Barry Mulholland, Ph.D., CFP ®, ChFC ®

Dr. Mulholland is the Director of CFP Programs for the Department of Finance, College of Business, University of Akron where he oversees program development and Financial Planning industry relationships, assists students with recruitment, and advises the student chapter of the FPA.  Dr. Mulholland holds a Ph.D. in Personal Financial Planning from Texas Tech University, an MBA from the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Miami.  He has been an assistant professor in the Personal Financial Planning Department at Texas Tech University and a Senior Finance Lecturer for the College of Business, University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh where he co-founded the Wisconsin Financial Services Institute.  Dr. Mulholland has had professional experiences as a financial representative with Principal Financial Group, a partner and general manager with Central Resources, LLC among others.

Topic: Why the term "free-online retirement tool" should raise concerns for both consumer and advisor

Digital advice, in one form or another, will be a part of the financial services industry going forward. Dr. Mulholland will discuss from the consumer’s perspective and the advisor's perspective exactly what digital advice is; limitations and potentials, and its influence on the client/advisor relationship.  In this presentation, he discusses the academic research into the critical variables, why do publicly-available tools perform so poorly, and ways advisors can discuss with their clients and prospects the reason for divergent results between financial planning professionals and the online tools.