Through his Fox education, Sharon Dahis, class of 2026, is on his way to a successful career in the financial planning industry. (Photo by Ahmed Alghamdi)
As a junior at Temple University’s Fox School of Business, Sharon Dahis knows for certain that his future career must incorporate three important things.
One—his passion for finance.
Two—his personable personality.
And three—his desire to help others.
It’s as if he’s always been destined to major in financial planning.
“Being a financial planning major allows me to connect my love and passion for the finance world to my desire to help clients and individuals truly change their lives for the better.”
“Once I discovered the opportunity to study financial planning at the Fox School, I realized that it’s the career I wanted to pursue for myself,” says Dahis.
The undergraduate financial planning program at Fox prepares students with the education to become financial planners or wealth advisors. The curriculum ensures students have the tools to protect, grow and manage individual’s assets as well as help them meet their financial goals. Students in the major also obtain a thorough understanding of retirement planning, income tax and estate planning, insurance, investment allocation and employee benefits planning.
“In essence, the financial planning major is for students who are interested in finance and are also interested in helping people with their financial state,” says Cindy Axelrod, associate professor and deputy finance department chair at the Fox School.
“This major allows students to pursue a unique career in the finance sector to evaluate a client’s entire financial health, identify their goals and develop a financial plan. It’s a financial planner’s job to help someone identify what their financial planning objectives are, what they still want to accomplish and how they can do that.”
Dahis began his educational pursuits at Fox as a finance major, not a financial planning one, which is not uncommon for the major. He had realized his calling for financial planning through an internship that first exposed him to the field.
“To me, the financial planning major is much more focused on personal finance while finance centers much more on investment banking and corporate finance,” says Dahis. “I found financial planning to focus more on the advisory side of people’s wealth management.”
(Photo courtesy of Ahmed Alghamdi)
As financial planning majors, students can anticipate entering the industry with many career options, as the roles of a wealth advisor or financial planner can be applicable across a variety of disciplines.
“Not only are our students graduating with a degree from Fox but also fulfilled their educational requirements to sit for their professional credentials in the field, like the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) exam,” says Axelrod. “This allows our students to be recruited and enter the job market with a step ahead in their level of candidacy.”
Dahis eyes a successful career as a wealth advisor in a registered investment advisory (RIA), which is a firm with a legal requirement to always act in a fiduciary role. Pursuing this kind of position is one he knows he will personally connect with.
“As an immigrant, I understand from experience the difficulties families can face while getting accustomed to the American economic system,” says Dahis. “I really believe that down the line this role can put me in a position to help combat that issue for individuals and families.”
Dahis is on track to graduate in fall 2025 and has secured an internship for the summer with RTD Financial. Overall, he finds himself confident through his experiences in the major.
“My experience within the financial planning major has been incredible,” says Dahis. “Professor Axelrod and the financial planning major leadership do an outstanding job of providing us with the knowledge, support and guidance we need to help us standout as students and learn critical information.”
“Being a financial planning major allows me to connect my love and passion for the finance world to my desire to help clients and individuals truly change their lives for the better.”
(Photo courtesy of Ahmed Alghamdi)
This support extends outside of the classroom, too: the Financial Planning Association (FPA) Student Professional Organization (SPO) serves as a strong extracurricular opportunity for students in the program. Dahis serves as the SPO’s president through fall of 2025.
“The FPA helps us as students bridge the gap between us and financial planning employers,” says Dahis. “Our SPO does a great job at helping students connect to excellent resources like our alumni network and hear first-hand from industry leaders about their experiences within the financial planning field.
“Overall, I think the biggest asset in the financial planning student experience is participation in the FPA.”
As Axelrod considers the continued success of the major, she recognizes the importance of its engaged student leadership, like Dahis.
“Sharon is a fantastic student who clearly demonstrates the leadership and success we want all our students within the financial planning major to achieve,” says Axelrod. “Financial planning is a very gratifying and fulfilling industry to work within—we tailor our programming to not only prepare our students for great success across their careers but maintain a high level of financial literacy across their lives, too.”
Dahis is prepared to utilize his financial planning education to his fullest career potential.
“I believe financial planning will offer me a truly meaningful career,” says Dahis. “This major allows me to find success in the finance industry while also letting my personality shine—which is a great and motivating feeling.”
(Photo courtesy of Ahmed Alghamdi)