FinanceโFinancial Planning
FinanceโFinancial Planning
FinanceโFinancial Planning

Tailored Skills for the Stewards of Tomorrow
Rutgersโs CFPยฎ Board Registered Online MS in FinanceโFinancial Planning (MSF) program prepares students to succeed in the field of financial planning.
By helping others achieve their goals, you can lead a fulfilling career that offers substantial growth opportunities, flexibility, and financial rewards.
The financial planning industry is undergoing a significant transformation due to an aging workforce, ongoing technological innovations, and shifting demographics.
These forces are fostering demand for fresh talent in financial advice and financial planning leadership.
Rutgers School of Business-Camden’s MSF program prepares you to embrace the opportunities these transformational forces have created.
Grounded in innovative courses, experiential learning opportunities, and a supportive community, the program helps you hone the holistic set of skills critical for success in financial planning.ย

CFPยฎ Board Registered Program
EXCELLENCE REQUIRED
90% of investors value certification. For 50 years, the CFPยฎ certification has been the standard of excellence for financial planners.
RU READY TO EXCEL?
RU READY TO EXCEL?
RU READY TO EXCEL?
RU READY TO EXCEL?
RU READY TO EXCEL?
RU READY TO EXCEL?

Leadership Specialization
LEADERS WANTED
Over the next decade, demand for financial planners is expected to grow 17%. At the same time, 1/3 of advisors are expected to retire.
RU READY TO LEAD?
RU READY TO LEAD?
RU READY TO LEAD?
RU READY TO LEAD?
RU READY TO LEAD?
RU READY TO LEAD?

Fintech Specialization
TECHNOLOGY ENABLED
Data, analytics, and AI are disrupting financial planning. Yet, many advisors have not invested in the necessary skills.
RU READY UNLEASH TECH?
RU READY UNLEASH TECH?
RU READY UNLEASH TECH?
RU READY UNLEASH TECH?
RU READY UNLEASH TECH?
RU READY TO UNLEASH TECH?

Strengthen Your Assets, Minimize Your Liabilities
- 100% Online Degree
- 30-credit degree program
- Complete in as few as 12 months
- Take classes on a full- or part-time basis
- Three annual admission cycles โ Fall, Spring, and Summer
- NOTE: Full-time students should plan to start in the Fall semester
- GMAT/GRE Scores are NOT required
- Same tuition for in and out-of-state
- AACSB Accredited
Student profile โฏ
Median Age: 31 years oldโฏ
Rutgers Alumni: 30%โฏ
Out of State: 35%โฏ


UPCOMING EVENTS AND INFO SESSIONS
GET THE INFORMATION YOU NEED TO START ADVANCING YOUR FUTURE

For more information or guidance through the application process, contact an Graduate Team Member at rsbc.info@camden.rutgers.edu or 856-225-6452.ย
MSF Curriculum
The MSF program requires 30 graduate credits. The courses are delivered through a mix of synchronous and asynchronous online modalities. Students will complete 18 credits of foundation and core courses, 9 credits of approved electives, and a 3-credit capstone course.
Note: The Online MSF program features classes that take place 100% virtually. While international students may enroll in this program from their own country, US visas are not offered for this program. If you are interested in an on-campus program, please review our On-Campus MSBA or On-Campus MBA programs.ย
Foundation Courses (9 credits)
Valuation as the unifying principle of Finance. Topics include forms of business ownership, firm and project cash flows, time value of money, bond and stock valuation, capital budgeting, operating and financial leverage, risk and diversification, and the cost of capital.
Prerequisite:ย 53:390:506 Financial Managementย
The investment setting, organization, and functioning of securities markets. Topics include efficient capital markets, modern portfolio management, asset pricing models, security valuation principles and practices, analysis and management of bonds and common stocks, derivative securities, and evaluation of portfolio performance.
Prerequisite:ย 53:390:506 Financial Managementย
By unifying standard financial principles and descriptions of how people behave, behavioral finance bridges financial theory, empirical evidence, and practice and leads to an understanding of how human behavior affects financial decision making and financial markets. Studying peopleโs wants, cognitive biases, and emotional shortcuts and errors leads to insights on important issues in finance, such as investment, saving, and spending decisions, portfolio construction, asset pricing, and market efficiency.
Prerequisite:ย 53:390:506 Financial Managementย
Core Courses (9 credits)
This advanced graduate course delves into the intricacies of financial planning, blending the fundamental principles from the CFPโs core knowledge areas with a deep focus on ethical considerations and critical thinking. Students will navigate various topics, such as professional conduct, investment strategies, tax implications, retirement and estate planning, and communication techniques. Throughout the course, emphasis will be placed on maintaining the highest ethical standards while using critical analysis to address contemporary financial challenges. By the end of this course, students will be proficient in creating comprehensive financial strategies that prioritize client goals, societal values, and regulatory standards.ย
Explore the strategic world of insurance and estate planning in this comprehensive course. Master the art of risk assessment, learn strategies to minimize financial exposure, and unravel the intricacies of estate planning from trusts to tax maneuvers. Grounded in the principles of financial planning, this course prepares students to safeguard client assets and support their clientsโ financial and philanthropic goals through effective insurance selection and estate preservation.
Delving into the intricacies of tax optimization and financial market regulation, this course marries academic theory with real-world practice. Viewed through the lens of financial planning, students will master strategic tax planning techniques and gain an understanding of the complexities of regulatory systems. Central to the coursework is a commitment to the ethical principles outlined in the CFP Boardโs Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct, preparing students for responsible and ethical financial leadership.
Capstone Course (3 credits)
Within the wealth management industry, technology has the potential to add value at all phases of the client lifecycle. In this course, students will learn about the key technological solutions in wealth management and how to critically evaluate their value propositions. Through partnerships with industry leaders, students will have access to software in areas such as customer relationship management (CRM), financial planning, portfolio management, risk assessment, and data analytics. The course will also explore the field of robo-advising.
Electives - Chosen from the Following Courses (9 credits)
The course provides a comprehensive overview of new financial technologies. Such technologies combine traditional investment practice with the ever-increasing power of computation to facilitate the achievement of highly customized objectives. The course covers the rise of big data analytics (Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning) as well as the rise of automated investment advisers and algorithmic trading. We also discuss the role of the Blockchain in cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Etherium, and their implications for investment management practice and financial services.
This course provides a broad and practical introduction to the modern methods of Financial Data Analysis. The course emphasizes the use of modern analytical techniques to extract insights from the most commonly used financial data. Using a hands-on approach, students will develop deep practical intuition into the nature of financial returns, bond valuation, and stock pricing. Using a programming language, such as โR,โ students will build financial models using a mix of market and accounting information, build optimally weighted portfolios, learn the basics of risk management, and learn simulation techniques, such as Bootstrap and Resampling.
Prerequisite: 53:390:506 Financial Management or an assigned LinkedIn Learning course.
This course provides a broad and practical introduction to the modern methods of Investment Management. The course emphasizes the use of big data and modern analytical techniques of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence to improve the performance of investment management. We start with the introduction to Python and financial data. We then apply Python and machine learning algorithms to the fundamental topics on investment management, such as bond valuation, stock pricing, derivative pricing, portfolio construction and optimization, international asset allocation, Monte Carlo simulation, and performance measurement.
Prerequisite: 53:390:506 Financial Management or an assigned LinkedIn Learning course.
This course develops studentsโ data extraction, data transformation, data analysis, data interpretation, and data visualization skills. Topics include fraud detection, Benfordโs Law, managerial accounting analytics, and financial accounting analytics. This course incorporates a substantial data analytics class project.
Prerequisite: 53:010:505 Non-Credit Financial Accounting Knowledge Seminar (or Undergraduate Level courses 52:010:101 Intro to Financial Accounting and 52:010:305 Intermediate Accounting)
Analytic competency is becoming tremendously important in the business world and is often the factor that distinguishes leading firms in any industry. This course is intended to provide an introductory overview of how firms implement data-driven decision-making. Students will learn statistical concepts, use spreadsheet modeling, and learn through a mix of lectures, cases, and class discussion. Students are required to have a functioning computer with Microsoft Excel installed. Within Excel, you must have DATA ANALYSIS and SOLVER functionality. The courseโs primary goal is to coach students on โfact-based decision makingโ and enable them to carefully plan and run โbusiness experimentsโ to make informed managerial decisions.
Analysis, understanding, and interpretation of financial statements; simple skills and methods for making common sense of the elaborate financial statements and financial reports prepared according to existing accounting standards and conventions. Skills relevant to credit analyses, lending decisions, security analyses, investment decisions, and other decisions that rely on financial data.
The focus of the course will be to introduce basic concepts in machine learning and data-analytic thinking to students, with an applied business orientation. Students will understand how to use data to competitive advantage and to build and evaluate models for decision-making. Companies today have access to vast amounts of data from their business operations. Data Science is the craft of extracting patterns from this data and using available information for competitive advantage. This course represents an introduction to data science and data analytic thinking. Students will learn to leverage data to answer business questions relating to classification tasks (e.g., will this credit card prospect default or not?), prediction (e.g., how much will this customer spend/year?) and similarity profiling (what do my most profitable customers look like?).
Note: Students must be comfortable installing packages independently and navigating in a computing environment. Important: The course assumes the student already has some basic familiarity with the Python programming language as well as a working knowledge of Jupyter notebooks.
This course is designed to help students acquire foundational knowledge and skills related to understanding, predicting, and changing human behavior and processes in and around organizations. Students will become more aware of their strengths and weaknesses as individuals and team members. They will learn how to apply theoretical concepts to master real-world challenges. Topical coverage includes, but is not limited to, leadership models and theories, job attitudes, employee motivation, group/team dynamics, decision-making, organizational climate and culture, stress, diversity, and individual differences, such as perceptions, attitudes, and personality.
This course examines major concepts, theories, processes, and practices associated with conflict analysis, resolution, and negotiation. Within an interactive learning environment, emphasis is placed on preparing for and analyzing conflict and negotiation situations, developing various goals of conflict management and negotiation, learning principles of constructive and destructive communication, assessing biases and barriers to effective conflict resolution and negotiation, and reflecting on these processes for managerial growth and development. This course is designed to address a broad spectrum of conflict resolution and negotiation problems that are faced by managers and professionals. Moreover, we will combine the theoretical concepts from class with applications, so you can understand why and how things work in context. Successful completion of this course will enable you to recognize, understand, and analyze essential concepts in conflict resolution and negotiation.
This course is designed to provide students with a foundation in managing talent in organizations, with a specific focus on aligning human resource policies and practices with business strategy to help organizations gain and sustain a competitive advantage. Topical coverage includes, but is not limited to, workforce planning, the analysis and design of work, sourcing and recruiting diverse talent, selecting and acquiring talent, training and developing talent, and retaining talent. A key focus of the course is applying concepts to real-world organizational examples and identifying the ethical impact of policies and practices on multiple stakeholders (e.g., employees, the organization, society, etc.).
This course focuses on the process by which managers sense and respond to change. Emphasis on proactive, planned, and managed change that may involve adaptation of structure and policy, as well as influencing the underlying system of beliefs, values, and attitudes. The course includes an examination of leadership climate, organizational culture, and individual resistance as factors influencing the change process and comparison of the efficacy of possible interventions.
This course examines how managers can create value propositions and be strategically innovative in their companies. The course also examines how established firms can respond to disruptive threats through the innovation process. This course should be of interest to those interested in managing in high- or low-tech firms as well as those interested in consulting. Course objectives are to develop skills in creative strategic thinking, build familiarity with innovation concepts and terms, and develop skills in communicating and persuasively presenting creative ideas. Through in-class exercises and cases, the emphasis is on helping students develop these skills as well as how they, as future managers, can influence the creative and innovation process in organizations.
Prerequisite:ย 53:620:505.
Emotional Intelligence (EI) โ the act of intentionally using emotions in guiding thinking and behavior โ is scientifically documented as a key factor in successfully leading ourselves and others in the work environment. EI involves developing an effective level of awareness of self and others, appropriate use and management of emotions, and applying a set of personal and social competencies to interact effectively in all forms of workplace relationships. This course requires the student to be knowledgeable in EI theory. In addition, the course design encourages the application of EI through a variety of assessments and theory-to-practice assignments and the course project. As a result of successfully completing this course, students will recognize and be able to apply best practices in emotional intelligence within a work environment.
This course covers development and management of digital marketing strategy, and the uses of digital media technology, including: social, mobile, and web to enhance customer equity, brand value, and ROI within the framework of an organizationโs overall marketing strategy.
This course explores how to use social media marketing to achieve strategic marketing goals. Using a mix of theoretical and practical exercises, students will learn to deploy social media as a strategic marketing asset. Objectives include learning and applying social media principles and evaluating how an organizationโs social media presence adds strategic value. Students will also learn to implement a social media plan, connecting strategic goals to tactical objectives and the social media tools used to listen to and engage with consumers. The course also provides the skills needed to manage and measure social media activity.
Leadership Specialization
For those looking to lead financial planning teams or organizations, our Leadership in Financial Planning specialization prepares you to become a future leader in the industry. Students in this specialization will take the following set of elective courses:ย
- Required Course: Foundations of Leadership and Teamwork
- Leadership Electives (Choose 2):
- Conflict Resolution and Negotiations
- Fundamentals of Talent Management
- Leading Change and Organizational Development
- Leading Innovation and Creativity
- Emotional Intelligence at Work
- Digital Marketing Strategy
- Social Media Strategy


Fintech Specialization
For those looking to delve deeper into Fintech, our Fintech in Financial Planning specialization equips you to harness the technology disrupting the financial planning industry. This concentration focuses on advanced financial technology, preparing you to lead and innovate in this dynamic field. Students in this specialization will choose three of the following four elective courses:ย
- Fintech and Financial Innovation
- Financial Data Analytics
- Investment Management and Machine Learningย
- Generative AI and Textual Analysis in Finance
Why Choose Rutgers Online MSF?
- CFPยฎ Registered: Sit for the CFPยฎ examination following graduation
- Innovative Courses: Immerse yourself in a cutting-edge curriculum that prepares you for a successful career built on the knowledge of financial planning, investments, behavioral finance, financial technology, leadership, and more.
- Expert Faculty: Learn from experts in the fields of finance and financial planning, including several CFPยฎ professionals.
- Experiential Learning: Bridge the gap between the classroom and client meetings through our partnerships with eMoney, MoneyGuide Pro, Morningstar, and RedTail and competitive scholarships to participate in experiential learning programs, such as Amplified Planningโs Externship Program.
- Expansive Community: Join a university with over 585,000 alumni, a campus with nearly 6,000 students, a business school with world-class faculty, and a program that prepares you for the future of financial planning.
- Flexibility and Accessibility: Enjoy the convenience of online learning while benefiting from Rutgers’ renowned faculty and robust academic resources. Our flexible online format allows you to balance your studies with professional and personal commitments.
- Transfer Credits: Transfer up to six credits of graduate coursework completed at another AACSB accredited university, Transfer credits are subject to approval by the program director.ย
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
The MSF curriculum is designed to hone the holistic set of skills successful wealth management professionals possess. The curriculum hasย 15 credits of required courses and 15 credits of electives. Moreover, our specialization options in Fintech inWealth Management and Leadership in Wealth Management provide students with the opportunity to craft a set of electives to help students advance in their wealth management careers.
Upon acceptance of your admission, you will be assigned an Academic Advisor. Your Advisor will set-up a course plan for you prior to registration.
The curriculum will be delivered online through asynchronous coursework.
Yes. Some MSF courses are offered in the RutgersโCamden Online MBA and MSBA, as well as the Modern Financial Technologies (FinTech) and Investment & Private Wealth Management Graduate Certificates.
Contact Us
227 Penn St.
Camden, NJ 08102
Dr. David Pedersen
Program Director
