write a financial plan.

II. Develop a section of your personal long-range financial plan addressing your long-range career goals. Don't skimp here. If you are not sure then address all of the possibilities. Don't just list your career goals, but explain why they are important to you, and what you will have to accomplish to attain them.

III. During this Module you will create a section of your Personal Long-Range Financial Plan that depicts your present financial situation. Using the material that you have read in the text as a guide, develop a set of financial statements (balance sheet, income statement, and budget) which accurately portray your current financial position. Try to be as detailed and accurate as possible, for you will be using this information as a foundation for this project in later modules.

IV. Start a "chapter" of your Long-Range Financial Plan and title it "Tax Planning." In this section, begin by listing every type of tax that you pay, and then exactly ( or estimate ) how much you pay for each one every year. Don't forget "hidden" taxes like state sales tax and taxes built into the price of cigarettes and gasoline. Also, take a close look at your most recent payroll stub. How much is being withheld for federal and state taxes? Will you get a refund this year, or will you have to pay an additional amount? What strategy should you develop as a result? How much is being withheld for Social Security taxes? You should have received a detailed report from the Social Security Administration around the date of your last birthday stating exactly how much you have accrued, and what your likely benefits will be at retirement. Place this information in this chapter of your plan, you will be working with it later in the course. After you have listed all of the taxes that you pay each year, develop a set of strategies for attempting to decrease (legally) the amount you spend on taxes. You will refer back to this chapter of your plan later in the course.

V. This chapter is pretty easy in terms of workload for this project. Just set up a new chapter of your plan that identifies all of the banking services that you now make use of. Identify the cost of each. Then explore other banks, and/or services that can provide you with the same kind of services, but that will cost you less. Then formulate a plan to switch to the less expensive bank and/or services. Hey--don't forget the ATM--it can be VERY expensive!

VI. This is a critical chapter in your personal long-range financial plan. Create a chapter entitled Credit Planning. Use the reading material in the text to formulate your current credit situation (it should certainly reflect the same information that is in your Balance Sheet and Income Statement in an earlier chapter). Then create a plan for paying the current balances off at a faster rate than just making the assigned minimum payments. Also, go through your financial records and determine exactly what types of purchases you usually make on credit, and establish a plan to ensure that you will not use credit to fund these types of purchases.

VII. You should now have quite a collection of chapters in your plan. Don't let yourself fall behind with this project, it is a vital part of the course. Use what you have learned in Chapter Seven to finalize the credit portion of your plan. Do this in the same chapter of your plan that you began for Chapter Six of the text.

VIII. Develop a section of your plan for your own housing issues. Include an amortization schedule for your own mortgage, or, if you do not yet have one, then simulate one for yourself for the future. Follow the chapter in the text closely, and address in your own plan the issues covered in the text. This section of your plan will guide you in the coming years to help you to make wise housing decisions.

IX. Develop a section of your personal plan to address all of your life insurance needs using the concepts learned in the text. Be sure to include not only your current needs, but those well into the future.

X. Create sections of your plan to reflect your own home and automobile insurance situation. How long has it been since you've checked your coverages and their costs? Is it time to take a hard look at this and perhaps make some changes?  Make certain that these sections of your plan are comprehensive in terms of what the text has taught you. Map out your strategies for the future for these coverages in these sections.