CSP-FIN7101 - Money Smart - Learning Financial Skills

Course Description

Earning, Spending & Borrowing - Learn how to manage your income, expenses, and debt effectively to achieve financial stability and freedom.

Saving and Investing - Discover strategies for building wealth through smart saving habits and investment principles.

Investment Management & Portfolio Construction - Learn the art of investment management and learn how to construct a well-balanced investment portfolio.

Financial Planning, Retirement Planning, and Planning for Risks, Death and Taxes - Learn the essentials of financial planning, retirement planning, and risk management, including strategies for tax optimization and wealth preservation. Plus, get hands-on experience applying your knowledge to real-world scenarios through interactive case studies. 

Course Outline

Day 1: Earning, Spending, and Borrowing 
• Introduction and class survey (to uncover student’s personal objectives and
   interests in order to cover those as appropriate)
• Overview of the course and the day’s topics 
• Basic tax forms (W-4, I-9, W-2, 1099, K-1, etc.) for earners 
• Basic income tax terminology and basic income tax strategies for both W-2
  (employee) and 1099 (contractors) workers 

• Basic income tax planning techniques, filing requirements, state vs Federal, multi-
state income (Form ES, tax savings accounts, etc.) 

• Basic budgeting forms and budgeting strategies for W-2 and 1099 earners and
projecting retirement spending 
• Introduction to inflation
• Basic overview of financial modeling and budgeting tools including present-value
and future-value terminology, financial modeling (straight line vs. stochastic/Monte
Carlo) 
• Overview of available financial management technology and applications (desktop /
cloud apps; e.g. eMoney, Mint, proprietary and white-label via financial service
providers) 
• Basic to intermediate overview of types of credit and building “good credit” (FICO
scores), including revolving credit (e.g. credit cards), credit lines vs. credit loans
(particularly for small business owners), auto loans and leases, and mortgages
(ARMs, fixed, terms, etc.) 

• Basic overview of credit / loan terminology including APR, LTV, DTI, asset-
dissipation, secured/unsecured 

• Basic overview of real estate transactions (for both personal and investments /
  business purposes) 
• Summary / review of key concepts, terminology and strategies 
• Flex time for above topics / Q&A 

Day 2: Saving and Investing 

• Brief review of previous day’s topics
• Overview of Day 2’s topics 
• Introduction to saving and investing terminology and concepts (interest,
  compounding, appreciation, total return, dollar-cost averaging, contribution,
  distribution, withdrawal, annuitization, etc.) 
• Basic to intermediate understanding of demand deposit account types and CDs 
• Basic understanding of money movement methods (e.g. EFT/ACH, wires, checks,
 debit cards, routing numbers, checking account numbers, ABA numbers, etc.);
 discussion of person-to-person EFT apps (e.g. Venmo, CashApp, Zelle, etc.) 
• Basic to intermediate understanding of savings vehicles (money markets, CDs,
 IRAs, Roth IRAs, annuities, pensions, deferred compensation, 401(k), 403(b), Roth
 401(k)/403(b), Keogh Plans, Coverdell, 529 plans) and defined contribution vs.
 defined benefit 
• Basic to intermediate understanding of each savings vehicles’ pros/cons and
  methods of deposit/contribution and withdrawal/redemption and relative
  limitations/penalties/requirements 
• Basic to intermediate understanding of time-value-of-money as relative to savings
 strategies and time horizons.
• Introduction to risk and reward metrics (standard deviation, Sharpe ratio, ROI,
 expected return, etc.) 
• Introduction to asset classes and sub-asset classes 
• Introduction to investment vehicles 
• Introduction to asset allocation 
• Introduction to the Eiicient Frontier 
• Introduction to passive vs. active investing
• Summary / review of key concepts, terminology and strategies
• Flex time for above topics / Q&A / breaks 

Day 3: Investment Management and Portfolio Construction
• Brief review of previous day’s topics 
• Overview of Day 3’s topics 
• Introduction to public equities stocks, including definitions of key terminology
• Introduction to basic stock analysis (EPS, P/E ratio, book value, qualitative vs
 quantitative, etc.) 
• Introduction to stock research tools and publications (Morningstar, Yahoo! Finance,
 WSJ, Barron’s, MarketWatch, CNBC, trading apps proprietary, etc.)
• Introduction to stock trading (long-term holding, day trades, fees / commissions,
 trading apps, and other considerations) and trading terminology (market, limits,
 GTC, short-sale vs long)
• Introduction to stock options 
• Introduction to fixed income 
• Introduction to fixed income analysis 
• Introduction to accessing commodities and alternative assets (gold, oil, real estate,
 private credit, “40-act” long/short funds, crypto, etc.) 
• Basic overview of portfolio construction (alpha, beta, objective-based,
 benchmarking, purpose-driven “buckets”) 
• Basic overview of portfolio / holdings risks (beta, market, liquidity, systemic, interest
 rate, currency, headline, legislative, etc.) 
• Summary / review of key concepts, terminology and strategies 
• Flex time for above topics / Q&A / breaks 

Day 4: Financial Planning, Retirement Planning and Planning for Risks, Death, Taxes and Case Studies
• Brief review of previous day’s topics 
• Overview of Day 4’s topics 
• Introduction to financial planning “triage”—how to prioritize one’s financial planning
 needs at each stage of life (e.g. rainy-day fund, short/mid-term savings goals, risk
 management, retirement, death) 
• Basic property and casualty insurance considerations for all life stages (young adult,
 parent/guardian, retirees) 
• Basic health insurance considerations for all life stages (also including long-term
 care vs. LTD insurance) 
• Basic life insurance considerations for all life stages and introduction to life
  insurance strategies 
• Protecting against identity theft and “best practices” for managing finances online
• Introduction to retirement planning (building on Day 2 account types) including
  savings strategies (defined contribution accounts, pensions and including HSAs and
 LTC), social security, Medicare, real estate considerations, debt considerations 
• Introduction to Estate Planning, important documents and key terminology (e.g.
  intestate vs testamentary, probate, wills, trusts, POA, health care proxy, etc.) 
• Basic overview of special tax situations
• Case Study #1: “Young professional just starting out” 
• Case Study #2: “Married couple with one child and one on the way” 
• Case Study #3: “Fifty-something, single woman, two grown children”
• Summary / review of key concepts, terminology and strategies 
• Flex time for above topics / Q&A / breaks

Learner Outcomes

Notes

Method of instruction: Lecture, group work, discussions, case studies.

Evaluation: Participation in discussions and group work; involvement in case studies.