble for the CFP. Is the CFP difficult? Even compared to the CA? At my uni, the fp major is very interesting. It combines most of the finance major subjects, with two subjects dedicated to fp and an additional accounting subject, tax planning, which interests me. Funny enough, this subject is not actually included in the accy major which i found very wierd. The accy major seems much more corporation/info systems focusd rather then on personal finance, tax advice etc.

What uni are you at?

 

[Cookie182]

Your view of the world is a little too rosy

If it is that easy to get money by playing the markets and property I would be retired by now.

For example, according to this:
http://findre.com.au/index_returns.html

annual nominal returns on stock markets and property is approximately 10%..
let's say you are GOOD and get about 15%. Factoring out inflation thats about 12% real.

assuming you want an income of 80000 you would need about 700K capital to start with
then you will need another 100-200 for the bad times.

That is all on top of your house and other assets which doesn't generate income.

so before you even start you will need to be a millionaire.

assuming a 60k income.. you can save (a liberal estimate) 40k a year.

that will mean you can't start until 15-20 years later

all this being the lucky scenario... with some bad luck it would be worse

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Ofcourse you could try derivatives (buying options or futures for example)..... but that's quite risky..
you will need to be lucky for the first 7-10 years with high risk investments



-------------------------------------------

You are more likely to make big bucks young being an engineer.

Obviously your in a better position of knowledge then am I currently. I sent you a PM, if you get the time id like some advice/insight on a few things. Thanks

 

[Cookie182]

hey i'm a lesbian, and i think i'm really attracted to the way you type. I'm also quite fat, with rather large teeth. I think we should mate

Love jessy

Thanks for that love,

I might incorporate you into the plans

 

[blue_chameleon]

hey mate, i have looked into doing financial planning major because its something i really enjoy however having looked into it (only a little bit) i can gather

>absolute pain in the ass to get qualified (even compared to CA)
and from that legislation is constantly making it harder and harder to get qualified

Hard to qualify? Not really. Sure, you've got the PS146, and then the broader Dip of Fin Planning, but hard? I'd hope so, if I was getting advice from someone on where to allocate my life savings.

>minimal jobs at grad level

No offence, but you're talking out of your arse here. The industry cant get enough para/financial planners at the moment. It's just that a lot of jobs aren't actually advertised so that's where your networking skills come into play.

>Even once getting qualified because there are so many aspects of fp which can be open to litigationost fp's either dont give advice on certain aspects or special (ie in social sec, super etc)<<who can be bothered?

Not really sure what you're talking about here?
The thing is, there are so many areas that are considered in growing, protecting and distributing people's wealth. FP's can't do it all, otherwise estate planning solicitors, accountants, specialised tax planners...would all be out of jobs. It works by having trustworthy referral partners.

>fee structures can be all over the place for fp. so depening on how fees are structured you may do hours and hours of work for mimimum return.

This is shifting. A lot of the major wealth mgmt companies are shifting to hourly rates + plan fee. Eitherway, don't think you'll stroll into a job and have a 9-5 mon-fri job. It's a continual commitment to your clients. I know a few planners that work 80+ hours per week, and they are very well looked after.

Interesting read about demand for them.