LSS 2103
Financial Needs Project
Overview: In a group of ___ you will take on the role of Financial Advisor to a hypothetical UAE family. In this role you will analyze the likely financial needs of our selected individual. You are free to consult with your colleagues but ultimately your work will need to be your own.
Marks: This project is worth 30 marks which represent 30% of the total marks in this course.
When: Your final report is due in by th of December.
Requirements:
• Each group will be provided with the financial data of a hypothetical UAE national family.
• The group project will be divided into two parts; Group Presentation and group report.
• Stress that you are not a professional Financial Advisor; you are doing this project as a learning exercise.
• ( Part 1): From information provided about the family the group will develop a(1) personal balance sheet, (2)identifying the family’s assets and liabilities; (3)a cash-flow statement and budget, highlighting the family’s various sources of income and their expenses; finally (4)discuss and elaborate the family’s short, medium and long term financial goals.
• The group will provide recommendations on ways of improving the financial planning and management for this family- e.g. (5)identifying ways of reducing expenses and increasing savings and developing realistic and achievable goals and working towards them.

• (Part 2): Using the information analyzed in part 1, and additional information provided on the family current use of personal finance products and their overall financial needs; the group would analyze and recommend the best personal finance products related to(6)savings, borrowing, money transfer, insurance and investing, available through the local international financial services industry, that matches the family’s needs and goals.
• Moreover for each one of these products the group would (7)compare and contrast the products offered by 2 organizations, evaluate the features of the products and recommend the one best suited to the family and its needs and goals.
• The group would also conduct(8) retirement planning for the family assigned to them identifying retirement expenses and sources of income. (9) Suggestions on conducting all personal finance decisions ethically would be a requirement.
• Oral report to your client about the financial strategythat you would consider could provide for his/her financial needs. The oral report should be approximately 30-40 minutes in length. YOUwill be scheduled with a time by your teacher. Your oral report should include but not be restricted to:
o whatare your client’s financial needs
o the products that could satisfy those needs
o Your recommendations about how your client should plan for his/her financial needs in the future.
o Use Excel to show how needs and sources of income can be matched. All formulae, notes, references must be included. The Excel spreadsheet should be submitted electronically to your teacher, together with any other supporting information or documents.
Your Oral Report needs to clearly explain all ideas, provide sound argument to support all recommendations, identify a financial strategy for your client and show samples of or links to any forms that are relevant. ALL REFERENCES TO THE WORK OF OTHERS MUST BE PROPERLY ACKNOWLEDGED.
Deadline: Your will be assigned a time in Week 8 to present your report.
Penalties:
• Late submission will incur a penalty of 10% of the marks available for each day late. Submissions more than one week late will receive no marks.
• If you have a valid medical or other situation that prevents you from submitting the report on time, you must apply for a deferral of the due date and provide the appropriate supporting certification. A new due date will then apply.
Marking criteria:
Oral Report Criteria Marks
Identification of client’s financial needs and resources /4
Identification and evaluation of available financial products /6
Clear and viable financial strategy recommended, including clear, logical argument and costing to support ALL ideas /10
Presentation including room set-up, vocabulary, confidence, ability to answer questions, use of supporting documents, timing, non-verbal language /10
TOTAL /30

Grading Criteria:
Grade Criteria to obtain this grade
A Requirements of a “B” fulfilled, very clear English, excellent explanations/justifications of ideas, demonstrated significant creativity, broad base of source materials used, clearly focused on ‘client’ needs.
B Requirements of a “C” fulfilled, clear and thorough explanations/justifications for all ideas, showed some creativity, evidence of broad research, showed some creativity.
C Requirements of a “D” fulfilled, all elements of the task performed at basic level, reasonable explanations/justifications for ideas, evidence of research, English clear.
D Attempt made to address the requirements of the task, understandable English, minimal justification/explanation of ideas, sources of external ideas shown.
F Failure to complete the required task at a minimal level or failure to acknowledge external sources of information. Let’s not even think of getting an “F.”
Penalties A penalty of 10% of the marks available for a task will be applied for each day late in submitting a task. No mark for work submitted more than one week late.

GROUP PROJECTPRESENTATION

Name : ID No:
CRITERIA COMMENTS MARKS
Language
– body language
– appropriate level of language
– voice level, speed, feeling and fluency /1.5
Teaching Aids
– use of teaching aids
– correct grammar, spelling and formatting /1.5
Content
– thorough coverage of relevant
information
– clear, logical explanation of ideas
– used examples to illustrate ideas beingpresented
(1 mark for each item=9)
1Balance sheet (asset and liabilities)
2Cash Flow Statement
3Monthly Budget (income and expenses)
4Short, medium and long term 5Recommendation on ways to improve the financial planning of the family.
6Suggest increase savings
7Recommend personal finance product (savings borrowing, money transfer, insurance, investments etc.)
8Compare and contrast the products offeredby 2 organizations/companies, evaluate the features of the products and recommend the one best suited.
9Consider retirement planning for the family assigned to them. Include retirement expenses and sources of income
ADD:
Add 1 more point for exceptional format
Add 1 more point for exceptional recommendation (in general)
Add 1 more point for going beyond what is asked /11
Teamwork
– demonstrate teamwork in presentation and ability to answer questions /1

TOTAL
/15

GROUP PROJECTPRESENTATION

Your entire presentation will take the form of a PowerPoint. You must also follow the marking criteria to help you in preparing the presentation. (15 MARKS)

NB: The focus of the presentation is to elaborate on what is in your report and not to reproduce what is in your report. Please present only the important points whilst still giving your presentation a logical flow and structure. The team need to present for a maximum of 15 minutes, and then able to answer questions from the audience for about 5 minutes.

Each team member will receive the same mark for the presentation. Each team member should have a roughly equal role in the presentation.

Group presentation marks will be allocated as shown in the next page: