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Canyon College

COURSE SYLLABUS: FINANCIAL PLANNING

Course Title: Department: Instructor: Phone:

BU 525 - Financial Planning Business Richard Healy, JD E-mail - Vita 603-880-1468 (This is my business phone and internet connection, which very often is busy. Email may be preferable.)

Course Description

Graduate business students will become aware of the various aspects of personal financial planning. They will be capable of making personal financial decisions after discovering the best assets to use in making those decisions. Topics include; personal budgeting; personal taxes; personal banking; consumer credit; consumer legal protection; home, automobile, health, disability and life insurance; investing in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, real estate and other investment alternatives; retirement planning; and estate planning.

Required Textbook Online Bookstore

1. Jeff Madura, Personal Finance, 2nd ed., Pearson, March 2003
ISBN #: 0321165918
You should receive a financial planning CD with the book. It could be useful to you and may not accompany used texts. It is not required for the course.

2. Highly recommended but not required:
Covey, Stephen R. (1989), The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, New York: Simon and Schuster, Copyright 1989
ISBN #: 067170863
You may encounter a later edition and that’s fine to use, too. It’s available almost everywhere!

3. The textbook website. That address is http://www.aw.com/madura

A WEEKLY ASSIGNMENT in addition to responding to other assignments that I’ll send to you by email is to go to the textbook website and take the multiple choice quizzes (I call them self-tests) for every chapter we consider that week. Then you’ll get the results and will send the results to my email (rhealy@canyoncollege.ed)

Below are the directions for finding and taking the textbook website multiple-choice quizzes (self-tests).

1. When you go to the textbook website (http://www.aw.com/madura), you should click the, “Open Resources” link on the first page.
2. On the new page that comes up, download the calculators if you wish and then look to the list of chapters on the left-hand side of the page.
3. Select the chapter you want and click that link. On the page that comes up, select the, “In-Text Study Guide” link.
4. On the page that comes up, select, “Multiple Choice Quiz”.
5. Take the quiz.
6. At the bottom of the quiz page, hit the button, “Submit Answers for Grading”.
7. On the page that comes up, you’ll see the results and the correct answers for any that you answered incorrectly.
8. At the bottom of that page, you’ll see a box, “Routing Information”.
9. FILL IN YOUR NAME in this way. Your first name in the first name box. In the last name box, your last name followed by a dash (-) and BU525. For example, the boxes would look this way if I were taking the quiz. “Richard Healy-BU525”. It’s important to do it this way since I can easily identify both you and the course when the results arrive in my email. I get a lot of emails every day and this sort of organized information helps me a great deal. I can’t guarantee that I will catch every self-test submission of yours unless you follow this form.
10. Underneath the first and last name boxes are other boxes. We’re interested in the first two, “Me” and “Instructor”. I suggest you send a copy of the quiz to yourself both as a record for you and in case the email to me doesn’t arrive. Then, you can re-send the results to me from your computer without taking the quiz again.
11. Check the boxes, “Me” and “Instructor”.
12. In the box to the right of that, fill in your email address then my email address (rhealy@canyoncollege.edu) under the “Instructor: button
13. In the box to the right of that, it will say, “Text”. Leave that as it is.
14. Finally, at the bottom there is a button, “Email Results”. Click that and you’re done.
15. Please remember to send the results of the quiz (self-test) for each chapter we are considering, in the week we are considering it. If we were considering for example, Chapters 6, 7, and 8 in one week, you would do the quizzes (self-tests) for Chapters 6, 7 and 8 by Sunday of that week.

You must have access to the Internet throughout this course. If you're accessing the Net from a computer that's not yours, such as a friend's machine or one at work, please be sure that you can get to it when you need to do so.

It's a good idea to have a backup plan in case your computer fails. Where will you go to get online and for how long? Having a plan now may eliminate moments of terror and frustration later. We'll rely on the net to discover additional information all through the term.

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to do the following.

1. Make more informed consumer purchasing decisions.
2. Be aware of personal credit financing options and how to choose the most suitable option. Be aware of the different options available to one who is having difficulty meeting credit obligations. Be aware of different professionals who can assist when making credit decisions or having difficulty meeting credit obligations.
3. Be aware of the need for a personal financial budget. Prepare and implement a personal financial budget. Be aware of the need for retirement planning and estate planning.
4. Be aware of the need for a personal investment plan. Prepare and implement a personal investment plan.
5. Be aware of the most common types of investments, including stocks, bonds, mutual funds and real estate. Be aware of the advantages and disadvantages of each type. Be aware of different personal finance professionals and the appropriate time to utilize their services.
6. Be aware of the impact of taxes on personal finance decisions. Be aware of different tax professionals and the appropriate time to utilize their services.
7. Be aware of the different types of insurance. Have an understanding of the basic types needed in different life situations. Be aware of different insurance providers and their advantages and disadvantages.

As soon as you enroll in BU525, please email me (rhealy@canyoncollege.edu) with the following information;

Your name, email address (or addresses), your registration number, your professional work history, current position, education to this point and any other items you believe may help me to know you better.

Grading Procedure
The grades will be figured as follows:

Assignments in the designated folders: Mid-term exam: Final Exam (non-cumulative): Textbook website quizzes (self-tests)

40% 20% 20% 20%

Functioning Items:
Forums for discussion will be created if and as needed and you’ll be notified if that happens. Assume there will be no discussion forums unless and until I notify you by email. Normally, we won’t be conducting forum discussions unless the need presents itself.

The mid-term exam will ask you to decide on the best way or ways to spend or allocate your money in some or all of the areas discussed prior to the exam.

The final exam will do the same as the mid-term, but only for the second half of the course. The final exam is not cumulative.

Please tell me if a personal situation interferes with your learning and/or participation in the class. Perhaps something can be done to ameliorate the condition. I'm here to help you in any reasonable way I can, and knowledge of your problems/difficulties will enable me to be more effective in doing that. This includes any difficulties with the distance education technology (the course delivery system).

You'll receive the information you need to function in BU525 as we enter the material. I realize that this technology may be new to some of you, and that you may be apprehensive. Please realize that I'll help you to try to ensure your success.

Since this class functions asynchronously, you may do the assignments and other work anytime during the week that they were assigned. Submit assignments, exams and website quizzes (self-tests) by the end of the week that they’re due. All the weeks run from Monday to Sunday so you have until Sunday of the week in question to submit the work. If you run into problems, extensions almost always are possible unless I receive notice after the fact. Please ask.

Course Schedule and Assignments

You’ll be sent assignments by email in this sequence

1. Pre-Course Reflections and
2. Assignment- Week 1, then
3. Assignments-Week 2-4 then
4. The Mid-Term Exam then
5. Assignments, Weeks 5-8 then
6. The Final Exam then
7. Course Grade submitted to Canyon College

Week 1
Planning your Personal Finances
Chapter 1 Overview of a Financial Plan
Chapter 2 Planning With Personal Financial Statements
Chapter 3 Applying Time Value Concepts
Chapter 4 Using Tax Concepts for Planning
Pre-Course Reflections and Assignment, Week 1
Textbook Website Quiz

Week 2
Managing Your Personal Finances
Chapter 5 Banking and Interest Rates
Chapter 6 Managing Your Money
Chapter 7 Managing Your Credit
Textbook Website Quiz
Assignment, Week 2

Week 3
Making your Purchasing Decisions
Chapter 8 Personal Loans
Chapter 9 Purchasing and Financing a Home
Upon your request, I’ll send the Mid-Term Exam to you at the end of the third week of the course
Textbook Website Quiz
Assignment, Week 3

Week 4
Mid-Term Exam and Assignment
Your assignment is also to review chapters 1 through 9 for the First Exam and do the exam that was sent to you by email Return it to me by the end of the 5th week of the course
Textbook Website Quiz
Assignment, Week 4

Week 5
Fundamentals of Investing/Investing in Stocks/Investing in Mutual Funds
Chapter 13 Investing Fundamentals
Chapter 14 Stock Analysis and Valuation
Chapter 15 Investing in Stocks
Chapter 17 Investing in Mutual Funds
Textbook Website Quiz
Assignment, Week 5

Week 6
Investing in Bonds/Asset Allocation
Chapter 16 Investing in Bonds
Chapter 18 Asset Allocation
Upon your request, I’ll send the final exam to you at the beginning of the sixth week of the course.
Textbook Website Quiz
Assignment, Week 6

Week 7
Personal Finance Books/Retirement Planning/Estate Planning/Second Exam
Chapter 19 Retirement Planning
Chapter 20 Estate Planning
Textbook Website Quiz
Assignment, Week 7

Week 8
Insurance/Final Exam
Chapter 10 Auto and Homeowner’s Insurance
Chapter 11 Health and Disability Insurance
Chapter 12 Life Insurance
Textbook Website Quiz
Assignment, Week 8
The Final Exam is due.

* This syllabus is subject to change at the discretion of the instructor.