Name: John Finney

Nickname: Johnny
Hometown: New Orleans, LA
Degree Major: Finance
Classification: Senior


Academic Plans and Career Planning:
1. Why are you in this class?
I am in the CFP program.
2. What would you like to learn from this class?
The basic analytics of the financial planning process, and how to communicate this
process to a client in laymens terms.
3. What are your intentions for the remainder of your academic career?
Get a summer internship, and Finish the CFP program with a 3.5+ GPA.
4. Do you plan to get an advanced degree? From where? In what area?
Not necessarily. I want to get out and work for a few years and then maybe return to
school to get my MBA, depending on whether or not it will help me advance in my
career.
5. Type of jobs for your major. What would you like for your career?
I would like to either work for a financial firm as a CFP, or obtain a position as a
financial analyst at an investment firm or other company.
6. What is the range of incomes for these jobs? Entry level? Experienced?
Financial Planner: Entry level = 30-40,000. Total median = 68,000. Experienced =
huge variance; some planners make hundreds of thousands a year.
Analyst: Entry level = 50,000. Total median = 77,000. Experienced = around 100,000.
7. What is the employment outlook for these jobs? Current unemployment rate?
Both outlooks are better than average. The average expected growth rate in jobs
across all industries from 2012-2022 is 11%. The number of financial planning
jobs is expected to grow by 27% in that timeframe, while financial analyst jobs are
expected to grow by 16% in that time. The unemployment rate is currently 6.1%
according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
8. What are the educational requirements?
Both require a bachelor degree. Financial Analysts tend to have more opportunities
with a masters degree in finance or business administration, while it is not as
important in the financial planning/advisory world.
9. Any certifications, designations, or advanced degrees do you need? What are the
requirements to achieve these and the cost?
CFP (certified financial planner) and CFA (chartered financial analyst). Both
require a 4-year bachelors degree.
o CFP candidates must take numeroususually 7courses that deal with
financial planning, pass a 2-day exam, and have 3 years full time work
experience or 2 years of apprenticeship experience.
o CFA candidates must pass three examsusually taken 1 year apartand
have 2 years of professional work experience. It takes successful CFA
candidates about 4 years to complete this program.
10. What is the value of having a bachelor or graduate degree?
Having these degrees shows that you have a general knowledge base of the field
that you are going into, but most importantly, it shows that you have untapped
potential waiting to be utilized.
11. Is there a difference in pay for a male vs. female?
Females tend to get paid less than males because they are in the workforce an
average of 11 years less than males, and because they are less likely than males to
ask for a raise.

Networking and Career Placement:
1. At this point, what clubs and organizations have you joined to help network?
SFA (Student Finance Association), and the CFP program at LSU
2. Have you registered or used LSUs career services?
Yes
3. Have you developed a resume and model cover letter? How often have you revised it?
Yes. I revise it whenever applying for different types of positions, but I do not
revise it much when applying for the same type of position at different companies.
Job Search:
1. What do you want to do after graduation?
I want to start working as a financial planner at a firm like Edward Jones or start
working as a financial analyst at a company like Shell.

2. What are your 5 year and 10 year career plans?
5 years: If I become a planner, I would like to have my CFP designation while
working for a firm. If I become an analyst, I would like to have gone back to
school to earn an MBA as well as be on my way toward earning my CFA charter.
10 years: If I become a planner, I hope to have a much bigger clientele than 5 years
prior, while working for a firm or independently with my clients. If I become an
analyst, I would like to already have my CFA charter and MBA, which will allow
me to advance my career even further.
3. Who are the primary employers for your desired career?
Planner: Merrill Lynch, UBS, Morgan Stanley, Edward Jones, etc.
Analyst: It is hard to tell since most big companies have financial analysts, but
investment firms like the ones listed above will typically employ many analysts, as
will banks and credit institutions.
4. Pick two (2) potential employers in the field you desire to obtain employment. Write up
a brief overview of the company. Please explain why you think that would be a good
company for you to begin you career. Use your answer to this question to evaluate the
questions below.
Edward Jones Edward jones is an investment and financial advisory company
founded by Edward Jones in the 1920s. In the mid 1950s, Ted JonesEdward
Joness sonimplemented his new strategy for success. He realized that clients
were happiest when meeting advisors face-to-face, so he made it his mission to set
up a network of small community offices around the nation. Today his mission still
holds strong with more than 12,000 partners around the globe. Most of them work
in single advisor offices, which makes Edward Jones different from most other
investment/advisory companies. This entrepreneurial strategy makes joining
Edward Jones very attractive to me. And since it is still a partnership, it means that
the advisors work first and foremost for their clientsnot for a corporation.
Shell Being a financial analyst at Shell is also a very attractive career path to me.
I first thought of applying to Shell when I went to a presentation about their
internship program at LSUs SFA meeting earlier this semester. What I like about
Shell is that their employees in the finance department go through a rotational
period for the first 3 years, trying out many different jobs, before they decide
where they actually want to end up permanently. Their diverse workforce also
shows the importance they place on teamworkthe more diverse the team, the
better they will be at making group decisions. The salary and the benefits at Shell
also make it a very attractive option. Employees get every other Friday off, and
they receive a pension after they retire.
5. What is the cost of living where you are now? What is the cost of living in the area you
would like to live in the future?
If working for Edward Jones, I could have a branch in the Baton Rouge or New
Orleans Metropolitan Area. If working for Shell, I could also work in the New
Orleans area, although other cities on the Gulf Coastlike Houston, Texasmight
be more in demand of financial professionals.
According to the website Numbeo, the CPI in New Orleans is 76.65, excluding
rent, and the local purchasing power is 116.13. The CPI and local purchasing
power were not available for Baton Rouge, although the rent prices are roughly
48% higher in New Orleans than in Baton Rouge.
The CPI in Houston is 90.09 (17.5% higher than New Orleans), although the local
purchasing power is roughly the same (116.66). Rent is about 15.5% higher in
Houston than in New Orleans and about 71% higher than in Baton Rouge.
6. How much will you spend on housing in the desired area you would like to live?
Price per square meter to buy an apartment in each of the 3 cities are as follows:
o Inside the city
Baton Rouge: $1,291.67
New Orleans: $2,175.00
Houston: $2,516.77
o Outside of the city
Baton Rouge: $1,244.26
New Orleans: $1,264.76
Houston: $1,400.56
It is clear that there is a trend in housing in these three cities. A house or apartment
would cost less in Baton Rouge than in New Orleans, and a house or apartment
would cost substantially less in New Orleans than in Houston.
o Average household listing price by city:
Baton Rouge: $273,510
New Orleans: $291,048
Houston: $405,755