BUSINESS FINANCE 4312
EMPLOYEE BENEFIT AND RETIREMENT PLANNING
Course Syllabus
Spring Semester 2016
Special Meeting Schedule (Classroom Reserved MWF 4:10-5:05PM)
230 Schoenbaum
Instructor:
Phone:
Office:
E-Mail:
Office Hours:
Dr. Bill Rives
(614) 292-2979
312 Fisher Hall
rives.4@osu.edu
By appointment only
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course provides an introduction to the concepts and methods of employee benefit
and retirement planning. While the principal focus of the course is employee benefits, it
is important to understand that many employee benefit plans are concerned, at least to
some extent, with retirement. The field of employee benefits has become important for
two major reasons:
•
The high cost of recruiting, retaining, and ultimately retiring an employee mandates a
careful search by an employer for the most cost-effective benefit and compensation
packages to meet company objectives.
•
The unprecedented growth of federal legislation and regulatory activity in the area of
employee compensation during recent decades has greatly complicated the process
of designing benefit plans to avoid mistakes in benefit and retirement planning.
This course is part of the Insurance Specialization under the Fisher Finance degree.
DELIVERY FORMAT
The course incorporates a self-study model commonly used in online courses. Because
students will be taking other courses on the OSU Columbus campus, in-class meetings
can be scheduled every 2-3 weeks to discuss study assignments and student progress.
All study materials will be available through Carmen; the course will make extensive use
of Carmen resources. Students should be familiar with Carmen learning tools.
The National Underwriter Company, publisher of the course text, has agreed to support
the course with digital application problems and cases, class discussion questions, PPT
slides, and chapter test banks compiled from national certification and licensing exams.
COURSE MATERIALS
Required Course Text
Stephan Leimberg, John McFadden and C. Frederick Reish
The Tools & Techniques of Employee Benefit and Retirement Planning
14th edition, National Underwriter, 2015 (ISBN 9781941627495)
Each student should own a copy of the current edition (no sharing). We DO NOT
support earlier editions, which can differ significantly from the current edition.
Required Calculator
You will need a calculator for this course capable of performing basic time-valueof-money (TVM) calculations. Financial calculators enable you to perform these
calculations using pre-programmed functions. In contrast, scientific (statistical)
calculators require you to enter values manually into mathematical formulas.
If you already own a scientific (statistical) calculator, there is no need to purchase
a financial calculator unless you prefer the convenience of pre-programmed TVM
functions. You will not be at a disadvantage without a financial calculator.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Class Contribution
(course grade weight = 25%)
The course will meet 8 times during the semester (roughly every other week). Meeting
dates are shown in the Course Schedule (see below). Should circumstances warrant,
a meeting date may be changed, with appropriate notice. The classroom is reserved on
a M-W-F schedule for the entire term, which affords a range of alternate meeting dates.
Most of the meeting dates in the Course Schedule (see below) are Mondays.
With only 8 meeting dates, the classroom experience can be expected to play a key role
in the course for students new to an online delivery format. To this end, we expect you:
•
to attend every class;
•
to notify the instructor in advance when you need to arrive late or leave early;
•
to provide the instructor with a written explanation for each class you miss (including
appropriate supporting documentation to be determined by the instructor);
•
to prepare adequately for each class by completing all pre-class assignments; and
•
to contribute effectively to class discussion (emphasis on quality, not quantity).
In the most general sense, grading class contribution provides an opportunity to assess
the results of your efforts to learn the material and benefit from the course experience.
Apart from simply noting whether you attend class, your contribution grade incorporates
a subjective assessment by the instructor of the extent to which you “made the effort.”
Business Finance 4312 Syllabus / Spring 2016
Page 2
Course Exams
(course grade weight = 75% applied to the average score on 6 required exams)
The course is divided into 6 segments or “content modules.” Each module covers a set
of related topics. Each topic generally corresponds to a chapter from the course text.
You will take an exam on each content module using the Carmen quizzing tool. Exams
will consist of multiple-choice questions based on topics from each module. Exams are
designed to evaluate your working knowledge of key concepts and your ability to apply
basic tools to common problems.
The exam on each module will be available on Carmen for a relatively short time period
(“exam window”) immediately following the class at which the module is discussed. The
6 exam windows can be found in the Course Schedule (see below).
Exam ground rules (additional rules may be announced at a later date):
•
You can take an exam any time, and from any location, during the exam window.
•
You can use your text and notes to help you answer exam questions.
•
You will certify on each exam that your answers represent your own work product
(no group efforts!)
•
Under no circumstances will a student be excused from an exam.
•
Each exam has an aggregate time limit regulated by Carmen.
•
You are responsible for taking an exam during the exam window; a missed exam
cannot be “made up” and may adversely affect your course grade.
•
You may take an exam up to 2 times in an effort to improve your score; if you do
take an exam twice, you will earn the higher of the two scores.
Because each exam consists of questions drawn at random from a large question bank,
no two exams for a particular content module will be exactly the same.
After you finish (submit) an exam, and the exam window has closed, go to the Quiz List
and click the Submissions icon next to the exam you just completed. You will be able to
review the questions you missed and your score on each attempt.
The exam requirement will be discussed in greater detail in class.
ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT
•
In accordance with University Faculty Rule No. 3333-5-487, all instances of alleged
academic misconduct must be reported to the Committee on Academic Misconduct,
which recommends appropriate sanctions to the Office of Academic Affairs.
•
We aggressively pursue violations of University standards on academic conduct.
Business Finance 4312 Syllabus / Spring 2016
Page 3
WAIT-LISTED STUDENTS (undergraduate courses only)
•
Wait-listed students who seek to enroll in a course must attend class for that course
through the first class session of the second week of the semester. After that date,
any student who has not been added to the course will not be enrolled and may not
continue attending the class.
•
Wait-listed students should contact either the Fisher Undergraduate Program Office
or the Department of Finance if they have questions about the wait-list process.
DISABILITY SERVICES
•
The Office of Disability Services (ODS) verifies students with specific disabilities and
develops strategies to meet their needs. Students requiring accommodations based
on identified disabilities should contact the instructor at the beginning of the term to
discuss their particular needs. Students with a specific disability are encouraged to
contact ODS to explore potential accommodations available to them.
DISENROLLMENT
•
The Fisher College of Business aggressively enforces University attendance rules.
• Pursuant to University Rule 3335-8-33, a student may be “disenrolled” from a course
for failure to attend by the first Friday of the term, by the third instructional day of the
term, or by the second class meeting, whichever occurs first.
POLICY ON EXTRA CREDIT
•
No student will be permitted to complete “additional work” for extra credit without the
permission of the instructor.
POLICY ON THE USE OF ELECTRONIC DEVICES IN CLASS
•
Cell phones may not be used in class.
•
During class, your cell phone must be set to SILENT (not vibrate) or turned OFF.
•
Laptops and tablets may be used in class only for course business.
•
Lectures and other presentations may not be recorded (audio or video).
•
Any electronic device not mentioned elsewhere in this section may be used in class
only with the instructor’s permission.
•
This policy does not apply to electronic devices used for medical reasons.
•
The instructor may amend this policy at any time, should circumstances warrant.
Business Finance 4312 Syllabus / Spring 2016
Page 4
COURSE SCHEDULE
This course employs a hybrid delivery format (see above). While the course is listed
for MWF from 4:10 to 5:05 PM, class will not meet every week (although the classroom
will be available as if the class did meet 3 times a week). The following schedule shows
the dates on which class will meet, along with dates for testing windows associated with
online course exams and University holidays during the semester.
All chapter reading assignments refer to the Leimberg-McFadden-Reish course text.
Class
Dates
Activities – Topics – Requirements
WED
JAN 13
Introduction and Course Administration
MON
JAN 18
MLK Holiday – NO CLASS
MON
JAN 25
MODULE 1
Introduction to Employee Benefit and Retirement Planning
WED
JAN 27
READ: CH01
CH10
CH11
CH35
CH43
Discussion of course topics, requirements, resources and procedures
The process of employee benefit planning
Designing the right retirement plan
Planning for retirement needs
Designing the right health benefit package
Designing the right life insurance plan
EXAM: Exam 1 window runs from 6:00AM JAN 28 to 11:50PM JAN 30
Remember to review the chapter PowerPoint slides posted on Carmen
MON
FEB 8
MODULE 2
Compensation Planning
WED
FEB 10
READ: CH02
CH03
CH06
CH07
CH08
Cash compensation planning
Bonus plans
Stock options
Incentive stock options
Employee stock purchase plans (Section 423 plans)
EXAM: Exam 2 window runs from 6:00AM FEB 11 to 11:50PM FEB 13
Remember to review the chapter PowerPoint slides posted on Carmen
Business Finance 4312 Syllabus / Spring 2016
Page 5
COURSE SCHEDULE
Class
Dates
Activities – Topics – Requirements
MON
FEB 22
MODULE 3
Qualified Retirement Plans: The Ground Rules
WED
FEB 24
READ: CH12
CH13
CH14
CH15
CH16
Designing a qualified retirement plan
General rules for plan qualification
Distributions and loans from qualified plans
Qualified plan investments
ERISA reporting and disclosure
EXAM: Exam 3 window runs from 6:00AM FEB 25 to 11:50PM FEB 27
Remember to review the chapter PowerPoint slides posted on Carmen
MON
MAR 7
MODULE 4
Qualified Retirement Plans: The Plan Universe
WED
MAR 9
READ: CH19
CH20
CH21
CH22
CH27
CH28
CH31
CH32
Section 401(k) plans
Traditional IRA plans
Roth IRA plans
Profit sharing plans
Defined benefit pension plans
Cash balance plans
Simplified employee pension (SEP) plans
Tax-deferred annuity (TDA) plans
EXAM: Exam 4 window runs from 6:00AM MAR 10 to 11:50PM MAR 12
Remember to review the chapter PowerPoint slides posted on Carmen
MON
MAR 14
through
FRI
MAR 18
Spring Break – NO CLASS
Business Finance 4312 Syllabus / Spring 2016
Page 6
COURSE SCHEDULE
Class
Dates
Activities – Topics – Requirements
MON
MAR 28
MODULE 5
Health and Disability Benefit Plans
WED
MAR 30
READ: CH36
CH37
CH38
CH39
CH40
CH41
CH42
Group health plans
Alternatives to group health plans
Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs)
Health Savings Accounts (HSAs)
Cafeteria plans
Short-term disability (sick pay) plans
Long-term disability plans and long-term care insurance
Medicare & You 2016 (review; posted on Carmen)
MassMutual Understanding the Value of Your Income (read; Carmen)
MassMutual Long-Term Care Solutions Guide (read; Carmen)
MassMutual Long-Term Care Insurance Policy (review; Carmen)
EXAM: Exam 5 window runs from 6:00AM MAR 31 to 11:50PM APR 2
Remember to review the chapter PowerPoint slides posted on Carmen
MON
APR 11
MODULE 6
Life Insurance Plans
WED
APR 13
READ: CH18
CH44
CH45
CH46
CH47
Life insurance in qualified retirement plans
Group term life insurance
Split-dollar life insurance
Key employee life insurance
Death Benefit Only (DBO) plans
EXAM: Exam 6 window runs from 6:00AM APR 14 to 11:50PM APR 16
Remember to review the chapter PowerPoint slides posted on Carmen
MON
APR 27
Course Wrap and Lessons Learned
We reserve the right to correct errors in this document at any time, with appropriate notice.
Supplemental reading assignments can be found on Carmen.
Additional reading assignments may be posted at any time during the course, with appropriate notice.
Business Finance 4312 Syllabus / Spring 2016
Page 7