About Our Program

The Financial Planning Program at Illinois is part of the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics within the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. Our program is a decade old and has deep roots across the financial service profession. Financial Planning at Illinois is a CFP® Board Registered Program. Our graduates are eligible to sit for the CFP® exam following graduation.

Students study principles of personal financial planning, mastering core financial planning topic areas such as investments, tax, retirement, estate planning, higher education planning, general cash flow principles, and risk management. They learn the domains, process, and ethical standards needed to become a financial planning professional.

Visit the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics (ACE) website to learn more about the financial planning concentration within the Agricultural and Economics .

Student Outcomes

Our program is a decade old and has deep roots across the financial service profession. The Planning Illini excel in insurance, brokerage, institutional and financial advising opportunities. We are a competitive program, having students consistently shine and place in the finals across a number of financial planning competitions; winning the Morningstar Portfolio Challenge in 2020. We have placed in the finals of the National FPA competition for five of the past six years.

Our students have found success working in well known and niche financial planning, insurance, brokerage and financial planning firms. The Planning Illini are represented at Vanguard, Morningstar, Equitable, Chicago Wealth Partners, State Farm, Busey, Northwestern Mutual, Fidelity, Charles Schwab, AYCO, Country Financial, StrategIQ Financial Group, Sterling Wealth Management, Mariner Wealth Advisors, KEB, JMG Financial Group, IPI Wealth Management, Capstone Financial Advisers, BDF Private Wealth, Income Lab, Strategic Wealth Partners, Signature Advisors Group, Heritage Planning Partners, Morton Private Wealth, Thrivent, Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, Midwestern Securities and other fantastic agencies and firms!

We would love to connect with you!