Project 1: Planning Personal Finances

Posted on June 7, 2021

Read bellow and answer question 

A good friend of yours, Frank, just graduated college and is starting his first career job working as a game developer with a salary of $72,000. While Frank has an outstanding knowledge of information technology and developing cool “apps” for the iPhone, he has absolutely no idea how to organize his finances, and he wishes that he had taken a personal finance course while he was in college. As his new life begins, he is confused with financial terminology like financial planning, budgeting, tax audits, financial services, etc. He would like to have his own “place” to live and maybe purchase a new car and house in the near future. 

Frank just received a letter from the financial aid department stating that he will need to start making payments on his student loans in six months-ouch! He has been purchasing new clothes for his job, eating out all the time, while the money just seems to flow out from his bank account for all of his new expenses. The good news is that Frank is about to receive his first “real” paycheck which is quite exciting. Before cashing that check and heading to the uptown area of Dallas, Frank comes to his senses and has just sent you a text on what to do with his cash. He understands that you are taking a personal finance course and are becoming quite skilled at managing money. Let’s help Frank build a positive financial plan. 

1. Financial Planning Process
• Frank needs to have an understanding of the financial planning process. Define and explain 

each of the six steps of the financial planning process. 2. Influence on Economic Conditions 

• Personal financial decisions are most closely influenced by economic conditions of consumer prices/inflation, consumer spending, and interest rates. Define and explain for Frank these three economic conditions. 

3. Work Experience 

• Frank, like many college students, had a lack of work experience when he applied for his career occupation. List and explain various ways that a college student could gain valuable employment experiences while still in college. 

4. Professional Network 

• Frank was quite fortunate to land a job right out of college. While Frank has a respectable amount of followers on Twitter, he realizes that he really needs to better develop his professional network. List and explain to Frank networking strategies, as well as, strategies to conduct an informational interview that he can incorporate to build his long-term career plan.  

5. Personal Financial Records System
• Frank really needs to put together a personal financial records system. Explain to Frank 

why this is a good idea and how he should proceed in establishing this system. 

6. Budgeting Process
• Frank is terrified of the word budget as he thinks his money will be restricted. Try to calm 

him down by listing and explaining the eight steps in the budgeting process. 7. Taxes 

• As a single person with no dependents and a good paying job, Frank is probably going to pay high income taxes. He really needs to examine strategies to lower his taxable income. Explain to Frank what a tax credit and a tax deduction are, and list examples that Frank could legally use to reduce his tax burden. 

8. Tax Audits 

• Oh no! Frank just received an audit notification from the IRS and he is completely freaked out. Help Frank complete a list of his audit rights, and strategies of how he should conduct himself in the audit. 

9. Financial Services 

• Great work, Frank survived the IRS audit thanks to your advice and even received a $2,000 check due to an error by the IRS. Frank thinks he should put that money in the bank and would like to know what other services banks offer besides a simple checking account. List and explain to Frank the major types of financial services that a bank or financial institution usually offer their customers. 

10. Savings Plans 

• It just keeps getting better for Frank as his Aunt Sally has just given him a graduation gift of $1,000! However, she says that Frank must save at least 90% of this amount. List and explain several options of savings plans that he could put this money towards. 

DIRECTIONS:

•  To receive full credit for this project, you should explain each answer in detail. Use your 

textbook, (chapters 1-5), notes and Internet research to complete this project. 

•  This Project should be a minimum of 1,000 words (not including the repetition of the question). Each question must be answered for full-credit. 

Number each of your answers and/or provide a brief heading. Do not copy the questions and paste them in your work. I will simply delete the wording of the question to attain an accurate word count. 

Please use an 11/12-point font for body paragraphs and a 14-point for headings. Anything larger than this makes your work difficult to read. 

Document must be submitted in either a Microsoft Word format or convert to a PDF file. These are the only files that I can accept. 

Include a title page with your name and title of the project. Save your project with your name in the file name.