Financial Planning Case Study

Introduction
Read through this entire page before you begin your case study so you know what is expected and can be prepared.
The purpose of the Case Study is for you, the student, to integrate what you have learned in the course to help our client, Susan. For the assignment, you are going to write up a recommendation report for Susan as though I were the counselor and you are my assistant.
Working through a case study helps reinforce the concepts learned in this course. The case study will focus on one family with various financial goals, issues and questions. The case study includes all aspects of the financial plan for a client.
Track your hours for this case study as the hours count towards your AFC® designation.
You will be assessed based on the grading criteria included in the Case Study
The sections of the case study include:
Client Information
Assets and Debts
Monthly Budget
Monthly Budget Notes
Client Goals
Paper Needs to Include
Elements of Good Papers
Specific Section Guidance
Responding to Client Goals
Client Information
Client: Susan age 37 (DOB: 4/7/1983)
Children: Tina age 10 DOB: 8/27/2010 Jeffrey age 3 DOB: 4/14/2017
Susan is a single mom whose husband, Jack, deserted her after she got pregnant with Jeffrey. She has not seen or heard from him since except to sign divorce papers, and she receives no child support. Susan recently learned that Jack is still single, living in American Fork, and earns $30,000 per year.
Susan’s parents, who live close by, help her out a little bit now and then, but they are not doing well financially either. She explored the idea of moving in with her parents, but they do not have enough room. In addition, Susan’s mother is chronically ill, so they cannot take care of the kids for her.
Susan has a credit score of 680.
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Assets and Debts
Susan’s Assets
2000 Ford Escort – appraised value $1,734
Home- appraised value $88,000
Savings account: $50
Furniture, clothing, etc. $1,000
Susan’s Debts
Home – $82,000
Credit card – $2,200
Student loans – $16,000
Payday loan – $2,000
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Monthly Budget
Susan’s monthly budget includes the following. The parenthetical letters at the end of each expense item correspond with additional information under Monthly Budget Notes.
Income
$1,824/month (a)
Expenses
$140 Payroll taxes
$30 Federal tax withholding (b)
$20 Utah tax withholding
$125 Medical insurance (c)
$183 Tithing (d)
$570 Mortgage (e)
$120 Utilities (water, gas & electric)
$300 Daycare (f)
$150 Payday loan renewal (g)
$55 Credit card (h)
$184 Student Loan (i)
$250 Food (j,k)
$80 Auto insurance (l,m)
$75 Gas
$50 Household and personal care (n)
Total expenses: $2,332
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Monthly Budget Notes
The following items provide further explanation of the client’s monthly budget.
She works at Walmart as a cashier on the day shift (38 hours a week @ $12 hour – 38 hours is full-time). She recently received a raise so she will not be eligible for another one in the near future. She is paid on the 15th and the last day of each month. Susan has been diagnosed with trypanophobia (fear of needles), so donating plasma is not an option for her. In addition, Susan can’t take any additional work such as babysitting or dogwalking or similar things that would tie her down. When she is off work she spends time with her children. She needs to increase her income/decrease expenses without having to work more. She also does not want to leave Walmart at this point because she has good benefits, vacation time, flexible hours, and she likes the people she works with.
Susan files her taxes under filing status Head of Household and receives the full Child Tax Credit.
Medical insurance through Walmart is pre-tax and covers Susan and the children
10% per month – Susan considers this her most important expense each month. She will not eliminate or reduce this. NOTE: If Susan’s income increases this increases as well. It should always be 10%.
$82,000 and 26 years remaining; 5.25% interest; original balance $87,000. Current appraised value $88,000. FHA loan. Susan is not willing to rent out a room in her home.
For Jeffrey – will need to pay this until age 6. She will not do any type of babysitting swap or ask a friend or church member to watch him.
Original loan $2,000. Susan pays $75 every 2 weeks to renew the loan. The payment of $75 does not go towards the principal balance. She has renewed the loan a total of 42 times. APR 189%
Balance $2,200; $3,000 credit limit; 29.9% APR
Balance $16,000 Standard payment plan; 6.8% APR. All Direct loans – $10,000 subsidized, $6,000 unsubsidized
Susan shops mainly at Walmart, using her 10% discount card and buys generic food
If you recommend filing for child support, you should run food stamps both before and after receiving it.
Minimum required coverage through Safeco Insurance
Susan drives a paid for 2000 Ford Escort with 157,000 miles on it. She cannot sell her car and take the bus.
Do not decrease gas or household and personal care
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Client Goals
Susan has the following goals:
Get caught up on all past due bills (2 months behind on credit card, 1 month behind on student loan, 2 months behind on mortgage)
Payoff payday loan
Establish a starter emergency fund of $1,000, with a long-term goal of 3 months’ expenses
Go back to school
Improve credit score
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Your Paper Needs to Include
Your paper needs to include the following sections (I recommend you use these titles as your section headers). See specific section guidance page for more information.
Cover page
Client information page
Current financial statements
Current financial ratios
Recommendations to increase income
Recommendations to decrease expenses
Student loans
Goals
Revised budget(s)
Action plan
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Elements of Good Papers
For each written section there are several elements of good papers that I will be looking for, including:
Introductory paragraph – introduce the issue and clarify Susan’s current situation.
For your write-up, do not just throw random things in the paper such as, “Many problems could result if she doesn’t pay it back.” What problems? Be specific! Also, do not guess. Research it, and then back it up! Include a footnote or endnote with your reference.
Edited screenshots: Learn how to use the Print Screen button and how to edit an image on Word.
Conclusion where you summarize her issue and your proposed solution.
Include an action plan with a timeline if possible.
Proofread your paper several times and take advantage of the Writing Center.
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Specific Section Guidance
Client information page
Include a brief write-up of Susan’s overall situation, including current budget
Current financial statements
Cash flow statement
Balance sheet
Current financial ratios
Consumer debt ratio; front-end ratio; back-end ratio; liquidity ratio
Include a one-paragraph explanation about each ratio, explaining to Susan what each one calculates. Include your calculations, not just the answers.
Recommendations to increase income
Recommendations to decrease expenses
Minimum of five (5) specific and realistic ways Susan can either increase income and/or or decrease expenses
Each recommendation must have a dollar amount attached to it
Each recommendation must include a screenshot with website reference links in the text to back up the dollar amount. If there is no screenshot, the item will not count.
Student loans
Utilizing the calculator on studentaid.ed.gov determine all the repayment options Susan is eligible for. Include an edited screenshot of the payment plans and recommend which plan she should switch to (or keep her current plan). Justify your choice.
Goals addressed one at a time
See below for more information
Revised budget(s)
Action plan
Include specific steps for Susan to take in what order
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Responding to Client Goals
Get caught up on all past due bills (credit card, student loan, mortgage)
Propose an action plan with extra money to pay her debt off faster.
Payoff payday loan
Detail the problems with this loan and come up with a plan to pay it off as quickly as possible.
Establish a starter emergency fund of $1,000, with a long-term goal of 3 months’ expenses.
How quickly can Susan achieve this goal –layout how much she will need to save to achieve this goal and when she will complete it.
Go back to school
Susan wants to become an elementary school teacher. She has a total of 18 credits to finish up. She did all previous credits at UVU in Elementary Education
Look up and include a table showing tuition costs for Susan’s remaining credits. Discuss the importance of filling out the FAFSA. For more information about Pell Grants see the document Pell Grants on the following page: Case Study Helpful Websites
Improve credit score
Describe to Susan what makes up her credit score, and give her at least 5 specific steps she can take to improve her score as quickly as possible.

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