Personal Financial Plan Outline. Accounting, Finance, SPSS Coursework

The narrative portion of this paper should be a minimum of twelve pages in length. Following are
the minimum sections and items that are to be considered and included when developing your
plan:
1. INTRODUCTION:
Introduce yourself and explain your family situation. Discuss your philosophy towards money and your current biggest financial challenge.
2. PERSONAL FINANCIAL GOALS:
a. Short Term Goals (1-3 years): Choose at least two short-term goals and discuss the
details of each goal, why it is important, what this goal will do for you and how you
will accomplish this goal. Support you goals with specific action plans.
b. Medium Goals (4-7 years): Choose at least two medium-term goals and discuss the
details of each goal, why it is important, what this goal will do for you and how you
will accomplish this goal. Support you goals with specific action plans.
c. Long Term Goals: Choose at least two long-term goals and discuss the details of
each goal, why it is important, what this goal will do for you and how you will
accomplish this goal. One goal that must be included in this section should be
retirement. When do you plan to retire, what do you plan to do in retirement, how
much you will need and how are you going to get there?
Optional: You may wish to put your goals in a table with due dates and brief action plans.
3. FINANCIAL INFORMATION:
a. Personal Financial Statements (Balance Sheet, Budget, I&E statement)
b. Raises:How do you manage your raises? Or do they get absorbed into your
spending? If you don’t manage your raises, what changes might you make next time
you get a raise?
c. Budget (annual, by month):
how do you make a budget work for you? If you don’t
have a budget, how will you establish a budget to make it an effective tool to help
you meet your goals and manage the household expenses?
d. Spending issues: If you live paycheck to paycheck or have other spending issues,
(impulse spending, free-loading adult children, and a significant other not working
with you toward goals) this is the place to discuss specific strategies on how you are
going to change your behavior and overcome these hurdles to get to a place to
achieve your goals.
e. Debt Analysis
i.Credit Card Debt
ii.Installment Debt
iii.Other Debt
iv.Discuss your ratios, especially your debt to income ratio. If it’s over 40%
do you have a plan to reduce this number? How soon will that happen?
What things can you do to accelerate your debt repayment? Check your
credit rating. Are you happy with this number? What steps can you take to
improve this number (a detailed discussion should follow if you score is
under 620). Would debt counseling help you? If you have a lot of credit
card debt, consider putting together a comprehensive schedule for your
debt reduction plan.
f. Savings
i.Emergency Savings: How much do you need for your emergency
savings? How much do you currently have and how /when will you save the
remainder? Where will you keep these funds? Define what an emergency
is and why you would tap into these funds.
ii.Discretionary Savings Program: What is your current financial picture?
Are you happy with it? Will your current budget allow you to make to meet
your intermediate- and long-term goals? Is your debt structured under the
most favorable rates and terms for your needs? How much credit card debt
do you have? Is there a better way to structure it? What changes do you
recommend for yourself? Do you know what your credit bureau looks like?
Do you know your credit score? Do you need to take any action to improve
your credit score?
4. EMPLOYMENT ANALYSIS:
What is your current situation? Are you where you need to be? How does your current
salary/benefits compare to the industry? What is your career path? What else could
you do to improve your prospects? How marketable are you?
5. HOUSEHOLD ANALYSIS:
a. Housing
i.Housing Assessment
ii.Auto Assessment
Look at your current situation. Are you happy with your current home? Auto?
Want/need to make any changes? What about your mortgage and/or auto loan?
Are you happy with the rates and terms?
b. Auto
i.Get the Nada value of your car.
ii.Do you have a loan? How can you pay it off early?
iii.When will you need to plan to get a new car?
1. What do you need to save today to pay cash for the next car?
c. INSURANCE ANALYSIS:
i.Homeowner’s or Renter’s
ii.Auto and other vehicles including motorcraft
iii.Life
iv.Health
v.Disability: Short- and Long-Term
vi.Long-Term Care
What are your current coverages? Do you have enough? Too much? How about
the cost? Are you getting a good deal? Are you happy with the service? What are
your deductibles?
d. FINANCIAL SERVICE PROVIDERS:
What financial services do you use? (Checking, Savings, Money Market, CDs, and
Loans) Who is your primary financial institution? Why? What other institutions do
you use? Are you happy with the service you are receiving? Could you get a better
deal from your provider or elsewhere? Do you need to make any changes?
e. CONTINGENCY PLANNING:
i.Savings and Liquidity Analysis
What would you do if you lost your main household income tomorrow? If it took you
6 months to replace this income, how would you survive?
f. TAX PLANNING
i.Payroll Withholding – too much, not enough or just right?
ii.What other deductions might be available to you?
Look at your situation now. Are there ways to save on taxes? Tax deductible
contributions? Additional mortgage interest? Tax credits?
g. OTHER FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS/CONCERNS:
Do you have any other financial issues you need to consider? For example: Will
you need to help your adult children with their finances? What about your parents
or grandparents or other family members? Are you planning on paying for your
children’s weddings? Is there anything other financial concerns that haven’t been
addressed?
6. COLLEGE PLANNING:
a. Outline your savings plan or savings goal
b. Evaluate your current or planned investments
Do you need to plan for your children? How are you paying for your current courses?
Do you need to develop a plan to pay off debt? If you could consolidate your student
loans today – what would the interest rate be? Can you pay at least the interest and
fees TODAY to avoid the balance growing? How can you accelerate the repayment of
your student loans? How much interest would you save?
7. RETIREMENT AND INVESTMENT PLANNING:
a. Investing: what are your investment goals? Discuss your risk tolerance.
b. What does “Retirement” mean to you? What are your goals? What do you envision
your life to be like?
c. Retirement Income and Needs Analysis – how much money do you need and where
will it come from?
d. How will you save for retirement? 401K, Roth IRA, Annuities? If you have a 401k
or an IRA, discuss how these funds are invested and what you project the balances
to be at retirement.
e. Detail your current investment choices and why you chose them.
What will you do when you retire? Travel? Leisure? Work part time? Volunteer?
Really think about what your daily life will be like. What are your retirement needs and
are you on track to meet them? Statistically, how long are you going to live?
8. ESTATE PLANNING:
a. Do you have/need a Will or Trust?
b. Who is/would be your Executor, Witnesses, Guardian for your children
c. List your Beneficiaries and any specific items to be bequeathed to them
d. Think about the inventory of your estate – who do you want to inherit what?
9. Required Tables/Schedules -
a.Balance Statement and Income and Expense Statement
b.Budget; INCLUDE YOUR Solvency and Liquidity ratios
c.Debt Schedule
d.Retirement Needs Estimate
10. Conclusion: ACTION / COMMITMENT STATEMENT
Are you willing to take action now or make a commitment to do something in the future to
improve your financial life? For example: Within the next two months, I will create a will
for my family. Remember this is a pledge you are making to yourself – be specific and put
a date to it.
11. Outside Research:
Consider the areas of your personal financial plan where there’s
room for improvement. Go out and research these topics further and discuss your findings
and how you can apply these personally to improve your plan. Four additional appropriate
sources are properly cited and used in the paper to add to the student’s knowledge base.
No direct quotes are to be used in the paper.
There are many worksheets in the books that may give you some direction. The Internet
has great information as well. The goal is for you to apply the many topics we discuss in
this class and create a very meaningful document for yourself.
12.Recap:Remember that this narrative paper should be
at least 12 pages in length with
no charts, graphs or spreadsheets included in the narrative portion of the paper.
Charts, graphs, and/or spreadsheets should be included in the packet after your paper.
They should be of reasonable size and referenced in the paper. Internet printouts and
other copies do not count at all – but may be submitted as supporting documents. This is
a formal research paper – don’t forget to document your sources. It should be narrative –
but due to the personal nature of this project you may write in first person.
I don't no want my personal information used so just use whatever figures you would like