Master of Financial Planning
2025 Deakin University Handbook
| Year | 2025 course information |
|---|---|
| Award granted | Master of Financial Planning |
| Deakin course code | M769 |
| Faculty | Faculty of Business and Law |
| Campus | There is currently no intake into this course. |
| Duration | 1.5 years full-time or part-time equivalent |
| Course Map - enrolment planning tool | The course map for new students commencing from Trimester 1 2025 will be available soon. Course maps for commencement in previous years are available on the Course Maps webpage or please contact a Student Adviser in Student Central. |
| Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) recognition | The award conferred upon completion is recognised in the Australian Qualifications Framework at Level 9 |
Please note the final intake into Master of Financial Planning is Trimester 1 2024. Intake suspended from Trimester 2 2024, onwards. | |
Course sub-headings
- Course overview
- Indicative student workload
- Professional recognition
- Career opportunities
- Participation requirements
- Mandatory student checks
- Alternative exits
- Course Learning Outcomes
- Course rules
- Course structure
- Work experience
- Research and research-related study
- Fees and charges
Course overview
Designed to meet the education requirements of Australia’s new financial planning standards authority, the Master of Financial Planning will provide you with innovative and applied financial planning education solutions by combining ethical decision-making with modern financial advice strategies.
Ready to secure your future and build a successful career with a degree that meets new requirements in a rapidly evolving industry?
Recent changes to the Australian finance services industry require financial planners to meet new education standards set by the Financial Adviser Standards (FAS). Deakin’s Master of Financial Planning course is accredited as a FAS-approved degree therefore providing you with a pathway to progress your career as a professional financial planner.
More than just a pathway towards becoming a registered financial planner, this course will enable you to take your financial planning skills and knowledge to new heights. As a graduate, you will be empowered to provide better solutions for your clients and enhance your employability skills and career opportunities. Apply, analyse and relate financial planning principles throughout projects and case studies that simulate real industry scenarios, better preparing you for tomorrow’s financial planning challenges. You will be introduced to a range of discipline areas including investments and portfolio theory, superannuation and retirement planning, insurance, estate planning. ethics, financial advice regulation and behavioural finance.
Learn how to apply advanced principles to meet client needs and the technical skills required to utilise the latest digital tools. Importantly, the course also places a strong emphasis on the professional responsibilities of the modern financial planner, both in an ethical and a compliance sense. Industry reforms have created an increased demand for ethical decision-makers, putting Deakin graduates in a strong position to stand out from the pack.
Better still, you will be learning alongside industry-active academics who are leaders in the field. Build relationships with your teachers. Get constructive feedback on industry expectations. Take your career forward.
Indicative student workload
You can expect to participate in a range of teaching activities each week. This could include lectures, seminars, online interactions, or professional experiences for Work Integrated Learning (WIL) units. You can refer to the individual unit details in the course structure for more information. You will also need to study and complete assessment tasks in your own time.
Professional recognition
AACSB and EQUIS Accredited
Deakin Business School holds both AACSB and EQUIS accreditations. These prestigious accreditations are awarded to business schools that meet strict standards of quality, academic and professional excellence, and demonstrate a commitment to ongoing improvement and innovation in their courses, ensuring our graduates are employable worldwide
FAS approved Course
The Master of Financial Planning is a FAS-approved course. Graduates will satisfy the education standards prescribed by FAS to be able to provide financial advice in Australia, subject to meeting other registration requirements prescribed by FAS (including completion of a Professional Year for Provisional Relevant Providers and passing a National Adviser Exam).
Professional Designation programs
Deakin University has entered into partnerships with a number of leading organisations to embed their professional designation program into the Master of Financial Planning course. Students may be eligible to enrol externally through the following professional designation programs as their elective unit into the Master of Financial Planning:
- Financial Advice Association of Australia Limited
Students have the opportunity to complete the CFP® capstone unit (CFPC) as their elective unit and satisfy the education requirements to become a CFP®
- Self-Managed Superannuation Fund Association (SMSF)
Students have the opportunity to complete the SMSF Specialist Advisor (SSA™) program as their elective unit and satisfy the education requirements to be an Accredited SMSF Association Specialist Adviser.
- Aged Care Steps (ACS)
Students have the opportunity to complete the Accredited Aged Care Professional program as their elective unit.
- TAL Risk Academy
Students completing specified modules and assessment tasks through the TAL Risk Academy will be entitled to a credit within the Master of Financial Planning.
Professional pathways
The Master of Financial Planning provides advanced standing into the CFP® Certification Program offered by the Financial Advice Association of Australia Limited (this recently established organisation was formed as a result of a merger between the Financial Planning Association (FPA) and the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA).
Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP)
Students who have successfully completed MAA747 Managing Intergenerational Wealth (previously titled 'Administration of Trusts and Estates') as their elective unit with the Master of Financial Planning will meet the Australian educational requirements for membership of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP).
Tax Practitioners Board (TPB)
Completion of Principles of Income Tax Law and Business Law units approved by the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB), will meet the education requirements to provide tax (financial) advice services.
Career opportunities
Recent reforms have created an increased demand for registered financial planners with a high-level understanding of what it means to provide responsible and professional advice.
The Master of Financial Planning is approved by FAS, ensuring Deakin students graduate with the right qualification and skills to take advantage of this demand.
Whether you’re currently working in the industry or looking to move into a financial planning role, you will be prepared to excel in a variety of positions, including:
- business development manager
- claims administrator
- compliance manager
- financial adviser
- insurance adviser
- paraplanner
- risk adviser
- superannuation consultant.
Participation requirements
Units in this course may have participation requirements that include compulsory placements, work-based training, community-based learning or collaborative research training arrangements.
Placement can occur at any time, including during standard holiday breaks. Learn about key dates at Deakin.Reasonable adjustments to participation and other course requirements will be made for students with a disability. More information available at Disability support services.
Mandatory student checks
Units which contain work integrated learning, a community placement or interaction with the community may require a police check, working with children check or other check. These requirements will be detailed in unit guides upon enrolment.
Alternative exits
| Graduate Certificate of Financial Planning (M569) | |
| Graduate Diploma of Financial Planning (M669) |
Course Learning Outcomes
| Deakin Graduate Learning Outcomes | Course Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|
| Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities | Apply an advanced and integrated knowledge about the financial planning development process for clients requiring financial planning advice of varying degrees of complexity and contexts |
| Communication | Demonstrate advanced interpersonal and networking skills to communicate persuasively with clients to gather and interpret personal data and transmit knowledge to clients through the preparation and presentation of financial plans including financial goal achievement and risk minimisation |
| Digital literacy | Select and apply appropriate digital technology to find, use, manage and persuasively disseminate complex wealth creation and risk minimisation knowledge and ideas to both clients and professional colleagues |
| Critical thinking | Systematically and critically analyse, synthesise, evaluate and transform a range of complex information on wealth creation and risk minimisation to create personalised and contextualised financial plans for clients |
| Problem solving | With creativity and autonomy, systematically develop strategies for wealth creation and risk minimisation for individuals by critically evaluating methods of inquiry, action planning and/or problem solving thereby generating innovative and contextualised solutions for financial goal achievement |
| Self-management | Demonstrate advanced skills to work and learn independently, for taking responsibility for continuing professional development, personal actions and to critically reflect and analyse own personal motivations, aspirations and actions |
| Teamwork | Lead and be accountable for the strategic management of group or team learning and outputs, demonstrating initiative in professional contexts and the ability to actively facilitate a positive team environment and to be open to working with and learning from others from different disciplines and backgrounds |
| Global citizenship | Engage ethically, professionally and productively in work, professional and the global contexts including with diverse communities and cultures, in a manner reflective of a critical understanding of ethical principles, a systematic knowledge of professional codes of conduct and an understanding of various world views and the complexity of elements important to members of other cultures |
Course rules
To complete the Master of Financial Planning students must pass 12 credit points and meet the following course rules to be eligible to graduate:
- DAI001 Academic Integrity and Respect at Deakin (0-credit-point compulsory unit) in their first study period
- 11 credit pints of core units
- 1 credit points of course elective units
Students are required to meet the University's academic progress and conduct requirements. See the enrolment codes and terminology to help make sense of the University’s vocabulary.
Course structure
Compulsory 0-credit point module
To be completed in the first trimester of study:-
| DAI001 | Academic Integrity and Respect at Deakin (0 credit points) |
Core units
| MAI728/MAA728 | Financial Behaviour and Decision Making * |
| MAI769/MAA769 | Ethics for Financial Services * |
| MLI714/MLC714 | Financial Advice Regulation 1* |
| MAI700/MAA700 | Estate Planning and Risk Management Strategies 1* |
| MAA719 | Superannuation and Retirement Planning 1 |
| MAA745 | Financial Planning and Economic Fundamentals 1 |
| MLC703 | Principles of Income Tax Law 1 |
| MLC707 | Business Law |
| MAA727 | Financial Planning Development 1,2, (Capstone) |
| MAF707 | Investments and Portfolio Management 1 |
Core Capstone Unit:
| MAA753 | Professional Research and Analysis (Capstone) |
Course elective units
Plus a 1 credit point course elective unit from:
| MAA747 | Managing Intergenerational Wealth 3 |
| MAF702 | Financial Markets and Digital Innovations |
| MMP713 | Property and Real Estate Context |
| MAA701 | Accounting |
| MWL718 | Internship |
Or another postgraduate unit with prior written approval of the Course Director
Or other approved professional designation programs^ with the prior written approval of the Course Director
^Professional designation programs:
- Aged Care Professional™
- Certified Financial Planner® (CFP)
- SMSF Specialist Advisor™(SSA™)
1 Required prior to enrolling in the professional designation programs
2 FAS approved unit (Financial Advice Capstone subject)
3 Required as elective unit to meet the Australian educational requirements of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP).
* MAI and MLI codes denote Intensive versions of the units.
Work experience
This course provides students the opportunity to complete one or more elective work integrated learning units.
Explore Business and Law WIL opportunities.
Course duration
Course duration may be affected by delays in completing course requirements, such as failing of units or accessing or completing placements.
Further information
Student Central can help you with course planning, choosing the right units and explaining course rules and requirements.
- Contact Student Central
Research and research-related study
This course includes 1 credit point equivalent research-related study [MAA753 Professional Research and Analysis] in addition to associated learning embedded across a number of units where student achievement is demonstrated in specific assessment tasks.
Students are introduced to research tools and techniques in core units of the course where they learn analytic skills and the practical application of those skills in professional contexts. They must also complete advanced level units and a capstone unit that require them to integrate the skills learnt over their course of study and produce applied pieces of research with reference to prevailing literature within specific assessment tasks.
Fees and charges
Fees and charges vary depending on the type of fee place you hold, your course, your commencement year, the units you choose to study, and their study discipline or your study load.
Tuition fees increase at the beginning of each calendar year and all fees quoted are in Australian dollars ($AUD). Tuition fees do not include textbooks, computer equipment or software, other equipment or costs such as mandatory checks, travel and stationery.
For further information regarding tuition fees, other fees and charges, invoice due dates, withdrawal dates, payment methods visit our Current students website.