FIN 311
Personal Financial Planning
Fall 2010
Professor: Jim McIntyre, Ph.D.
Office: 205 Merrill Hall
Office Hours: TWTH 12:00 P.M. TO 2:00 P.M. Central Time
Telephone: (256) 782-5088
E-Mail: jmcintyr@jsu.edu
Text: Required: Gitman, Lawrence J., Michael D. Joehnk, and Randall S. Billingsley. Personal Financial
Planning, 12th Edition. ISBN 978439044476.
Calculator (required): Texas Instruments BA-II Plus or Excel (Do not attempt to take this course without
One of these tools). The Texas Instruments BA-II Plus is also available at a reduced costs as a smart
phone app.
Catalog Description: Personal Financial Planning including insurance, housing, investments, budgeting,
use of financial institutions and taxes.
Course Objectives:
1. Learn to think critically about all aspects of the personal financial planning process
2. Learn to apply course material to achieve personal financial goals
3. Understand time value of money and how it applies to meeting personal financial goals
4. Construct an individualized, flexible personal financial plan
5. Understand the appropriate and inappropriate sources and uses of debt
6. Understand the credit rating process
7. Learn the effect of taxes on the achievement of financial goals
8. Identify risks that affect the financial plan and strategies for mitigating risk
9. Understand the role of insurance in financial planning
10. Learn the role of saving and investing to achieve retirement goals.
Disability Accomodations Statement: Any individual who qualifies for reasonable accommodations
under The Americans With Disabilities Act or Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 should
contact the instructor immediately.
Computer Resources: Many financial problems can be solved using the financial applications
embedded in software such as Excel, a component of Microsoft Office. Also, the chapter resources in
the Course Documents section of Blackboard include sample Excel solutions to common financial
problems. Feel free to solve homework and exam problems using Excel.
Academic Honesty: JSU’s academic honesty policy is included in the JSU Student Handbook, page 17, or
online at www.jsu.edu/depart/handbook/page17.html#honesty and is distributed to all entering
students. The CCBA faculty totally support this policy and ensure that students are aware of its
contents. In 2006, the Student Advisory Board endorsed a CCBA Student Code of Conduct which has
been posted in various locations in Merrill Hall. Students violating JSU’s academic honesty policy, will
at a minimum, fail FIN 311.
By registering for this course students agree to:
1. Follow JSU’s academic honesty policy
2. Not collaborate on exams or assignments (it is remarkably easy for me to detect cheating using
the tools Blackboard provides instructors)
3. Not to represent the work of others as their own
Homework Problems: Problems that will assist students in mastering the course material will be
assigned as the course progresses. Students need not hand in the assignments.
Comprehensive Financial Plan: Students will prepare a comprehensive financial plan for themselves.
There are only two possible grades for this project: A and F. Students will submit their plans as a Word
attachment no later than 11:59 p.m. (Central time) October 14. No late projects will be accepted for
any reason. Projects submitted after the deadline will receive a grade of F. You have been given ample
notice of this deadline so circumstances prohibiting the on-time completion of the project are not
operative. Computer problems or e-mail malfunctions will not be considered as excuses. In the event
you miss a deadline, the wise course of action would be to drop the class. The plans will be evaluated
and returned by October 28. Students receiving a grade of A will be finished with the project. Students
receiving a grade of F will have until November 11 11:59 p.m. (Central time) to resubmit their financial
plans (again as a Word e-mail attachment). As before, no late submissions will be accepted. The revised
plans will be evaluated and returned by November 25. Student s receiving an A will be finished with the
project. Students receiving an F will have until November 30th 11:59 p.m. (Central time) to resubmit
their financial plans for the third and final time. As before, no late submissions will be accepted.
The grade on your comprehensive financial plan will comprise 50% of your course grade.
Exams: all exams are open-book and open-notes. Students should not interpret this to mean the exams
are “easy” and require no preparation. Material for exams will be drawn from the text, lecture notes,
reading assignments, charts and graphs and animations and other material posted in Course
Documents.
Four midterms and a comprehensive final exam will be given. The student’s low midterm grade will be
dropped. If an exam is missed for any reason, the student will be assigned a zero for that exam.
Consequently the missed exam will count as the student’s drop grade. This policy obviates the need for
makeup exams. Therefore, makeup exams are never offered. Note: the final exam grade is not
droppable. The student’s exam grade will be determined by adding the top three midterm grades to
the comprehensive final exam grade and dividing by four.
Exams will be available as the first item in Course Documents from 8:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. Central
time on the date of the exam.
Exams will be given on the following Dates:
Exam
1
2
3
4
Comprehensive Final Exam
Date
September 14
October 5
October 26
November 23
December 9
Course Grade: Your course grade will be computed as the average of your comprehensive financial plan
grade (50%) and the exam grade average (50%).
No extra credit projects are offered during or after the course to improve grades.
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Topics Covered
Understanding the Financial Planning Process
Developing Your Financial Statements and Plans
The Time Value of Money
Managing Cash
Automobile and Housing
Using Debt
Insurance
Investments
Retirement
Estate Planning