FINS5510 Personal Financial Planning

Overview

*All times are based on Sydney time

The purpose of this assignment is to help you to develop a detailed financial plan that will act as a financial roadmap for the rest of your life. Each section of your financial plan provides you with the opportunity to reflect deeply on the theory covered in the course and to make practical, specific and detailed application of that theory to your expected future life stages. You should start work on your financial plan in Week 1 and work on it gradually during the term as you cover each Unit. You should use the Microsoft Word template provided and submit the final document in PDF format. There is no word limit for this assignment but most submissions are between 3,000 and 9,000 words.

This is an individual assignment. Copying the work of another student, basing your financial plan on another student’s work, asking anyone else to write your financial plan, obtaining assistance from an Artificial Intelligence computer program, providing a copy of your financial plan to another student or posting your financial plan on a website is academic misconduct and will result in a fail grade being awarded for this course.

Weight

The Financial Plan assignment is worth 50% of your assessment for this course.

Backup your work

You should be writing your financial plan assignment gradually over the term after you have completed each Unit. You also need to plan for a situation in which the file may become corrupted or your device is damaged. Please create regular copies of your work and place them into a ‘Backups’ folder. Make sure this folder is synchronised onto a USB key or a cloud-based storage solution such as OneDrive or Dropbox (or an equivalent service in China for students who cannot access these services). Note that UNSW provides you with a free Onedrive account. Loss of data or a damaged device does not constitute grounds for Special Consideration.

Note that if you have saved your file in your UNSW Onedrive account, you should be able to restore a backup from your file history. Here is a link on how to do this.

If you lose your file and are unable to restore from a backup, a standard late penalty of 5 marks (out of 100) per day will apply. Technical problems with your file or

device does not represent grounds for a Special Consideration extension.

Late Penalties

Late submission will incur a penalty of 5% per day or part thereof (including weekends) from the due date and time. An assessment will not be accepted after 5 days (120 hours) of the original deadline unless special consideration has been approved. An assignment is considered late if the requested format, such as hard copy or electronic copy, has not been submitted on time or where the ‘wrong’ assignment has been submitted.

The late penalty applies to your score for the financial plan (not the maximum possible score). For example, if your raw score is 70/100 and the plan is submitted 2 days late, a 10 mark penalty will apply and so your score would be reduced to 60/100.

Note that there is a small ‘grace period’ of a few minutes after the submission time to allow for slow internet connections or slow website performance. No penalty will apply if the submission is within this ‘grace period’ . Please do not email me asking if your submission falls within this grace period.

Since you are supposed to be working on this assignment gradually each week as the course progresses, the maximum period of special consideration that will be granted for this assessment (for any reason) is 7 days from the original due date. Also, the maximum extension that will be granted for Equitable Learning Plans will also by 7 days from the original due date. Any submissions received after this will automatically be awarded a score of zero.

Special Consideration

Special consideration will only be granted in exceptional cases. You are responsible for developing your financial plan gradually as you work through each Unit of the course materials. You should work on your financial plan as you cover each Unit and avoid leaving it until last minute. You are responsible for completing your financial plan well before the due date/time to allow for unexpected circumstances or illness. Being ill during the  last week  before the date of submission will not normally constitute grounds for special consideration.

Loss of data or a damaged device does not constitute grounds for Special Consideration. You are responsible to regularly backup your work and synchronise it onto a cloud-based storage solution (such as OneDrive or Dropbox).

If special consideration is granted, the maximum extension that will be granted is 7 days from the original due date. Any financial plans received more than 7 days from the original due date will automatically be awarded a score of zero.

An application for Special Consideration together with supporting documentation must be submitted online within 3 working days of the due date. The process for applying for special consideration is here: https://student.unsw.edu.au/special-consideration

No Short Extensions

The university has recently introduced the option for students to apply for a short extension without providing documentation (such as a medical certificate).  This assessment task is not eligible for a short extension without documentation.

Individual Assessment

This is an individual assessment. You are permitted to discuss the contents of this assessment with your family, a spouse or partner. However, all written work, research and supporting calculations must be your own work. Seeking assistance with your written work or financial modelling constitutes academic misconduct.  Seeking assistance from Artificial Intelligence computer programs also constitutes academic misconduct. Providing assistance to any other students also constitutes academic misconduct. Copying or paraphrasing the work of any other student (from current or previous terms) constitutes academic misconduct. Copying the work of another student and then changing the details to reflect your situation and strategies  constitutes academic misconduct. Using another student’s financial plan as a ‘reference’ for you while you complete your own financial plan is also academic misconduct. Posting a copy of your assignment on a website is academic misconduct (except for submitting your assignment on the course website under the appropriate submission link).

If another student approaches you for assistance, please note the time, date and details of the incident and email the details to me at [email protected].

UNSW has no tolerance for students who are dishonest or seek to obtain an unfair advantage over other students. Academic misconduct is a serious offence. It can result in zero being awarded for this assessment, a failure grade for the course and/or removal from the University.

No Artificial Intelligence

Using Artificial Intelligence programs or services is not permitted in this assessment.

There are two exceptions to the above ‘no use of Artificial Intelligence’ rule. Students for whom English is their second language are allowed to use Artificial Intelligence programs  (such as Google Translate) to translate from their native  language  into English or to translate from English to their native language. Students with writing difficulties are allowed to use Artificial Intelligence programs (such as Grammarly) to help correct their spelling and grammar.

Template

You should use the Microsoft Word template document provided under the ‘Financial Plan’ section of the course website. Do not use another student’s financial plan as your template. Note that as a student at UNSW, you have access to the full suite of Microsoft Office 365 applications. More information about accessing this software is provided at the end of this document.

Formatting

For headings and body text, please use the styles in the Microsoft Word template provided.

Fonts: Please only use either Arial (PC) or Helvetica (Mac) fonts. Students with dyslexia who find these fonts difficult to read may use Times New Roman.

Font sizes: Please use font size 11 pt for your body text.

Line spacing: Use the default in the Microsoft Word Template provided (1.08 lines).

Styles: Use the styles provided in the Microsoft Word Template provided.

File format: You should submit your file in PDF format.

Filename: Please use the filename following the format ‘zID Plan’ .

If your zID is z999999, you should name your document ‘z999999 Plan’ .

For tables, diagrams, captions, footnotes and other minor formatting elements, you can choose your own formatting and styles. Please make sure they are easy to read.

Exporting to PDF

You are required to submit your assignment using the Microsoft Word template provided in PDF format. Using Microsoft Word, you can export to PDF format using the following process:

1.  Select the ‘File’ menu at the top left of the screen.

2.  Select ‘Export’ from the left panel.

3.  Select ‘Create PDF/XPS Document’

4.  Press the ‘Create PDF/XPS’ button.

5.  Check the file name and location is correct.

6.  Press ‘Publish’ button.

Table of Contents

You should update the page numbers in the table of contents before submitting the final version of your financial plan. This can be done as follows:

1.  User your mouse to select the table of contents on page 1

2.  Go to the ‘References’ tab on the command bar at the top of Microsoft Word

3.  Select ‘Update Table’ under the ‘Table of Contents’ group on the Ribbon.

4.  Select ‘Update Page Numbers Only’ to only update the page numbers or select ‘Update Entire Table’ to also update your Headings.

File Format

You should submit your file in PDF format.

File Name

Please name your financial plan using the following file name format:

zID Plan

For example, if your student zID is z1234567, your file should be named:

z1234567 Plan

Word Limit

There is no word limit or page limit for this assignment. This is your plan and so you can ‘invest’ as much time and detail into it as you like. In past terms, most financial plans are somewhere between 3,000 words and 9,000 words.

References and citations

As a general principle, you do not need to reference the concepts covered in my lecture slides unless the lecture slides themselves cite another source or it makes sense to do so given  how you are  using the  concept  in your assignment.  In most cases,  I’m expecting you to reference other sources that you have identified to support the ideas in your financial plan including websites, articles, books or videos.

Citations and references for any other article or website should follow standard university assignment citation and  referencing principles.  You may use Harvard, Oxford or APA referencing (see below).

For websites, I’m usually happy with just the author (or company), the date that it was accessed and a URL (preferably hyperlinked). For example:

"Domain Property Group, accessed 15 August 2025,https://www.domain.com.au"

As a general principle, you do not need to reference any pictures that you use in your financial plan.

The following website provides some good examples for referencing for other documents:

https://student.unsw.edu.au/citing-different-sources

When referring to other sources, the standard method for citations at UNSW is in-text (Harvard). However, in this course I don’t mind whether you use Harvard, Oxford or APA style referencing.

More information on the in-text (Harvard) method is here:

https://student.unsw.edu.au/harvard-referencing

More information on the footnote (Oxford) method is here:

https://student.unsw.edu.au/footnote-bibliography-or-oxford-referencing-system

More information on APA referencing method is here:

https://www.student.unsw.edu.au/how-cite-references-apa-style

References are not included in your word count.

Privacy

This assignment includes personal information that is both private and confidential.

Your assignment is not used for any other purpose except to provide you with a mark for this assessment. It will not be used for academic research or commercial purposes.

You should also note that more than 100 students undertake this course each term and so it is unlikely that I will remember any of your personal information after I finish marking them all (my memory isn’t that good!). However, you should note that your financial plan will be uploaded onto the Turnitin plagiarism detection service for the sole purpose of checking for similarity with other assignments in past, present or future terms.

If you are concerned about the privacy of the information, you are welcome to change, omit or redact any of the specific details that you are concerned about  (such as information about your current income or assets). Doing so will likely make very little difference to the usefulness of your financial plan, since you can simply change those details back to the correct values after submission.

Spouse or Partner

If you have a spouse or partner, you are also welcome to perform this assignment based on your ‘collective’ situation and ‘collective’ plan for the future. Discussing your financial plan assignment with your spouse or partner does not constitute academic misconduct. However, the written financial plan, supporting research and calculations should  be  your own work.  For  more  information,  see ‘Individual  Assessment’  on page 4.

Foreign Countries and Currencies

The financial plan assignment is designed to assess the key learning outcomes of this course.  Many  of  these  learning  outcomes  are  specific  to  the  Australian  financial system. This presents a problem for overseas students who plan to live abroad after they graduate, since the taxation and retirement saving systems in those countries may be quite different from Australia.

Whether or not you plan to live abroad for a significant component of your life after graduation,  for  the   purposes  of  this  assessment you   must assume that the Australian system of taxation and retirement savings (superannuation) will apply for your entire life. For instance, you may base your plan on the assumption that you will live in China for the rest of your life, but you must assume that only the Australian system of taxation will apply (not the system  in China) and that you will use the Australian superannuation system to save for retirement. I understand that this could result in some unusual circumstances at times, but it is necessary for the assessment of this course. Of course, you are welcome to change your financial plan to reflect the local taxation and retirement savings system after the course is completed.

Please only use Australian dollars as your currency for this assignment. You can convert any foreign values in Australian dollars at the current exchange rate.

Financial Assistance from Family

Some students may be expecting significant financial assistance from their families or a large inheritance from parents or grandparents after they graduate from their degrees (or later in life). This can undermine the learning outcomes assessed by the financial plan assessment because it can result in a financial strategy that basically argues, “I don’t need to do anything that this course covers because my family will provide me with everything that I need financially.”

You may assume that you will be able to obtain some financial assistance from parents (or grandparents) to buy your first home in terms of an interest-free loan (or gift) to help you with part of the purchase price of the property. However, it is important that you assume that you will need to make some significant effort yourself to save a deposit and obtain (and repay) a significant home loan. It is not acceptable to simply assume that you will inherit a property from family and therefore do not need to save for a deposit or take out a home loan.

The same principle applies for achieving financial independence. You may assume some financial assistance from family. However, you financial plan must also include some  significant  steps  that  you  take  yourself  to  achieve  financial  independence through your own saving and investment.

Students with disability may assume ongoing support (financial or otherwise) from family.

Religion and Interest

Some devoutly religious students may believe that either receiving or paying interest on borrowed funds (even under a profit-sharing arrangement using Islamic Banking) is incompatible with their religious faith. Inclusivity is important at UNSW and I personally have the utmost respect for these religious beliefs. However, being unable to borrow or lend at interest makes many of the financial strategies and products covered in this course unviable and can therefore make it difficult to assess the learning outcomes of the course. As such, if you hold these religious views, one approach that you can take with this financial plan assessment is to base it on a ‘hypothetical third-party, (perhaps a friend) that is willing and able to borrow or lend money using Islamic Banking services under a suitable ‘profit sharing, arrangement. Obviously, you are welcome to make appropriate changes to this financial plan document after submission to reflect your personal beliefs and your own preferred financial and investment strategies.

If you have further questions or would like to discuss an alternative approach, please contact me at [email protected] and I will be happy to discuss it further.

File Size

The maximum file size permitted by Moodle is 40MB. If your file is larger than this then it is most likely because you have used some high-resolution images. Please locate the super-high-res images in your document and downscale them. More on this here:

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/reduce-the-file-size-of-a-picture-in-microsoft-

office-8db7211c-d958-457c-babd-194109eb9535

Writing Style

This is your financial plan and so an informal writing style. is acceptable in this assignment. You may write in the first-person if you would like to do so. You may also make selective use of bullet-points and tables where appropriate.

However, you are reminded that this is also an assessment for a university course.

You are expected to justify your ideas by linking them back to concepts covered in the course or from other cited sources wherever possible.

As a general principle, it is not acceptable to justify statements in your financial plan as being true because you “feel that they are true” . For example, “I am going to invest all my money in Bitcoin because I feel as though this will be a good investment for the long-term.” This form of reasoning is generally not acceptable at university. If you believe that Bitcoin is a good investment for the long-term, you need to justify this with logical reasoning based on theories covered in this course and/or evidence from other sources (that are cited). You need to clearly explain your reasoning.