Course: FINC321

last published: 12/17/13 11:38 AM

Current Editor: Basic Text Editor



Course Materials

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ordering information.


Course Description


Course Goals/Objectives
After completing this course, you should be able to
apply personal finance knowledge to effectively communicate with financial
professionals
analyze and control personal income, debt, and investments to create a budget and build
wealth
identify and evaluate risks to protect current and future assets


Course Introduction
For a company to stay in business, it must be fiscally responsible; the same holds true for
individuals and families. Personal financial management is not just a phase you go through; it's a
daily struggle to maintain your current lifestyle. Taking the time to learn the basics of insurance,
debt, and investing will help you achieve many of the lifetime goals you set for yourself and your
family.
The course consists of the following major topics: financial planning, personal insurance,
personal debt, savings and investments, and education and retirement planning.


Grading Information and Criteria
For a company to stay in business, it must be fiscally responsible; the same holds true for
individuals and families. Personal financial management is not just a phase you go through; it's a
daily struggle to maintain your current lifestyle. Taking the time to learn the basics of insurance,
debt, and investing will help you achieve many of the lifetime goals you set for yourself and your
family.
The course consists of the following major topics: financial planning, personal insurance,
personal debt, savings and investments, and education and retirement planning.


Additional Information



Project Descriptions
Homework (two short papers)
Social Security Paper (23 pages)
Research the development and administration of the U.S. Social Security program. Include its
history, current structure, and calculation of benefits; also, include other benefits available
through the program.
The Social Security paper is worth 10 percent of your final grade.
Play Money Paper (12 pages)
Pretend that you have $10,000 to invest for four weeks. You are to "invest" this money in stocks
or mutual funds and to track your investments on a weekly basis for four weeks (see schedule for
due date). Pick five different stocks or funds to follow.
Write a report on
a. why you selected the investments you did
b. whether any noteworthy company results, news events, or economic events impacted
your investments during this period (show your gains or losses for the period)
c. how your investments' performance compared with the performance of the S&P 500
index during this period
d. your tracking of the following three stock market indexes:
Dow Jones Industrial Average
S&P 500 stock index
Russell 2000 index for small caps
The play money paper is worth 10 percent of your final grade.
Written Paper Rubric
Criteria Possible Points per Criteria
Exemplary Meets
Expectations
Developing Poor Not
Apparent
____ points ____ points ____ points ____ points 0 Points
Organization Arranges ideas
clearly and
logically to
support the
purpose or
argument;
ideas flow
smoothly and
are effectively
linked; reader
can follow the
line of
reasoning
Arranges ideas
adequately to
support the
purpose or
argument; links
between ideas
are generally
clear; reader
can follow the
line of
reasoning for
the most part
Arranges ideas
adequately, in
general,
although ideas
sometimes fail
to make sense
together;
reader remains
fairly clear
about what
writer intends
Arranges ideas
illogically;
ideas
frequently fail
to make sense
together;
reader cannot
identify a line
of reasoning
and becomes
frustrated or
loses interest
No
assignment
submitted
or
submitted
late
Content Gives very
specific
information.
Addressed all
of the
assignment
components.
Clearly
illustrates
critical and
reflective
thinking.
Well thought
out response.
Contains
specific
information.
Addressed all
of the
assignment
components. Is
relatively
detailed. Shows
some critical
and reflective
thinking.
Relatively well
thought out
response.
Has some
specific
information.
Addressed
many of the
assignment
components.
Not detailed.
Poorly thought
out response.
Is vague and
does not
address all
assignment
components.
No evidence of
having given
the assignment
real thought.
No
assignment
submitted
or
submitted
late.
Technical / Execution is Well executed. Execution is Falls short of No
Grammar excellent. No
grammar or
writing errors.
Reads easily.
Is well
organized.
Few grammar
or writing
errors. Reads
easily.
Is fairly well
organized.
poor. Many
grammar or
writing errors.
Hard to read.
Poorly
organized.
the required
length for the
assignment.
Very poorly
written. Very
difficult to
read. No
organization is
evident. Reads
like a last
minute effort.
assignment
submitted
or
submitted
late


Personal Financial Plan (812 pages)
Develop a personal financial plan detailing the financial goals that you and/or your family have
developed. This is a staged project.
Stage 1: Analyze your personal financial situation using appropriate financial tools.
Stage 2: Identify short-term, mid-term, and long-term goals. Rank your goals in order of
importance as they relate to the financial resources available and expected. Estimate the
financial commitment for each goal.
Stage 3: Consider all factors we have covered in class, including budgeting, time value of
money, asset protection, debt/credit, savings, investing, and estate planning.
Incorporate the first two stages to complete the development of the financial plan. This is the
capstone assignment of this class, so careful preparation is needed to illustrate concept
understanding and application.
The personal financial plan is worth 20 percent of your final grade.
Personal Financial Plan Rubric




Exceptional
____ points
Acceptable
____ points
Minimum Effort
____ points
Points
Earned
Cover Page Contains graphic/illustration, name of project,
your name, course name, and semester; creativity
is evident
Contains name of project, your name, course
name, and semester
Contains some of the following: name of
project, your name, course name, and
semester

Table of Heading, sections clearly labeled with leaders and Heading, sections labeled with page numbers Missing sections, not clear
Contents page numbers
Career
Planning
Describe life situation providing details related to
marital status, children, occupation, and income.
Investigate career. Determine annual salary. If
married, provide spouses. Include job
advertisement.
Describe life situation providing details
related to marital status, children, occupation,
and income. Provide annual salary. If
married, provide spouses.
Identify marital status, children,
occupation, and income. Determine
annual salary. If married, provide
spouses.

Financial
Goals
Clearly written; contains at least two short-term
financial goals and three long-term financial goals
Clearly written; contains at least one short-
term goals and two short-term goals
Goals are not clearly written, contains
only one short-term and one long-term
financial goal

Banking
Services
Well written, clearly explains services provided at
various institutions (at least three), materials
provided (from at least one), institution and
services you will use are identified, justification is
provided for choice of institution and services
Well written, clearly explains services
provided at various institutions (at least two),
institution and services you will use are
identified, justification is provided for choice
of institution and services
Well written, explains services provided
at institution you will use, identifies
services you will use, explanation is
provided for choice of institution and
services

Housing
Decision


Information and materials provided on
investigation of housing options available, choice
is explained in detail, sources of credit are
explained and your selection is identified and
explained in detail, monthly expenses related to
your decisions are provided
Information provided on investigation of
housing options available, choice is explained
in detail, sources of credit are explained and
your selection is identified and explained in
detail, monthly expenses related to your
decisions are provided
Housing options available are identified,
choice is explained, sources of credit and
your selection are identified, monthly
expenses related to your decisions are
provided

Automobile Information and materials provided on
investigation of auto options available, choice is
explained in detail, sources of credit are explained
and your selection is identified and explained in
detail, monthly expenses related to your decisions
are provided
Information provided on investigation of auto
options available, choice is explained in
detail, sources of credit are explained and your
selection is identified and explained in detail,
monthly expenses related to your decisions
are provided
Auto options available are identified,
choice is explained, sources of credit and
your selection are identified, monthly
expenses related to your decisions are
provided

Insurance Detailed description of types of insurance you
need, materials provided, explanation of types and
providers and why you made these choices,
monthly expense related to your decisions are
provided
Description of types of insurance you need,
explanation of types and providers and why
you made these choices, monthly expense
related to your decisions are provided
Identify types of insurance you need,
explain types and providers, monthly
expense related to your decisions are
provided

Investments Detailed explanation and investigation materials of
different types of investments, justification for
your selection of at least two types of investments,
detailed explanation of expenses and risk
associated with the investments selected
Detailed explanation of different types of
investments, justification for your selection of
at least one type of investment, detailed
explanation of expenses and risk associated
with the investment you selected
Explanation of different types of
investments, justification for your
selection of at least one type of
investment, identify expenses and risk
associated with the investment you
selected

Monthly
Budget
Detailed monthly budget which includes income
and expenses (reduce income for taxes using the
following: 10%: $2,651 - $9,700, 15%: $9,701 -
$30,800, 25%: $30,801 - $68,500, 28%: $68,501 -
$148,700, 33%: $148,701 - $321,200, 35%:
$321,201 and up), detailed explanation of whether
budget will allow you to meet your financial goals
(see above), explanation as to whether or not you
had to make changes to have a zero or positive
balance
Detailed monthly budget which includes
income and expenses (reduce income for taxes
using the following: 10%: $2,651 - $9,700,
15%: $9,701 - $30,800, 25%: $30,801 -
$68,500, 28%: $68,501 - $148,700, 33%:
$148,701 - $321,200, 35%: $321,201 and up),
detailed explanation of whether budget will
allow you to meet your financial goals (see
above)
Monthly budget which includes income
and expenses (reduce income for taxes
using the following: 10%: $2,651 -
$9,700, 15%: $9,701 - $30,800, 25%:
$30,801 - $68,500, 28%: $68,501 -
$148,700, 33%: $148,701 - $321,200,
35%: $321,201 and up), explanation of
whether budget will allow you to meet
your financial goals (see above)

POINTS EARNED:





Academic Policies
Academic Integrity
UMUC is an academic community that honors integrity and respect for others, and it is expected
that, as a member of this community, you will maintain a high level of personal integrity in your
academic work at all times.
Academic dishonesty is the failure to maintain academic integrity, and it includes the intentional
or unintentional presentation of another person's ideas or products as your own (plagiarism); the
use or the attempt to make use of unauthorized materials, information, or study aids in an
academic exercise; and the performance of work for another student (cheating). All academic
work you submit during your time at UMUC must be original and must not be reused in other
courses.
Turnitin.com
The university has a license agreement with Turnitin, an educational tool that helps identify and
prevent plagiarism from Internet resources. Your instructor may use the service in class by
requiring you to submit assignments electronically to Turnitin, by submitting assignments on
your behalf, or by providing the option for you to check your own work via Turnitin for
originality. The Turnitin Originality Report will indicate the amount of original text in your work
and whether all the material that you quoted, paraphrased, summarized, or used from other
sources is appropriately referenced.
If you or your instructor submits all or part of your assignment to the Turnitin service, Turnitin
will by default store that assignment in its database. The service will check for any matches
between your work and the other materials stored in Turnitin's database. If you object to the
long-term storage of your work in the Turnitin database, you must let your instructor know no
later than two weeks after the start of class.
You have three options regarding the storage of your assignment in the Turnitin database: 1) You
can do nothing; your assignment will then be stored in the Turnitin database for the duration of
UMUC's contract with Turnitin; 2) You can ask your instructor to have Turnitin store your
assignment only for the duration of the semester or term, then have your assignment deleted from
the Turnitin database once the class is over; or 3) You can ask your instructor to change the
Turnitin settings so that your assignment is not stored in the Turnitin database at all.
Please note: Your instructor may use other services in addition to or in place of Turnitin to check
your work for plagiarism.
Course Expectations
For an eight-week course, you should expect to spend about six hours per week participating in
class discussions and activities (online or onsite) and two to three times that number of hours in
study, assigned reading, and preparation of assignments outside of class. Courses offered in
shorter formats will require more time per week. You are expected to meet the same learning
outcomes and perform the same amount of work in an online course as in an onsite course.
Active participation is required in all online courses, and you should expect to log in to your
online course several times a week.
The following links to academic policies and other information are provided to help you as you
complete your coursework at UMUC.
Policies and Procedures
UMUC's policy and procedures on affirmative action, equal opportunity, and sexual
harassment (nondiscrimination): It is the policy of UMUC that no student or employee of
the university or contractor/vendor conducting business with the university may
discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, creed, sex (including sexual
harassment), marital status, age, national origin, political affiliation, mental or physical
disability, or sexual orientation. Individuals who believe they have been discriminated
against because of any factor protected under this policy may file a complaint of
discrimination.
UMUC's support services for disabled students: Any student who feels that he or she
needs accommodations based on the functional impact of a documented disability should
contact the technical director for veteran and disability services to discuss specific needs.
Please contact the director at 240-684-2287 or [email protected] to
coordinate reasonable accommodations.
University System of Maryland Board of Regents' policy on academic integrity

UMUC's policy on academic dishonesty and plagiarism

UMUC's policy on the grade of incomplete and grade pending

UMUC's course withdrawal policy

UMUC's policy on the code of student conduct

UMUC's policy and procedures for the review of alleged arbitrary and capricious grading

For more on student services and more general information, visit UMUC's website at
http://www.umuc.edu.




The basic benefit structure of the Social Security system has remained unchanged in principle,
though modified in many details, since 1939. Monthly benefits related to the workers previous
earnings are payable to retired and disabled workers, to eligible survivors, and to their families.
Benefits based on prior earnings reflect workers prior standards of living and the earnings from
which they paid Social Security taxes. The proportion of previous earnings that is replaced is
greater for low than for high earners, a weighting that recognizes the greater economic needs of
the person at a low earnings level and also the greater likelihood that higher paid workers will
have supplementary pensions and private savings. The precise form and the dollar amounts of
the benefit formula have changed many times in the past forty years, but the general principles of
earnings-replacement and a weighted benefit formula have retained their validity. Under the
current benefit formula, enacted in 1977 and first applied in 1979, the workers past earnings are
indexed (or updated) to reflect recent wage levels in the economy. Then a monthly average of the
workers indexed earnings is used to compute a basic benefit. The benefit formula for people
reaching 65 in 1981 is: 90 percent of the first $211 in Average Indexed Monthly Earnings
(AIME), plus 32 percent of the next $1,063 of AIME, plus 1 / 15 percent of all over $1,274.-
The workers basic benefit is reduced for early retirement or increased for delayed retirement
(see Chapter Specified fractions of the basic amount are paid to eligible family members. There
is a limit on total monthly benefits paid to a workers family. After a person starts receiving
benefits, the amount is adjusted automatically to keep pace with the cost of living.
The Commission considered the structure of the present benefit formula as well as certain
alternatives to it. It recognizes that a case can always be made for modifying the formula to meet
particular objectives or changing situations. While it encourages continued evaluation of the
formula, its general conclusion is that there is no need for modifying it at this time.
However, Commission is making several recommendations, dis-
cussed elsewhere in this report, which affect benefit levels.