The College for Financial Planning, located in Centennial, Colo., has become the first accredited college or university to offer an advisor-focused behavioral finance designation, the college said in a news release.
Behavioral finance is a field of study exploring the influence of psychology on the behavior of investors, based on the theory that investors are not always rational and may make decisions based more on emotion and biases than fact.
The eight-week Accredited Behavioral Finance Professional program consists of weekly live online or on-demand classes, a course e-book, e-publications of articles, HD videos, module quizzes, practice exams and a final exam. The topics covered include the foundations and principles of behavioral finance; psychological perspectives on economics; the role of psychological biases, heuristics and emotions in financial decision making; and applying knowledge of investor psychology into financial advising.
The program will be delivered via the college’s exclusive online learning platform, which brings the classroom into a student’s home or office. An activity feed advises the student what to complete each week so they have an integrated and efficient learning path to exam day. Instructors are not only accessible in class but via e-mail direct from the learning platform.
The college offers stackable credentials across 10 accredited professional designations, a CFP certification and a Master of Science degree in personal financial planning, which enables financial advisors to advance current career stages while earning credit toward their next credential.
Before launching its new designation, the college developed a five-question survey to gauge financial professionals’ views on behavioral finance. The study was conducted by e-mail from October 21 to November 4, 2020, and a total of 507 financial professionals participated.
The survey found that financial professionals who incorporate behavioral finance into client relationships see benefits in many areas. Of those surveyed who had received behavioral finance training (35%), 79% said it resulted in better client relationships; 75% said it resulted in better client reception of their planning advice; and 22% said it resulted in more clients.
Of those surveyed who said they had not received behavioral finance training, 70% said they were now considering it, but a majority (78%) of all survey respondents said they would be interested in behavioral finance training if they received accreditation for it. A similar majority (79%) said they felt accreditation in behavioral finance would positively influence current and potential clients. Lastly, 90% think that behavioral finance training would help them build their client base and deepen relationships with existing clients.
“Our survey results support what we’ve been hearing from many professionals—that there’s an appetite for advisor-focused behavioral finance training,” said Dirk Pantone, president of the college, in the news release. “We’re excited to provide professionals with a specialized program that will enable them to master critical soft skills that can enhance and grow their business.”
Founded in 1972, the College for Financial Planning, now part of Kaplan Financial, offers various financial certification programs, as well as graduate degree, non-degree and continuing professional education programs.