Fundamentals of Financial Planning Investment Planning Retirement Planning

  1. Fundamentals of Cash Management and Budgeting
    1. Steps In Budgeting and Cash Management
      1. Preparation of Personal Financial Statements
        1. Preparation of a Personal Budget
        2. Preparation of a Personal Financial Statement
        3. Understanding and applying information derived from these financial statements
      2. Managing Cash and Savings
        1. Types of financial institutions
        2. Cash Investment Vehicles
        3. Developing Savings Habits and an Emergency Fund
      3. Understanding of Time Value of Money
        1. The Power of Compound Interest
        2. Future Value Calculation
        3. Present Value Calculation
    2. Understanding Use of Credit
      1. When Should Credit Be Used?
        1. Appropriate Uses of Credit
        2. Inappropriate Uses of Credit
        3. Monthly debt repayment ratio guideline
      2. Borrowing on Open Account
        1. Bank Cards
        2. Retail Cards
        3. Other Miscellaneous Special Use Cards
      3. Computation of Finance Charge on Credit Accounts
        1. Calculation of Interest
        2. Calculation of Unpaid Balance
        3. Other Card Cost Issues:
          1. Fees
          2. Grace Period
          3. Other Benefits
          4. Acceptance
      4. Consumer Credit Legislation
        1. Consumer Rights under Consumer Credit Legislation
      5. Credit Card Utilization Tips
      6. Credit Reporting Agencies
        1. What is a Credit Reporting Agency
        2. What Information Do they assemble and report?
        3. How do you contact the Credit Reporting Agencies
        4. Awareness of Credit Bureau Content
      7. Consumer Loans
        1. Uses of consumer loans
        2. Comparing consumer loan rates
    3. Purchasing a Home
      1. Is Home Ownership for You?
        1. Advantages of Home Ownership
        2. Disadvantages of Home Ownership
      2. The Process of Purchasing a Home
        1. Qualifying for the Purchase
      3. Types of Mortgages
        1. Fixed Rate Loans
        2. Adjustable Rate Loans
        3. Other Financing Methods
      4. Finance Costs
        1. Down Payment
        2. Closing Costs
      5. When to Refinance your Existing Mortgage
        1. Rule of Thumb
        2. Considerations
    4. Financing an Auto
      1. Purchase vs. Lease considerations

  2. Income Tax Fundamentals
    1. Understanding Our Federal Income Tax Laws
      1. History of Tax Law
      2. Common "Audit Triggers"
      3. Calculation of Federal Tax Returns
    2. Income Tax Planning
      1. Taking Advantage of Tax Filing Options
      2. Acceleration and Deferral Techniques
      3. Maximizing Employee Benefits
      4. Income/Deduction Splitting
      5. Tax-Managing Your Investment Portfolio
      6. Charitable Contributions
      7. Tax Deferred Investing
        1. Qualified Retirement Plans
        2. Individual Retirement Accounts
        3. Deferred Annuities
        4. Life Insurance Cash Values

  3. Insurance and Risk Management Fundamentals
    1. How Do We Manage Risk?
      1. Risk Avoidance
      2. Risk Reduction
      3. Risk Assumption
      4. Risk Retention
      5. Risk Transfer
    2. Life Insurance
      1. How much Do You Need?
      2. What Kind Should Be Purchased?
        1. Term Insurance
        2. Whole Life
        3. Universal Life
        4. Variable Life
      3. Company Selection
        1. Cost
        2. Comparative Benefits
        3. Financial Strength of Issuing Company and Agent
      4. Policy Features
    3. Health Insurance
      1. Medical Insurance
        1. Traditional Indemnity Plans
        2. Managed Care Plans
      2. Disability Income Insurance
        1. Importance of management of disability risk
        2. Selecting a Disability policy
      3. Long Term Care Insurance
        1. Understanding Long Term Care
        2. How Do Policies work?
        3. Policy considerations
    4. Property-Casualty Insurance
      1. Homeowners Insurance
        1. Coverage of property loss
        2. Coverage of loss due to liability
        3. Who is covered?
        4. What is covered:
        5. Other policy considerations
      2. Auto Insurance
        1. Liability coverage
        2. Medical Payments
        3. Uninsured Motorists
        4. Physical Damage to Vehicle
        5. Methods of lowering premium rates
      3. Other Property Casualty Concerns

  4. Investment Planing Fundamentals
    1. Basics of Investment Planning
      1. How Do I Get Started With An Investment Plan?
      2. What Kinds Of Investments Are there?
      3. Understanding Risk
        1. Risk of Principal
        2. Rate of Return
        3. Market Volatility
        4. Purchasing Power Risk
        5. Interest Rate Risk
      4. Impact of Taxes on Return
        1. Computing After Tax Yield
      5. Marketability and Liquidity
    2. Debt Investments
      1. Bonds
        1. By type
        2. By Issuer
        3. Determining Return
        4. Bond Ratings
      2. Preferreds and Convertibles
    3. Equity Investments
      1. Common Stock
        1. Why Consider Investing In stocks?
        2. Understanding different kinds of stocks
        3. How is stock performance measured?
        4. Where to find information concerning stocks being considered for purchase
      2. Real Estate
        1. Advantages and Disadvantages to owning real estate
      3. Other Equity Investments
        1. Oil and Gas ventures
        2. Tax Shelters
        3. Put and Call Options
        4. Commodity FuturesTrading
        5. Art, antiques, collectibles
      4. Mutual fund Investing
        1. Why invest in mutual funds?
        2. How Is Money Made in Mutual funds?
        3. What Types of Investments are available in mutual funds?
        4. What services are offered by mutual funds?
      5. Other considerations in securities purchases

  5. Retirement Planning Fundamentals
    1. Overview of Retirement Planning
      1. Setting Retirement Goals
        1. Where are you going?
        2. When are you going to get there?
        3. Where are you now?
      2. Determining funds needed for retirement
      3. Common Roadblocks to investment success
    2. Sources of Income for Retirement
      1. Social Security
        1. Defining Social Security Benefits
        2. When will benefits be received
        3. How much will benefits be
        4. Will benefits be taxed
      2. Employer Sponsored Retirement Plans
        1. Defined Benefit Plans
        2. Defined Contribution Plans
      3. Personal Savings Accumulation
        1. Individual Retirement Accounts
          1. Traditional IRA
          2. Roth IRA
        2. Deferred Annuities
    3. Selecting Retirement Income/Annuity Payouts
      1. Payout options
      2. Taxation Issues
    4. Other financial issues for consideration in retirement

  6. Estate Planning Fundamentals
    1. Estate Planning Basics
      1. Definition of Estate Planning
      2. Defining the Estate
        1. Gross estate
        2. Probate estate
        3. Non-Probate estate
        4. Taxable estate
        5. Net (taxable) estate
      3. Transfers At Death
        1. Testate
        2. Intestate
        3. Assets passing outside the will
    2. Understanding Wills
      1. How does a will work?
      2. What is included in a will?
      3. What makes a will valid?
      4. What about changes?
    3. Understanding Trusts
      1. Structure of Trusts
        1. Parties to the trust
        2. Type of trust
        3. Purpose of trust
      2. Transfers during lifetime
        1. Lifetime gifts
        2. Charitable gifts
        3. Marital deduction
    4. Costs Associated with Estates
      1. Probate
      2. Federal Estate Tax
      3. Cost-Saving Techniques

  1. Fundamentals of Investment Planning
    1. Definition of Investment
    2. Why Do We Invest?
    3. How to Invest
    4. The Financial Planning Process
    5. Where to Go for Financial Planning Help
    6. Common Mistakes in Financial Planning

  2. Understanding Risk
    1. Definitions
      1. Risk Avoidance
      2. Risk Transfer
      3. The Risk Averse Investor
      4. Influence of Time on Risk
    2. Types of Investment Risk
      1. Systematic vs. Unsystematic Risk
      2. Market
      3. Interest Rate
      4. Purchasing Power
      5. Regulation
      6. Business Risk
      7. International Risks
      8. Liquidity Risk
    3. Measurement of Risk
      1. Volatility
      2. Standard Deviation
      3. Beta

  3. Important Investment Concepts
    1. Marketability/Liquidity
    2. Developing Reasonable Expectations
    3. Evaluating Personal Tax Situations
    4. Qualified vs. Taxable Monies
    5. Assessing Your Level of Knowledge and Experience
    6. Preferences and Risk Tolerance
    7. Understanding Probability Distributions
    8. Trading vs. Investing
    9. Inverse Relationship Between Interest Rates & Bond Prices

  4. Investment Vehicles
    1. Debt Investments
      1. Certificates of Deposit and Cash Equivalents
      2. U.S. Government and Agency Securities
      3. Municipal Bonds
      4. Foreign Bonds
      5. Corporate Bonds
      6. Mortgage-backed Securities
      7. Convertible Bonds
    2. Equity Investments
      1. Common Stock
        1. Capitalization
        2. Industry or Sector
        3. Domestic and Foreign
        4. Initial and Secondary Offerings
      2. Preferred Stock
      3. Private Placements
      4. Derivatives
        1. Options
        2. Futures
      5. Real Estate
      6. Tangibles, precious metals, collectibles, etc.
    3. Insurance-based Investments and Investment Companies
      1. Annuities
        1. Fixed
        2. Variable
      2. Unit Investment Trusts
      3. Open-end Mutual Funds
      4. Closed-end Mutual Funds
    4. Valuation Methods
      1. Bond Rating Services
      2. Common Valuation Methods
        1. Capitalized Earnings
        2. Dividend Growth
        3. Price/ Earnings Ratio
        4. Intrinsic Value
      3. Fundamental versus Technical Analysis

  5. Measurement of Investment Returns
    1. Individual Security Measures of Return
      1. Yield to Maturity
      2. Yield to Call
      3. Realized Compound Yield
      4. After Tax Yield
      5. Annualized Return
      6. Real (inflation adjusted) Return
      7. After Tax Return
      8. Total Return
      9. Holding Period Return
      10. Internal Rate of Return
    2. Portfolio Performance Measurement
      1. Benchmark Portfolios
      2. Risk-Adjusted Returns
      3. Time vs. Dollar-weighted Return

  6. Investment Theory and Strategies
    1. Active vs. Passive Strategy
    2. Building an Investment Portfolio
      1. Asset Allocation
      2. Asset Classes
      3. Diversification
    3. Risk Reduction in the Stock Portion of a Portfolio
      1. Law of Large Numbers
      2. Modern Portfolio Theory
      3. Correlation coefficient
      4. Dollar Cost Averaging
      5. Dividend Reinvestment
    4. Advanced Strategies
      1. Use of Leverage
      2. Option Strategies
      3. Short Sales

  1. Retirement Planning Process
    1. Establishing Retirement Goals
    2. Retirement Needs Analysis
      1. Determination of Financial Objectives
      2. Calculation of Retirement Funds Available
      3. Calculation of Additional Funds Required
    3. Importance of Personal Savings

  2. Overview of Social Security Benefits
    1. Determining Benefits
    2. Taxation of Benefits

  3. Qualified Retirement Plans
    1. Types of Retirement Plans
    2. Definitions
    3. Qualified Plan Vesting Schedule
    4. Factors Affecting Suitability (for individuals or types of business)
    5. Contributions
    6. Pre-Retirement Distributions
    7. Post-Retirement Distributions
    8. Retirement Plan Distribution Options
    9. Tax Treatment of Plan Distributions
    10. Tax on Excess Distributions

  4. Factors Affecting Qualified Plan Contributions or Benefits
    1. Tax considerations
    2. Comparison of Defined Contribution and Defined Benefit
    3. Definition of Compensation
    4. Multiple Plans

  5. Employer Sponsored Retirement Plans (Qualified Plan Characteristics)
    1. Defined Contribution Plans
      1. Money Purchase Pension Plan
      2. Profit-Sharing Plan
      3. Savings Plan
    2. Defined Benefit Plans
      1. Defined Benefit Pension Plan
      2. Target/Age-Weighted Plan

  6. Integration with Social Security/Disparity Limits
    1. Defined benefit plans
    2. Defined contribution plans

  7. Other Qualified Retirement Plans (Qualified Plan Characteristics)
    1. Governmental Employer Deferred Compensation (Section 457) Plan
    2. HR 10 (Keogh) Plans
    3. Section 401(k) Plan
    4. Section 403 (b) Plan
    5. Simplified Employee Pension (SEP)
    6. SIMPLE
    7. Tax Deferred Annuity

  8. Nonqualified Deferred Compensation
    1. Nonqualified Plan Characteristics
      1. ESOP/Stock Bonus Plan
      2. Incentive Stock Option (ISO)
      3. Nonqualified Deferred Compensation

  9. Individual Retirement Accounts (Qualified Plan Characteristics)
    1. Deductible IRA
    2. Non-Deductible IRA
    3. Roth IRA

  10. Suitability of Investment Portfolio
    1. Investment Risk
    2. Investment Constraints
    3. Investment Portfolio Evaluation

  11. Retirement Planning Strategies
    1. Analysis of Factors Affecting Plan Selection
      1. Contribution Limitations
      2. Age
      3. Eligibility Requirements

  12. Non-financial Aspects of Retirement Planning
    1. Understanding retirement … not from a job but to freedom of economic choice, to do what we choose. A modern day challenge.
    2. Life expectancy and how to improve it
    3. Lifestyle choices...start now to try them out.
    4. Personal discipline and aids to saving and investing.