Certified finance professional

[Miguelsmom]

My son is looking into this certificate mainly for his own personal use. However we don't know if the course is worth 3k. It's a 49-70 week program. We figure it maybe because he won't need to hire a financial planner later.

He's debt adverse and secular so I don't think financial peace is a good option. He will need a credit score and a mortgage. I don't think Financial Peace goes into as much detail as this.

But the price is a lot. I'm thinking if we pay for the first course then take the rest of the course as he feels he needs to ( so $450/course). He also needs it as he plans to open his own business.

Mainly I want him to have a complete financial education. 

(He's the type of kid that will live in an unsafe place with minimum amenities and store all of his income in the bank savings account. Then not spend enough on food or entertainment for himself)

[Bootsie]

If he wants to learn about handling his own finances and managing his own finance, the CFP designation is not necessary.  There would be much in the program that is not focused on his needs (such as how to interact with a client and acces the client's financial needs and risk tolerance) that he would have to spend time and money on.  It also would not focus on small business financial management if that is what he is looking for.  This designation is really for someone who wants to have a career advising others on financial issues.  

[Frances]

If you have good credit, the best way to get him started on a good credit score is to make him an authorized user on one or more of your credit cards. It will help him get reduced rates on things like car insurance.

Many financial planners provide free consultations and there is tons of good advice available for free at sites like Nerd Wallet. Community colleges often offer non-credit courses specifically for small business owners. Plus, there are different mentoring programs for small business owners. Personally, I would not pay for the certification.

[Miguelsmom]

We don't own any credit cards. We deal mainly in cash and debit. He will be in a different situation as he wants to own a business and home. Honestly I have no idea what our credit score is we don't pay attention to it as we buy in cash. He wont be able to do that and his liquid assets will be far more then ours.

 

I want him to be able to rely on himself for more advanced personal finance. He is taking an business minor but it hasn't covered finances yet. He's scared to manage debt but even now that's holding him back. He needs a set of hard rules to deal with finance. We were thinking this was the best way because it gives case studies and covers all aspects of finance. Our other option is coursera's finance classes. His CC doesn't have Community outreach classes. And the "local" university isn't local. So he's stuck trying to find something online.

[J-rap]

My ds found the book I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi extremely educational and helpful in learning about financial planning.

I wonder if it would be helpful for your ds to start out by reading something like that before diving into an expensive course.

[Bootsie]

I am assuming that you are referring to the "Certified Financial Planner" designation.  This designation will not cover all aspects of finance; nor will it give hard rules regarding how to handle finances.  I do not think that there are hard rules of dealing with finance--each and every situation is different and economic enivornments change.  In the 1980s, for example, it made sense for a college student to borrow as much in student loans as possible at 5% and put the money in a CD earning 12%; today taking out student loans does not provide that opportunity.  

If he is getting a buisness minor, he will get some basics of finance.  Once, he has those basics he will be in a position to fairly easily pick up basic financial planning material to read.  He really needs to know, however, what part of finance it is he is wanting to learn about.  There is a big difference between household spending and budgeting, insurance planning, investments, and small business finanical management.  There are plenty of textbooks in each of those areas he could check out from his university library.