8 things your financial planner won't tell you.

MSN Money's Liz Pulliam Weston recently posted a great article about how not all financial planners are created equal. Read it by clicking here:

The 8 items deal with:

1. Qualifications

2. Fiduciary status

3. Compensation types

4. Comprehensive/holistic approach vs narrow focus

5. "If the only took you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail."

6. Trying to time/beat the market.

7. Follow fundamentals or fads?

8. Disciplinary history?

William Paterson University encourages students in its financial planning degree program to become professionals who obtain professional designations and put the clients interests' first.

1st Place Overall in the National Financial Planning Challenge!!!!

Q: In 2010, if you invited every CFP(r) Board registered financial planning undergraduate degree program in the U.S. to compete in a 3-part Financial Planning Challenge where the students had to create a financial plan for a client, compete in a knowledge bowl, then adjust the plan in 36 hours to a change in the clients circumstances and present the new plan to the clients..... who would win????

A: William Paterson University.
William Paterson University students receiving their 1st place overall award w/ Marv Tuttle (FPA CEO) and Dr. Tom Potts (FPA President).
















Nick Scheibner of Stanhope, Nathan Phillips of Sparta, and Cagla Yildirim of Parsippany won the National Financial Planning Challenge at the FPA national conference in Denver, Colorado held Oct 7-12. They worked on the case all summer long without knowing if they'd get anything but a line on their resume saying they "participated" and they ended up with the following:
1st place overall
1st place in the Knowledge Bowl
1st place in the case presentation
$10,000 in scholarship money
Multiple job offers!

"This event demonstrated the work ethic of WPU students and their desire to get into the financial planning profession." -Luke Dean
WPU booth @ the FPA conference. Thanks to the judges & event sponsors: FPA, Ameriprise Financial, CFP(r) Board, Academy of Financial Services

I don't want the students to sit too high on their horse, but they asked me to send this message to Texas Tech, Georgia, Virginia Tech, Missouri, K-State, and the rest of the universities w/ financial planning degree programs.

WPU students attend FPA national conference in Denver, Colorado

WPU sent 8 students to the national conference of the Financial Planning Association (FPA) in Denver, Oct 7-12.
5 students earned free registration to the conference by working as volunteers at the conf.
3 students earned free everything (hotel, airfare, conf registration) by being selected as 1 of 8 finalists for the National Financial Planning Challenge.
This photo is of David Yeske & Elissa Buie of Yeske Buie stopping by the WPU booth. Yeske Buie is one of the largest RIA firms in the United States, with offices in Virginia & San Francisco.


WPU students attending an FPA social event for students attending the conference.


WPU students at the Denver Conference Center.

Executives from Prudential in NJ meeting with our students at the WPU booth.

QUICK HITS from WPU Campus in October

1) Our university President is cooler than yours.
(President Kathleen Waldron rode a Harley to the Homecoming football game)


2) The President of the Dominican Republic, Leonel Fernandez, spoke on capmus @ WPU and signed an agreement for student/faculty exchange program. See story here. Any students prefer to take financial planning classes in the Carribbean?

We're #1! We're #1! We're #1!

WPU financial planning students Nick Scheibner, Cagla Yildirim, and Nathan Phillips finished 1st place in the National Financial Planning Challenge Knowledge Bowl @ the national FPA conference in Denver, CO on October 9th.


The National Financial Planning Challenge is sponsored by the FPA, the CFP(r) Board, Academy of Financial Services, and Ameriprise Financial.

The challenge consists of 3 phases:
1. Creating a financial plan for a sample client
2. The Knowledge Bowl
3. After a "life changing event" occurs in the life of the sample client, the team was given 36 hours to adjust the plan, and then present it to the judges in front of professionals and professors at the conference.

Congrats to Nick, Nathan, & Cagla! They worked very hard this summer, and we are very proud of them.

New Jersey university has first FPA student chapter in nation

The Insurance & Financial Advisor website ran a story in June 2010 about WPU being the home of the 1st FPA student chapter in the nation.

New Jersey university has first FPA student chapter in nation

WPU financial planning team featured in Paramus Post article

The Paramus Post published an article about 3 WPU students (Nick, Cagla, & Nathan) who gave up their summer to compete in a national financial planning case study. The article was printed before we found out that their financial plan was good enough to earn them a free trip to Denver to present their plan in front of the judges and professionals attending the national FPA conference in Denver! Congrats team -- make us proud with a Top 3 finish!

Click here to read article.

WPU financial planning team selected as finalists in national financial planning competition!!!

Nick Scheibner, Cagla Yildirim, and Nathan Phillips have been selected as finalists in the FPA's national financial planning case study!
Their financial plan was good enough to earn them free airfare, accomodations, and registration for the national FPA conference in Denver, CO Oct 7-12, where they will participate in the final 2 phases of the competition. The 1st is a knowledge bowl and the 2nd part will include them presenting their financial plan to the judges and professionals attending the conference.
Good luck! And Congratulations!

Wall St. Journal article on careers in finance (like financial planning)

A recent Wall St. Journal article lists Financial Planning as the finance career having the most projected growth from 2008-2018.

A related article on Career paths in Finance in the WSJ indicates that the 3 most essential skills for any career in finance are:

• Math skills
• Communication skills
• Technology and software skills

To see the WSJ articles, click here and here.

At WPUNJ, our financial planning students learn how to use software used by real professionals in the workplace (i.e., Morningstar, MoneyGuidePro, FinaMetrica and we're adding MoneyTree this semester). To hone their communication skills, we encourage our students to take a course in Public Speaking and at least one course in professional sales offered by our renown Russ Berrie Institute of Professional Sales.

HIRED!!!! Congrats to Michael Ciccone

Hired by Pinnacle Benefits Group, which provides insurance solutions to RIA's and other investment professionals.
Michael was one of the top students in the Cotsakos College of Business, graduated summa cum laude last semester, and was the recipient of the Pesce scholarship. He also helped co-found the 1st FPA student chapter in the U.S. here at WPU where he served as its inaugural Vice President. Michael was active in attending FPANJ meetings on and off campus.


Michael encourages current students to do well in their financial planning courses, and become active in the FPA (student chapter and FPANJ) and NAPFA to meet other professionals and potential employers as well as keep up-t0-date on the latest trends and issues in the industry. His last course before graduation was a self-designed independent study course where he created a financial plan for a sample client. Congrats to Michael and good luck!

WPU financial planning professor quoted in Bloomberg article

Luke Dean, Academic Coordinator of the financial planning program @ WPU was quoted in a September 2nd Bloomberg article about insurance agents being opposed to the fiduciary standard.

Click here to see the story.

WPU program director featured in Retirement Income Journal

Luke Dean, the program director for the financial planning program @ William Paterson University was featured on the homepage of the Retirement Income Journal for the week of September 1st! Take a look by clicking here.

Or check out the screenshot of their homepage below:

WPU students spend their summer.... working on case studies???

3 students from WPU participated in the national financial planning case study competition sponsored by Ameriprise, the CFP(r) Board, and the FPA. The top 8 teams from around the country will be flown to Denver, CO where they will attend the national FPA conference for 4 days and have a chance to present their financial plan in front of judges and professionals from around the country.

Our 3 proud participants are Nick Scheibner, Cagla Yildirim, and Nathan Phillips. Good luck! They completed their case study and are waiting to hear back from the judges.


Michael Ciccone completed an independent study this summer by creating a comprehensive financial plan for a mock client.

Keep up the good work.

WPU's student chapter featured as TOP STORY in FPA SmartBrief

WPU's student chapter was the TOP STORY in FPA's SmartBrief, a weekly update on FPA's latest news & events sent to thousands of professional financial planners across the United States.

WPU students participating in Summer Mentor program

Some members of WPU's FPA student chapter are participating in a 3-month mentorship program over the summer. Students are matched with local professionals in the financial planning industry. The goal of the program is to keep students actively learning and applying financial planning skills throughout the summer and, to use their mentors to help answer sample CFP(r) exam questions, discuss current financial planning issues, and to conduct mock interviews and resume reviews.

For more detailed info on the timeline and responsibilities: click here.

WPU financial planning program featured in FPANJ newsletter

WPU and the 1st FPA student chapter in the nation were featured in the FPANJ Summer 2010 newsletter sent out to all FPANJ members.

HIRED!!! Congrats to Steven Crevar!

Steven C. was recently hired by Hogan-Knotts Financial Group in Red Bank, NJ. Hogan-Knotts is a fee-only financial planning firm that has been in business for almost 4 decades.

Steven will be involved with learning all of the day to day operations of the firm under the Senior Planners tutelage, including compliance, generating and evaluating financial plans using MoneyGuidePro(r) software, and hopes to one day work his way up to becoming one of the Senior Planners for the firm.

Steven recommends current students to become active in the FPA-student chapter to meet professionals and learn the in's and out's of the profession. He also encourages students to "become very knowledgeable in the technologies offered and assigned in classes (Morningstar, MoneyGuidePro, Bloomberg, etc). These programs will be the tool that one will need to bridge the gap between what you learned in school and what you'll need to connect with clients and educate them regarding why and where they need assistance." He also notes that knowing how to use these programs will give you a leg up in the hiring process.

Congrats to Steven. Now show them that WPU financial planning students are hard working, competent, humble, and honest.

Congrats WPU Dept of Economics, Finance, & Global Business class of 2010!

Onward and upward!

Make us proud and show them that WPU grads are hard working, humble, and honest.

WPU financial planning program featured in Paramus Post article & IFA

WPU College Students Standing Out in the Crowded Marketplace

UPDATE 9/24/2010: IFA newsweb also ran a story about our student chapter becoming the 1st FPA student chapter in the country.
New Jersey university has first FPA student chapter in nation

Guest Speaker: Cary Carbonaro of Stonegate Wealth Mgmt

SPEAKER: Cary Carbonaro, CFP(r), MBA

EVENT: WPU student chapter of FPA

DATE: 3/24/2010

TOPIC: "How to market yourself, and your firm as a financial planner"

Cary Carbonara of Stonegate Wealth Mgmt gave our students tips about how students can utilize a number of different networks, organizations, websites, and technology to help market yourself and your firm as a financial planner. She underscored the importance of active membership in organizations like FPA, FPANJ, NAPFA, etc. and social networking sites like facebook, and LinkedIn.

Guest Speaker: Mark Germain of Beacon Wealth Management

SPEAKER: Mark Germain, CFP(r), MBA

EVENT: WPU student chapter of the FPA

DATE: 3/5/2010

TOPIC: "Top 10 mistakes made by financial planners"

Mark Germain, Founder & CEO of Beacon Wealth Management presented a brutally honest analysis of the most common mistakes made by new and veteran professionals in the field. Some of the mistakes related to reporting, not having errors and omissions, charging too much, not knowing the clients goals, objectives, or risk tolerance and my personal favorite: too much golf. "You need to know everything about everything." Even if it sounds unrealistic, Mark expressed that your clients expect you to know the answer to every question. He shared that he consistently takes at least 2x the educational requirements for his certifications because you need to always be learning in this profession.

Guest Speaker: Darryn Murdoch of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage

SPEAKER: Darryn Murdoch, LCSW

EVENT: WPU student chapter of the FPA

DATE: 2/3/2010

TOPIC: "Using reverse mortgages as an Estate Planning tool"

Darryn Murdoch presented examples of how reverse mortgages have been used by clients and professionals as an estate planning and retirement planning tool. She included some case studies and examples of when/where reverse mortgages have been advantageous for a number of client and family circumstances.

Guest Speaker: Edward Landau of Ameriprise

SPEAKER: Edward Landau, CFP(r)
EVENT: WPU student chapter of the FPA
DATE: 1/27/2010
TOPIC: "How to determine a client's risk tolerance"


Edward Landau presented information about determining a client's risk tolerance, common mistakes financial planners make when working with clients of differing levels of risk tolerance, and shared a few case studies.

Guest speaker: Laura Mattia of Baron Financial Group

SPEAKER: Laura Mattia, CFP(r), MBA

EVENT: WPU's Financial Planning student chapter of FPA

DATE: 11/25/2009

TOPIC: "Compensation in Financial Planning"

Laura Mattia of Baron Financial Group was the speaker for the inaugural meeting of our student chapter of the Financial Planning Association. Her presentation demonstrated different forms of compensation in financial planning and the potential conflicts that may accompany them.

Guest Speaker: Ben Baldwin

SPEAKER: Ben G. Baldwin, Jr., CLU, ChFC, CFP(r)
EVENT: North Jersey Society of Financial Service Professionals Mtg
DATE: 3/18/2010 9 am - 11 am
TOPIC: "Financial Services in the Crosshairs: Life Insurance in the New World of 2010"

Ben Baldwin, author, RIA, consultant, and principal owner of Baldwin Financial Systems, LLC in Illinois came and spoke on campus as part of the SFSP mtg on 3/18/2010. The presentation included information on policy illustrations, managing life insurance, contract flexibility, and future changes in life insurance.

Dozens of local professionals also attending this mtg and took a tour of WPU's College of Business.

HIRED! Congrats to Andrea Vintimilla!

Andrea V. was recently hired by Quadrant Capital Management in Montclair, NJ. Quadrant is a fee-only comprehensive financial planning firm founded in 2001 by Jeff Fisher & Jim Kearney.

Andrea is a motivated and ambitious student that will graduate in May '10. Andrea helped pay her own way through college working several part-time jobs. Andrea made the Dean's list, is fluent in both English & Spanish, is a confident person, and has developed very good interpersonal skills.

Congratulations Andrea and good luck as you begin your career and work towards passing the CFP(r) exam!

1st student chapter of the Financial Planning Association

William Paterson University's financial planning program became the first officially registered student chapter of the Financial Planning Association.

We're very proud of this, and the students that helped make it possible.
Here's a link to a story on FPANJ's homepage featuring our student chapter.

HIRED! Congrats Maja Koburov!

After completing an internship with Regent Atlantic Capital, Maja K. was hired full-time as an Operations Assistant at Regent Atlantic in Morristown, NJ. Congratulations Maja! Regent Atlantic is the largest fee-only financial planning firm in New Jersey and has been consistently rated on Forbes magazine's list of the top 50 financial planning firms in America.

"My responsibilities revolve around the day-to-day operations of the business. I primarily focus on Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable and HR. I feel like I'm learning a lot. It is amazing how much more you need to learn after your graduate because school gives you a good base but you need the real world experience to know how a business is run."

Maja speaks 4 languages, graduated with honors, a 3.967 GPA, and has always been an overachiever and perfectionist in addition to being a kind and pleasant person. We wish her the best as she begins her career. Keep making us proud Maja.

Article about 'internships' being key for college students

The NJ Record published a great article about internships today.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/education/college/84759632_To_get_your_foot_into_a_career_door__find_an_internship.html

Here are some highlights (see the above link for full article):
Companies often use internships as a way to identify promising talent, so landing one could be the first step to getting a full-time job.

Competition for the best internships is stiff. It is important to have a strong academic record and involvement in extracurricular activities. For the most competitive internships, you might need previous internship experience.

A high-quality internship involves more than getting coffee or making photocopies. Real internships offer students the opportunity to learn about a potential career, develop marketable skills and establish a network of contacts.

A few additional pieces of information for you:
-WPU offers credit for internship experience through FIN 490
-Internships are a great way to find out if you'd really enjoy working in that profession.
-Students that demonstrate superior work habits and potential are more likely to be offered a full-time position upon completing the internship, or will receive a referral or recommendation from the internship provider that will help them gain employment elsewhere.

MSN article about college classes that will help you in the 'real' world

A recent article on 'MSN Careers' listed 7 courses you should take to help you in the real world:
1. Personal finance/accounting
2. Technology
3. Public speaking
4. Writing
5. Marketing
6. Sales
7. Management

In order to become proficient in a career as a financial planner, you will need to be proficient at almost all of these. So in addition to your financial planning courses, you should incorporate courses into your degree plan that will improve your proficiency in the topics listed above. Here are some courses you should add:

*COMM 263 (Public speaking)
*RPS 205 (Professional sales)
*RPS 420 (Financial services selling)
*FIN 490 (Internship in finance)
*COMM 360 (Interpersonal communication)
*ENG 207 (Effective business writing)