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FIN 420 Entire Course

FIN 420 Week 1 Individual Assignment Identify Personal Financial

Goals
FIN 420 Week 1 DQ 1
FIN 420 Week 1DQ 2
FIN 420 Week 2 Individual Assignment Worksheets 6 and 7
FIN 420 Week 2 LT Deliverable (Update on Final Project)
FIN 420 Week 2 DQ 1
FIN 420 Week 2DQ 2
FIN 420 Week 3 Individual Assignment Personal Financial Plan
FIN 420 Week 3 LT Deliverable (Update on Final Project)
FIN 420 Week 3 DQ 1

FIN 420 Week 1 DQ 1

Describe your current budgeting system. What factors influence yo

ur financial decisions? What are the benefits or concerns of your c
urrent budgeting system?

FIN 420 Week 1 DQ 2

Ch. 1 ofFocus on Personal Financeintroduces eight components o

f personal financial planning. Describe three components of perso
nal financial planning. Visit one of the Key websites suggested on t
he corresponding pages ofFocus on Personal Financefor each of t
he three components you described. What information did you fin
d most valuable on the websites you visited?

FIN 420 Week 1 Individual Assignment Person

al Finance Mission Statement

Writea 350- to 700-word personal finance mission statement that

describes where you want to be financially and how you want to ge
t there. Communicate the following in your mission statement:
Personal values
Financial goals
Future vision
An easy action to take to meet your mission
A difficult action to take to meet your mission
Formatyour assignment consistent with APA guidelines.
Note.The information that students use in individual assignments
remains confidential between the student and the instructor.
Clickthe Assignment Files tab to submit your assignment.

FIN 420 Week 2 DQ 1

Consider your personal cash flows. How would you adjust cash out
flows (i.e. adjust your budget) if your household income was cut in
half? If your cash inflows increased, how would you reallocate your
surplus to meet your personal needs and objectives? How do you u
se credit as a part of your personal financial plan?

FIN 420 Week 2 DQ 2

Many different types of financial institutions exist. Differentiate bet

ween deposit institutions and non-deposit institutions. Provide two
examples of deposit and non-deposit financial institutions with a b
rief explanation of each. How can you use each of these financial i
nstitutions to manage your cash flows and develop or enhance you
r personal financial plan?

FIN 420 Week 2 Individual Assignment Perso

nal Finance Problems and Summary

Completethe Personal Finance Problems - Week 2.

Writea 750- to 1,050-word summary of the problems in which the
team includes the following:
What influence does present and future value of money have on th
e different scenarios?
What is the role of risk in determining decisions to diversify or how
assets are allocated?
Submitthe team's answers to the questions including all calculatio
ns and a summary of the results.
Clickthe Assignment Files tab to submit your assignment.

FIN 420 Week 2 Personal Fin

ance
Quiz
1 Carla Lopez
deposits $2,500 a year into her retirement account. I

f these funds have an average earning of 8 percent over the 40 yea

rs until her retirement, what will be the value of her retirement acc
ount?
2 An ATM with a service fee of $2 is used by a person 100 times in
a year. What would be the future value in 10 years (use a 3 percent
rate) of the annual amount paid in ATM fees?
3 If a person spends $10 a week on coffee (assume $500 a year), w
hat would be the future value of that amount over 10 years if the f
unds were deposited in an account earning 3 percent?
4 A financial company that advertises on television will pay you $6
0,000 now for annual payments of $10,000 that you are expected t
o receive for a legal settlement over the next 10 years. What is the
present value of this assuming the time value of the money at 10%
?

FIN 420 Week 3 DQ 1

Evaluate your personal risk tolerance using Exhibit 11-2 A Quick Te

st to Measure Investment Risk in Ch. 11 of Focus on Personal Finan
ce. Based on your results, were you considered more conservative
or less conservative? What factors affected your investment choice
s? Consider a friend or family member who is more conservative o
r less conservative than you. How do their money management be
haviors differ from your own?

FIN 420 Week 3 DQ 2

Financial experts agree that having an emergency fund is an essent

ial component of a comprehensive financial plan. However, advice
regarding the number of months of household expenses the emer
gency fund should cover varies between 3 and 9 months. Taking int
o account the current financial environment, how many months of
expenses would you recommend for an emergency fund and why?
What are three investment options that are appropriate for an em
ergency fund? Which of these investment options offer the best ret
urns? What reasons might encourage you to forego a higher return
on your emergency funds?

FIN 420 Week 3 Individual Problem Workshee

t

Complete Worksheet 37 inFocus on Personal Finance, Your Financ

ial Plan Evaluating Corporate Bonds.
Explain the principle of asset allocation. Using the Internet or libra
ry research, prepare a 2-minute presentation describing why the p
rinciple of asset allocation is important when establishing an invest
ment program.
Assume you are 59 years old, want to retire in 6 years, and currentl
y have an investment portfolio valued at $550,000 invested in tech
nology stocks. After talking with friends and relatives, you have dec
ided that you have too many eggs in one basket. Based on this in
formation, use the asset allocation method described in this chapt
er and use the following table to diversify your investment portfoli
o. Then answer the following two questions:
o What are the advantages of asset allocation?

FIN 420 Week 3 Learning Te

am
Problems
Assume
that you are choosing an investment for your retired pare

nts. What are the advantages and disadvanges of each of the follo
wing?
o a bond issued by the federal government,
o a state or local government,
o or a corporation?
Which would you recommend for your retired parents? Justify your
answer.
Five years ago, you purchased a $1,000 corporate bond issued by
General Electric. The interest rate for the bond was 5%. Comparabl
e bonds are paying 6% today.

FIN 420 Week 4 DQ 1

Adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) have received a great deal of ba

d press due to the tremendous number of foreclosures resulting fr
om families who could not afford the loan payments once the inter
est rates increased. Do you believe this loan option was used appr
opriately in recent years? Why or why not? Under what circumstan
ces does the use of ARMs make sense? Please explain.

FIN 420 Week 4 DQ 2

Visit a site such aswww.bankrate.comto determine current rates f

or both a 60-month and a 36-month loan on a new car where the b
uyer must finance $20,000. Using the loan calculator, what is the di
fference in monthly payments between the 60-month loan and the
36-month loan? Review the amortization tables. What is the differe
nce in total interest one would pay over the life of these two loans?
What do these differences show you about the true cost of the car?

FIN 420 Week 4 Individual Assignment Mutual

Fund Evaluation

Choosea mutual fund family such as Vanguard, American Funds, T

. Rowe Price, and so forth.
Identifyone mutual fund from that family for each of the followin
g categories:
Actively managed common stock fund
Fixed income fund
Balanced fund
International fund
Fund devoted to retirement investing
Writea 350- to 700-word mutual fund evaluation for each mutual f
und using the worksheet of your financial plan as a template. Inclu
de the following in your evaluation:

FIN 420 Week 4 Personal Finance Quiz

1 As a stockholder of Kentucky Gas and Oil, you receive its annual r

eport. In the financial statements, the firm reported after-tax earni
ngs of $1,200,000 and has issued 1,500,000 shares of common sto
ck. The stock is currently selling for $24 a share. What is the per ea
rnings share for Kentucky Gas and Oil?
2 Sarah and James Hernandez purchased 150 shares of Cisco Syste
ms stock at $18 a share. One year later, they sold the stock for $25.
40 a share. They paid a broker a $32 commission when they purch
ased the stock and a $40 commission when they sold the stock. Du
ring the 12-month period the couple owned the stock, Cisco Syste
ms paid dividends that totaled $0.24. Calculate the Hernandezes t
otal return for this investment.

FIN 420 Week 5 DQ 1

Life insurance is a topic many people do not like to discuss, but un

derstanding your familys needs and planning appropriately in the
event of a premature death is also part of a comprehensive financi
al plan. Outlined in Ch. 10 are four methods for estimating life insu
rance needs. Which insurance options are most appropriate for yo
ur family situation? Based on what you have identified as most app
ropriate for you, do you currently have enough life insurance? If n
ot, how can you close this gap?

FIN 420 Week 5 DQ 2

Consider your current financial plan. Based on what you have lear
ned about your financial goals, risk tolerance, and risk and return
of various investment options, what adjustments should you make
to the asset allocation of your investment portfolio? What specific
actions do you need to take to make those adjustments or to estab
lish your investment portfolio? What adjustments will you need to
make to your budget and investment portfolio to include adequate
insurance?Consider your current financial plan. Based on what you
have learned about your financial goals, risk tolerance, and risk an
d return of various investment options, what adjustments should y
ou make to the asset allocation of your investment portfolio? What
specific actions do you need to take to make those adjustments or
to establish your investment portfolio? What adjustments will you
need to make to your budget and investment portfolio to include a
dequate insurance?

FIN 420 EXPERT Teaching Effe

ctively/ fin420expertdotcom
FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT
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