“The higher the level of education in our field, the better equipped we are to provide the right solution at the right time.”
So says Daniël van Heerden, a Moonstone Business School of Exellence 2023 top achiever, when asked why he would recommend the Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Planning (NQF 8) to other professionals in his field.
Van Heerden,47, serves as the director and financial adviser at Global Asset Management and Financial Services. As an independent brokerage, he says they are always looking at ways to provide and even more professional and personalised solution for their clients. In line with this commitment, he enrolled in the Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Planning (PGDFP) in 2022 and completed it last year.
“Advancing my studies in financial planning was the next logical step. We have decades of experience in financial planning but we felt it essential to link this with a post-grad qualification with a reputable business school,” he says.
Approved by the FSCA as a recognised qualification for FAIS Fit and Proper purposes in all product sub-categories for all categories of FSP, the PGDFP provides a clear pathway for students who have completed a BCom in Financial Planning or similar NQF 7 qualification to further their studies in professional financial planning practice.
The postgraduate diploma consists of four compulsory modules: financial planning environment, personal financial planning, corporate financial planning, and a case study module.
As someone who has been in the industry for a good number of years, Van Heerden says he enjoyed the case study module a bit more than the others. He shares that you do tend to get stuck in a set way of approaching and assisting clients and corporates. For him, running through the various modules helped a great deal in expanding and refining the process.
“Financial Planning is all about understanding the bigger picture and then providing specific solutions in multiple areas to make it happen. Like painting a picture; you need to know all the colours you have available to get the best results. If you only paint with two colours because you are not familiar with all the options, you will still have a painted picture but not at the level it should be,” says Van Heerden.
He cautions potential students that pursuing the post-graduate qualification requires a considerable amount of effort.
“I take my hat off to those students who completed this course without a number of years of work experience. If you are working already and have a family, I would suggest spreading the qualification over two years. It can be done in one but it does require your attention. That said, if you plan well – which you should be able to do as a planner – it is very manageable and rewarding,” he says.
Van Heerden says he had to schedule his time very deliberately to complete the required tasks and studies.
“The key is simply to schedule the time and then to get stuck into it. The MBSE learning centre provides plenty of resources but the Financial Planning handbook is essential. It is such a valuable learning tool and one that you will keep using well after you are done with your exams.”
He says MBSE’s student portal provides access to great study material in the form of notes and self-assessments.
“The Financial Planning handbook is what it’s all about but the study notes in many cases made it much simpler to understand. I ended up using a combination of notes highlighted with valuable information and my handbook with quick reference tabs stuck to the most important pages.”
Van Heerden describes the MBSE team as very helpful.
“I managed to mess up my online registration but with a quick e-mail to MBSE it was resolved and I was successfully registered for the PDGFP. On the lecturing side, I had a couple of queries related to assignments and I always received a quick and informative reply. I always got the impression that whoever responded to me, wanted to help, was passionate about what they did and wanted to be there.”
Van Heerden concludes by saying that he would recommend MBSE as an education partner “for the simple reason that they actually care about education”.
2024 enrolments
Applications for the first semester close on Monday 29 January.
The Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Planning is one of five accredited qualifications offered by MBSE. The others are:
- Advanced Certificate in Financial Planning (NQF 6)
- Occupational Certificate: Compliance Officer (NQF 6)
- Higher Certificate in Wealth Management (NQF 5)
- Higher Certificate in Short-term Insurance (NQF 5)
Apply today at www.mbse.ac.za.
For more information, contact us at help@mbse.ac.za.
