Project BUS 2101

BUS 2101: Personal Finance, Fall 2023
Instructor: Keith Cramer

What: Personal Finance term project paper
Grade: 20% of your grade
Due Date: Dec 15, 2023
You will be creating a personal financial plan throughout the course. This plan is
intended to allow you to demonstrate that you have learned the concepts of the class and
can apply them to a real-world financial plan. Some students are not independent and
still rely on a parent for economic security. Even for these students all sections of the
financial plan need to be completed. For example, if your health insurance is provided
by a parent, you can still describe the kind of coverage that you have. If you do not
have a lot of financial instruments like stocks, bonds, life insurance. You can choose to
use another person’s financial information (e.g., parent, sibling) Even if you choose this
option, you will still need to describe your plans for your own financial future.
All projects are destroyed by the instructor after the class and will not be returned.
If you do not feel comfortable documenting your actual financial situation in the term
project, you can modify the actual cash values and instruments in your plan and use
simulated values.
The instructor will be grading your paper on the following basis:

1. Your document must be typed rather than written by hand. Unlike high school where
you probably were allowed to write your papers in ink, you cannot do this at this level.
2. You must turn the paper in on time. Papers will not be accepted late.
3. Your work must be well written and easy to read and comprehend. If your work has a
lot of spelling or grammatical errors, you will be penalized.
4. Start out by using a good introduction. It should give an overview of your financial
life.
5. Paper content will be your personal financial plan. You will write text about each
section, and you will also include tables/spreadsheets for the following:
 Personal Balance Sheet
 Spending log
 Budget
 Cash Flow Statement
You are expected to create a section in your paper for each of the outline topics below.
You can find examples of the required spreadsheets for the four required statements on
the D2L class website under the “Project” folder.
6. Pay attention to how you finish. It is essential to have a strong conclusion that supports
your future and what you have learned in this class and how you will apply this in the
future.
Paper Outline:
Development of a personal financial plan. This assignment can make use of the Your Personal
Financial Plan worksheets that are presented at the end of each chapter and use the
following guidelines:
Students describe a current life situation, or one expected in the future providing details
related to household situation, marital status, occupation, income, current financial
position. It is expected a titled section for your paper will be created for each section
of the textbook as the following:
Note: You are expected to create a section in your paper for each of the outline
topics below.
 Overview and Personal Information

o Overview of you
o Career planning and development
 Financial spreadsheets
o Balance sheet (Net worth)
o Cash flow statement
o living expenses (budget)
o Spending log
 Short term, medium term, and long-term financial goals

 Taxes in your financial plan
 Savings and payment services
 Consumer credit usage
 Motor vehicle
 Housing
 Home and Auto Insurance
 Health and Disability Insurance
 Life Insurance
 Investing Portfolio
o Stocks
o Bonds
o Mutual Funds
o Other (Real estate, commodities, art, business, etc.)
 Retirement and Estate Planning.
Important notes:
DO NOT just copy all the spreadsheet forms from D2L website. You can copy
and modify the four required spreadsheets, all other sections of the paper must be
written text, and not spreadsheets.
You are expected to write an actual paper for your financial plan and not
just turn in spreadsheets except for the four required forms:
Sections that can use spreadsheet form:

 Personal Balance Sheet
 Spending log
 Budget
 Cash Flow Statement
Section Topic Details:
Taxes in your financial plan:

Do you file your own income taxes? How do you file taxes (paper forms, software, service)
What form do you use? Do you itemize? Do you take advantage of any dedications/credits for
students? What is your average tax rate? What is your marginal tax rate? What is the sales tax
rate where you live? What is your estimate of what you pay in sales taxes? What is the gas tax
you pay? What is your estimate of gas taxes you pay? What is your property tax if you own
property?
Savings and payment services:

What companies do you use for banking and other financial services? What kinds of accounts do
you have? Do you have a debit card? Do you pay bills using checks or autopay? Why did you
choose the financial companies you are using? What kinds of services will you be using in the
future?
Consumer credit usage:

Do you have a credit card? Do you have any loans (Auto, housing, student, personal, medical) If
you do what is your balance, when will it be paid off, what is your interest rate? Do you know
your credit score? What can you do to get a credit history to get access to future credit? What is
your future plans for obtaining and using credit?
Motor vehicle:
Do you own a car and what are your car details? Do you lease a car, of so give all lease details?
Do you own your car or make payments? What is the balance on your car loan, monthly
payment, and interest rate? What do you pay for maintenance on your car? What would you do
if you had to come up with $700 to repair your car? What are you doing today to prepare to buy
your next car?
Housing:
Do you own or rent? What kind of housing are you living in? If you live with a relative that
owns, use their ownership information for this section. What is your monthly payment? If you
own, what is the balance on the house? What is your interest rate? How many years are left on
the loan? What are your future plans to purchase a house?
Home and Auto Insurance

Do you have homeowners or rental insurance? Do you have auto insurance and if so what are
your coverage limits? What insurance companies do you use and why did you choose them?
What are your deductibles?
Health and Disability Insurance:

What kind of health insurance do you have? If you are under a relative’s plan, use their
information to complete this section. What is your monthly/yearly cost for health insurance?
What are your deductible and co-pays? What is your yearly out of pocket maximum? Do you
have a health savings account, if so, give details? Do you have disability insurance, if so, give
details? What is your future for health/disability insurance?
Life Insurance:
Do you have life insurance or are you covered under a relative’s policy? What kind of insurance
do you have term / whole life? What is your coverage amount? What is your yearly premium?
What is your future plans for acquiring Life insurance?
Investing Portfolio:
Do you have any investments in stocks, bonds, or mutual funds? Do you have any investments
in commodities, real estate, or other assets like bitcoin? If so, give all the details of your
investments. If you do not own investments what are your future investment plans? Explain
how you plan on starting to invest if you have not done so yet.
Retirement and Estate Planning:

Have you started saving for retirement yet? Do you have a 401k plan? Do you have an IRA?
Do you plan using Roth / non-Roth retirement accounts and why? What are your future plans
for retirement savings? Do you have a will? What will happen to your debts and assets when
you die? Do you have a plan to save at least one million dollars before you retire?

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BUS 2101: Personal Finance, Fall 2023

Instructor: Keith Cramer

The instructor will be grading your paper on the following basis:

 Overview and Personal Information

 Short term, medium term, and long-term financial goals

Sections that can use spreadsheet form:

Section Topic Details:

Taxes in your financial plan:

Savings and payment services:

Consumer credit usage:

Home and Auto Insurance

Health and Disability Insurance:

Retirement and Estate Planning:

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