Coverage of specific topics related to Financial Planning:

The purpose of the assignment is to familiarize students with trends and important events that move prices in financial markets. The reports should include at least the following three components.

1. Summary of important events and announcements in financial markets as well as a discussion of economic and political events that have influenced financial markets during the month. Section C of the Wall Street Journal is the best source for information about what caused changes in the market.

2. Presentation of data. At a minimum, include daily observations of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Standard and Poor's 500, and the NASDAQ Indexes. (Feel free to include other indexes which may interest you.) Data must be presented in a table format and must be supplemented with graphs to aid in presentation, identification of trends, and interpretation. Use Excel software to enter each day's closing value for each index and to graph all closing values for the month. Graph results for each index separately.

3. Interpret the results.

a) Interpretation of observed trends;

b) Discussion of relationships between observed market movements and economic/political events during the month, i.e., identify specific market results to specific events;

c) Discussion of similarities and differences among the index results for the period;

d) Summary of market movements for the period.

Applied Investments is required as part of Western Kentucky University's (1) B.S. in Finance-Financial Planning Track and the (2) Certificate in Financial Planning.  These programs are both offered in the Finance Department of the Gordon Ford College of Business and are registered with the CFP® Board.  As such, this course is required to cover the following topics, which are part of the 89 Topic List published by the CFP® Board, which can be found at the Board's website (click link) or copy and paste the following address into your browser: www.cfp.net

The specific topics by number and name that will be covered are:

• Education planning
• Financial planning for special circumstances
• Annuities
• Other employee benefits
• Employee stock options
• Characteristics, uses and taxation of investment vehicles
• Types of investment risk
• Quantitative investment concepts
• Measures of investment returns
• Bond and stock valuation concepts
• Portfolio development and analysis
• Investment strategies
• Asset allocation and portfolio diversification
• Basis
• Tax consequences of like-kind exchanges
• Investment considerations for retirement plans