Financial Plan

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Financial Plan Assignment

Term 2, 2021

FINS5510

School of Banking and Finance

UNSW

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Contents Overview ...........................................................................................................................................3

Weight ..............................................................................................................................................3

Due date ............................................................................................................................................3

Late penalties ....................................................................................................................................3

Special Consideration .........................................................................................................................3

Individual assessment ........................................................................................................................4

Document format ..............................................................................................................................4

File type .....................................................................................................................................4

File name ...................................................................................................................................4

Font ...........................................................................................................................................5

Word limit ..................................................................................................................................5

Reference ..........................................................................................................................................5

Writing Style ......................................................................................................................................5

Structure and content ........................................................................................................................5

Assessment criteria ............................................................................................................................6

Suggestive completion timeline ..........................................................................................................8

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Overview This project provides an opportunity for you to provide financial advice to the Field family. It will require

you to apply the knowledge and skills you learned in FINS5510 Personal Financial Planning and

Management in a real-life scenario. This assignment is designed to prepare you to work as a financial

planning professional in the future.

Each section of the financial plan provides you with the opportunity to reflect deeply on the theory

covered in the course and to apply theory to the case scenario. You should work on your financial plan

gradually during the term as you cover each Unit.

The financial plan that you will develop is not required to be as comprehensive as a typical ‘Statement of

Advice (SOA)’ that a financial adviser would prepare for a client. The focus of the assessment will be

your ability to provide sound advice to address the needs of the client.

This is an individual assignment. Either copying the work of another student or basing your financial plan

on another student’s work is academic misconduct and will result in a FAIL grade being awarded for this

course.

Weight The financial plan assignment is worth 40% of your assessment for this course.

Due date Monday 5p.m. (AEST) of the 16th, August 2021 (Week 12). Submission through ‘Financial Plan

Assignment’ link on Moodle.

Late penalties The penalty for late submission of the Financial Plan Assignment is 5 marks per day (out of 100) for each

day (or part day) it is submitted after the deadline. This penalty applies to your score for the financial

plan (not the maximum possible score). For example, if your raw score is 70/100 and the plan is

submitted 2 days late, a 10 mark penalty will apply and so your score would be reduced to 60/100.

Note that there is a small ‘grace period’ of a few minutes after the submission time to allow for slow

internet connections or slow website performance. No penalty will apply if the submission is within this

‘grace period’. Please do not email me asking if your submission falls within this grace period.

Any financial plan received more than 7 days after the due date (without approved special

consideration) will automatically be awarded a score of zero.

Special Consideration Special consideration will only be granted in exceptional cases. You are responsible for developing your

financial plan gradually as you work through each Unit of the course materials. You should work on your

financial plan as you learn each module and avoid leaving it until last minute. You are responsible for

completing your financial plan well before the due date/time to allow for unexpected circumstances or

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illness. Being ill during the last week before the date of submission will not normally constitute grounds

for special consideration. If special consideration is granted, the maximum extension that will be

granted is 7 days from the original due date. Any financial plans received more than 7 days from the

original due date will automatically be awarded a score of zero. An application for Special Consideration

together with supporting documentation must be submitted online within 3 working days of the due

date. The process for applying for special consideration is here: Special Consideration | UNSW Current

Students.

Individual assessment This is an individual assessment. All written work, research, and supporting calculations must be your

own work. Seeking assistance with your written work or financial modelling constitutes academic

misconduct. Providing assistance to any other students also constitutes academic misconduct. Copying

or paraphrasing the work of any other student (from current or previous terms) constitutes academic

misconduct. Copying the work of another student and then changing the details to reflect your situation

and strategies constitutes academic misconduct. Using another student’s financial plan as a ‘reference’

for you while you complete your own financial plan is also academic misconduct. If another student

approaches you for assistance, please note the time, date and details of the incident and email the

details to me at: [email protected]

Note your submitted assignment will go through plagiarism and similarity checks against the database.

Investigation will be conducted for assignments with high similarity score.

UNSW has no tolerance for students who are dishonest or seek to obtain an unfair advantage over other

students. Academic misconduct is a serious offence. It can result in zero being awarded for this

assessment, a failure grade for the course and/or removal from the University.

Document format File type The submitted document should be in Microsoft Word format with the file extension: .docx or .doc

Note that as a UNSW student, you can access the full Microsoft Office 365 suite on multiple devices. To

install Office, please follow:

• Visit Office 365 official website

• Log in with your [email protected] and zPass

• On the top right corner click Install Office

For more details, please see: Software for Students | UNSW IT | UNSW Sydney

If you do not wish to use Microsoft Word, please make sure that your software can export to a Microsoft

Word compatible format (such as .doc)

File name Please use the following format for your financial plan:

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zID_firstname_(middle name)_last name.docx

For example, if my student id is 1234567, I will name the file as

z1234567_Peng_Wang.docx

Font Please use Arial or Calibri or Times New Roman if you use a Windows PC or Helvetica on Mac. For the

body, the font size should be 11. You can choose your own font size for headings as long as it is not

difficult to read.

Word limit There is no hard word limit for this assignment. In past terms, most financial plans are between 3000

and 9000 works.

Reference You could use either Harvard (in-text style) or Oxford (footnote and bibliography) referencing style.

Regardless which method you use, you should have reference list/bibliography at the end of the

financial plan.

More information on the footnote (Oxford) method is here:

The Footnote / Bibliography Referencing System | UNSW Current Students

More information on the in-text (Harvard) method is here:

Harvard Referencing - The 'In-text' System | UNSW Current Students

Writing Style The writing style of the financial plan should conform with the requirement of a formal Statement of

Advice (SOA). It should be a formal writing intended to communicate with the client and you should use

first-person writing style. A good example of writing style is provide in RG 90: RG 90 Example Statement

of Advice: Scaled advice for a new client | ASIC - Australian Securities and Investments Commission

Note, a financial advice is not an academic research paper. Also you should avoid using jargons and

acronyms. If you need to use them, make sure to provide the full name first, such as exchanges traded

funds (ETFs). Assuming financial literacy of clients may render the advice inappropriate.

Structure and content Although not requiring you to complete a full SOA, I expect your financial plan to have the main sections

of an SOA, including:

• Executive summary

• Table of contents

• The basis for advice

o Clients’ information

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o Financial information and analysis

o Risk tolerance analysis and discussion

o Clients’ goals and concerns

o Major assumptions

o Refer to the other requirements of RG175 in lecture notes for

• The advice

o Strategies for each of clients’ goals with clear reasoning and support

o Advantages and disadvantages of the strategies

o Risk in the advice and alternatives

Note these are the minimum coverage if you want to achieve a score above 70 out of the full mark of

100. If you are time-poor due to your workload in other courses or work commitments, you may choose

to miss out some of the suggested components in each section. However, doing so may adversely affect

your overall score.

To achieve a score above 80, you are advised to

• Provide a holistic assessment of the family’s background and carefully consider all the

relevant personal circumstances

• Clarify, assess, and prioritize clients’ goals given their resource and constraints.

• Provide recommendations within the scope of the advice to help the family on each of their

goals and objectives.

• Justify and explain the recommendations in consideration of the ‘best interest duty’ under

Chapter 7 of the Corporations Act

• State and substantiate (where appropriate) additional assumptions

• Thorough research of the products recommended

• Conduct detailed financial modelling. Only a limited number of tables should be included in

the body of the advice and the tables should be easy to understand with sufficient

explanation.

If you want to put more effort in the assignment, you are welcome to include other sections of the SOA,

such as a cover letter. Your extra work could contribute both to the presentation and the overall quality

of the financial plan section in the assessment criteria.

The presentation of the document should satisfy the requirements of RG175 and you are recommended

to use the presentation tools discussed in Week 2 Lecture.

Assessment criteria Overall, the financial plan is one step short of writing out a professional financial plan which will have

more formatting and editorial requirements. The emphasis here is:

• The economic substance and quality of the advice

• The demonstration of your awareness of regulatory compliance requirements.

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The specific marking criteria is as follows:

P re

se n

ta ti

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Conformity (10%) • Confirming to the required file format

• Table of content

• Proper use of headings and tables

• Refencing

Clarity (10%) • Ideas are clearly expressed

• Correct use of spelling, grammar, and punctuation

• Use of clear and appropriate topic sentences at the beginning of paragraphs

• Appropriate use of bullet-points and prose where appropriate to the content

• Appropriate use of tables to summarize information

• A clear flow of ideas within sections (between paragraphs)

• A clear flow of ideas across the entire document (between sections)

Compelling and professionalism (10%)

• Professional, courteous, and concise language

• Professional presentation

• Effective use of diagrams, graphs, and pictures to visualize information and strategies

• Overall plan is compelling, engaging, and effective without boring the reader with trivial or irrelevant information

A p

p ro

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a te

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ss o

f th

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Appropriately assess and analyze client’s personal circumstances, needs and objectives (10%)

• Identify all the relevant personal circumstances of your clients.

• Identify and prioritize clients’ goals and objectives

• Identify clients’ concerns

• Risk profiling

Advice scope and comprehensiveness (20%)

• Correctly define the scope of the advice given clients’ needs

• Formulate strategies that address all the clients’ goals

• Present clearly defined and actionable advice

Basis of advice (30%) • Strong justification of the advice based on client’s needs and research of strategies

• Use of financial modelling and calculations to support your strategies with sufficient explanation

• Detailed product research to support your financial strategies

• Key assumptions are reasonable and well supported by research

• Discuss the risks or disadvantages of the recommended strategies and consider alternative options

Overall quality of advice (10%)

• The financial plan avoids simply paraphrasing the course material

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• Evidence of a deep understanding of the course material

• The application of theory demonstrates a high level of critical reasoning and logic

• The application of theory is novel and/or innovative

Suggestive completion timeline The assignment is designed for you to apply what you learned in lectures through the term and you are

expected to consistently work on it over the term. It will be too much work if you leave the assignment

toward the last weeks and typically students doing this could not achieve a satisfactory grade in the

assignment. Below is a suggestive timeline to complete the assignment:

Week Tasks Comments

4 • Thoroughly read the project instruction and

FNA

• Read the sample SOA

• Refer to RG 90 as an example as well

Understanding the client’s

circumstances and goals is

arguably the most important step

of financial planning as it guides

all your advice. Apply what you

learned in Week 1 and 2 Lectures

and learn from the sample SOA of

what a professional SOA looks

like.

5 • List all the circumstances and goals of the

clients

• Based on the circumstances and goals,

decide the scope of advice

You need to come back to this

step with each week’s lecture to

identify relevant circumstances

and goals

6 • Develop a strategy for homeownership

• Consider the tax position of the clients and

pay attention to the tax implications of any

strategy considered

This section has implications for

future sections, such as private

health insurance. You should

come back to tax considerations

after completing the remain

sections

7 • Recommend proper debt management plan

• Develop strategies for other savings goals

8 • Understand the risk attitudes of the clients

and recommend investment plan

Consider both super and

investments outside of super if

needed

9 • Complete superannuation recommendations

10 • Complete insurance recommendation

11 • Overall advice consolidation, final formatting,

and proof reading

Strongly recommend to have an

overall financial plan and

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projection to show the

recommendations are achievable

Note the timeline is suggestive and you should adjust according to your plan and schedule.