FINS5510 Personal Financial Planning
INSTRUCTIONS
Learning Community Assignment
Andrew Hingston
Learning Community Date*
1. Post Due Date 1pm Friday Week 9 (26 Jul 2024)
2. Details Due Date 1pm Friday Week 9 (26 Jul 2024)
3. Report Due Date 1pm Friday Week 9 (26 Jul 2024)
Release of Results 5pm Friday Week 11 (9 Aug 2024)
*All times are based on Sydney time
The purpose of this assessment is to build a sense of community as we learn about
Personal Financial Planning together. It involves posting a summary and some
practical applications from one article of your choice that relates to one of the Units of
the course under the 'Learning Community' section of the course website (note that
you do not need to post one article on each Unit of the course). An ‘article’ can be a
website article, news article, blog article, academic research article, book chapter,
video or audio podcast of your choice. However, there is a catch. You must post on an
article that no one else has posted on this term. In other words, there is a 'first-mover
advantage' with this assessment. You should select your article and post on it early
before someone else beats you to it.
The assessment involves three components:
1. Learning Community Post: Write a short post of up to 1,000 words (with no
leeway) under the ‘Learning Community’ section of the course website identifying
your article, explaining the main points of the article and identifying how you and/or
other participants of the course could practically apply those main points (more
details on page 7). You only need to make one post on one article for one Unit of
the course (you do not need to post one article for each Unit of the course).
2. Learning Community Details: Provide the details of both your selected article and
your post using the fields provided under the ‘Learning Community Details’ link in
the ‘Learning Community’ section of the course website. This allows me to create
a database of articles and easily check that the article that you have chosen is
unique.
3. Learning Community Report: Provide both a screenshot of your post and the text
of the post using the Microsoft Word template provided under the ‘Learning
Community’ section of the course website. You should then submit it using the
‘Learning Community Report’ link under the ‘Learning Community’ section of the
course website by the Learning Community Report due date (more details on the
format and content of this submission start on page 11). If you notice a typo in your
post, you are welcome to correct it in your final submission but any changes should
be minor.
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Your first post needs to be your ‘final post’. You cannot just post a short message “I
claim this article” and edit it at the end of the term to include some content. Any posts
found like this will be deleted.
For your Learning Community Report, you should use the Microsoft Word template
provided on the ‘Learning Community’ section of the course website. This includes a
table on page 1 that must be completed. The details in this table should be the same
as the ones provided under the ‘Learning Community Details’ link. Your final file should
be submitted in Microsoft Word format (not as a PDF).
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 on page 16. Your
Learning Community Report should be submitted as a Microsoft Word file using Arial
or Helvetica fonts only.
To avoid the situation in which students just copy the articles used by other students,
you must choose a ‘unique’ article for which no posts have yet been made under the
relevant Unit of the ‘Learning Community’ section of the course website for this term.
In other words, once another student ‘claims’ an article for a particular Unit on the
course website, you can no longer use it. There is a ‘first-mover advantage’, so you
should claim your source by posting on it as soon as possible during the term. Note
that if the article is a book, you should base your post on only one chapter of that book.
Other students can still post on other chapters of the same book. There is more
information on this on page 7.
This is an individual assignment. Copying or paraphrasing the work of another student
in the current or previous term is academic misconduct and will result in a fail grade
being awarded for both this assessment and the course.
The Learning Community Assignment is worth 10% of your assessment for this course.
Note that some students may mistakenly believe that they need to post on one article
for each of the ten Units of the course. This is incorrect. You should only post on one
article for one Unit of the course.
If you have questions about the Learning Community Assignment, please post your
question under the ‘Learning Community Assignment’ thread in the General Forums. I
will only reply to emailed questions if the subject matter of the question is obviously
inappropriate for posting on the general forums because it relates to a personal or
confidential issue.
Weight
The Learning Community Assignment is worth 10% of your assessment for this course.
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You must submit via TurnitIn
As indicated earlier, there are three components to this assessment:
1. Learning Community Post: Write a short post of up to 1,000 words (with no
leeway) under the ‘Learning Community’ section of the course website.
2. Learning Community Details: Provide the details of both your selected article and
your post using the fields provided under the ‘Learning Community Details’ link in
the ‘Learning Community’ section of the course website.
3. Learning Community Report: Provide both a screenshot of your post and the text
of the post and submit it via Turnitin using the ‘Learning Community Report
Submission Link’ under the ‘Learning Community’ section of the course website
(more details on the format and content of this submission start on page 11).
The key thing is that you must both submit your post on the course website for other
students to read AND submit it in a Microsoft Word document for marking. The version
that you submit via Microsoft Word is assessed by the Turnitin plagiarism detection
software and is the version that will be graded. The post on the forums is for the benefit
of other students.
Failing to submit your post using the Microsoft Word template provided under the
‘Learning Community Report Submission Link’ under the ‘Assessment 3: Learning
Community’ section of the course website will result in you being awarded a score of
zero for this assessment. If no special consideration is granted, the latest that the file
can be submitted is 5 days after the original due date (and time).
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 an incorrect document has been submitted.
Note that the late penalty will be deducted from the score that you receive for the
submission (not the maximum possible mark). If you receive 70/100 for the submission
and it is two days late, you will receive a score of 60/100.
Note that there is a short ‘grace period’ of a few minutes after the submission time to
allow for slow internet connections. 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 this assignment can be submitted at any time during the term, 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
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for Equitable Learning Plans will also be 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 for the Learning Community Assessment in
exceptional cases. You are responsible for completing your Learning Community post
well before the due date/time to allow for unexpected circumstances or illness. Being
ill on the last few days before the date of submission will not normally constitute
grounds for special consideration.
If special consideration is granted, the maximum extension that will be granted is
7 days from the original due date. Any assignments 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
Individual Assessment
This is an individual assessment. All written work must be your own work. Seeking
assistance with your written work or research 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. 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] .
For some students, English is not your first language and so you may not feel confident
with your English grammar. In this course, obtaining assistance from someone else to
help correct spelling or grammar is not considered academic misconduct.
UNSW has no tolerance for students who are dishonest. 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.
Spouse or Partner
If you have a spouse or partner, you may discuss the article with them. Discussing
your Learning Community Assignment with your spouse or partner does not constitute
academic misconduct. However, the written post and any supporting research should
be your own work.
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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.
Article Sources
You can select your own website article, news article, blog article, academic research
article (from a peer reviewed academic journal), book chapter, video or audio podcast
from almost any published source. However, you should note that the content that you
select may impact how well you are able to satisfy the assessment criteria (see
‘Assessment Criteria’ later in this document). The content does not need to be from a
peer reviewed academic journal. However, the content does need to be publicly
available through the Internet or via the UNSW Library or a book that is available from
Amazon or Book Depository so that it can be independently verified.
Your article should not be a chapter of the prescribed (optional) textbook for this
course. You also cannot use a course lecture video as your article.
Some examples of acceptable sources include:
One chapter of a personal finance book (not more than one chapter to allow other
students to post on other chapters).
A ‘personal finance’ article from a newspaper’s website, such as The Sydney
Morning Herald.
An article from a website or blog that focuses on personal finance.
Some research from a peer-reviewed academic journal in finance or psychology
that relates to one of the Units of the course.
A personal finance video on Youtube or a TED talk.
A podcast or recorded talk that is available on the Internet.
The above list of examples is not exhaustive. If you find some content that you would
like to use that is not listed here, please use your own discretion to determine whether
it is appropriate. If in doubt, refer to the assessment criteria and identify whether you
will be able to satisfy the criteria.
Your source article does not need to be in English. For instance, a student studying in
China may wish to use an article that explains how the retirement savings system or
taxation system works in China. However, your article does need to be publicly
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available so that I can check the source (even if I need to use Google Translate to
understand it).
You may use the books, articles, videos or other articles referred to in the lecture slides
or lectures (as long as you are the first person to post on them in the ‘Learning
Community’ section of the course website). However, the assessment criteria includes
a bonus for sources that are not already included in the course slides.
Unique
When you choose your article, you should make sure that no one else has already
posted on that article under the relevant Unit of the ‘Learning Community’ section of
the course website.
If a particular article can be applied to two or more Units of the course, the same article
can be used two or more times by different students (once for each applicable Unit).
However, the content of the post should be customised for the Unit to which it is being
used.
If an article is a chapter from a book (personal finance or otherwise), you should post
on only one chapter of that book to allow other students to post on other chapters.
There is a ‘first-mover advantage’ to this assignment. You should identify your article
early in the term and post on it as soon as possible to avoid another student posting
on it before you.
Your first post needs to be your ‘final post’. You cannot just post a short message “I
claim this article” and edit it at the end of the term to include some content. Any posts
found like this will be deleted.
Units and Topics Covered
The lectures on each topic will occur gradually during weeks 1 to 10 of the course as
per the course schedule. As such, you may be wondering how you can link an article
to a particular Unit if you have not yet watched the lecture. Below is a list of the Units
and the corresponding concepts covered:
Unit 1: Financial Intelligence
Understanding financial statements, forecasts, budgets, operating leverage and financial planning process.
Unit 2: Financial Strategy
Money and happiness, human bias, values, life stages, setting goals, rates of return and savings calculations.
Unit 3: Financial Independence
FIRE movement, how much is needed, common strategies and details of the superannuation system.
Unit 4: Career Strategy
The economy, structural change, understanding yourself, choosing a career and developing a career strategy.
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Unit 5: Property and Loans
Pros and cons of buying property, property taxes, valuation, buying process and property loans.
Unit 6: Ethics and Compliance
Ethical frameworks, decision-making, values and principles, FASEA code of ethics and legislation.
Unit 7: Risk Management
Risk and human bias, social security, estate planning and life, property, motor, health and travel insurance.
Unit 8: Taxation Planning
Understanding the tax system, tax on personal and investment income and tax on superannuation.
Unit 9: Investing in Shares
Valuing shares, portfolio theory, investing in shares, non-mainstream investments.
Unit 10: Investment Strategy
Asset categories, financial leverage, risk profiles, asset allocation and investment strategy.
Changing Post, Article or Unit
Once you have made your first post on an article it cannot be changed. Your first post
on an article should be your ‘final post’. Minor corrections of typos in your final report
are permitted.
If you post on an article under the Learning Community section of the website but then
later think that this article would be better suited to a different Unit, you should do the
following:
1. Leave your first post under the Learning Community section of the course website
as is.
2. Make a new post for the same article under the Learning Community section of the
course website in the appropriate Unit. You may adjust the content of your post as
appropriate for the new Unit.
3. Write your Learning Community Report based on the new post. Include a
screenshot of the new post in your Report.
If you post on an article under the Learning Community section of the website and then
decide to change the article that you would like to write about in your Learning
Community Report, you should do the following:
1. Leave your first post under the Learning Community section of the course website
as is.
2. Make a new post for your new article under the Learning Community section of the
course website in the appropriate Unit.
3. Write your Learning Community Report on the new article. Include a screenshot of
the new post in your Report.
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Privacy
Since you are posting your reflections and applications on a forum that can be read by
any participant of this course, you are encouraged not to include personal applications
containing information that you consider to be private or confidential. However, you are
still encouraged to identify and describe specific applications of the main points of your
article.
1. Learning Community Post
Once you have found an article (website, news, research, video, blog etc) and
confirmed that it is unique for the relevant Unit of the course (no other student has
posted on it), you should make a post as soon as possible. This post should be up to
1,000 words in the corresponding Unit under the ‘Learning Community’ section of the
course website.
The title of your post should clearly identify your article so that other students can
quickly tell whether their article is unique or has already been ‘claimed’. The
appropriate format will vary depending on the type of post. A few examples follow:
? Article from website: Title of the article and the name of the website (plus author if
possible).
? Book chapter: Title and author of book, chapter number and chapter title.
? Video: Title of video and website on which it was found (plus author if possible).
? Article from academic journal: Title of article, author and name of journal.
The content of your post should include up to 1,000 words summarising the main
point(s) of your article, what you believe are the main practical application(s) of those
point(s) for you or other participants of the course and your rating for that article. Please
write the post in a way that is interesting and engaging for other students so that they
can learn from it.
It is not acceptable to make a ‘placeholder’ post in which you claim an article with the
‘content’ to be provided later. Your first post should be your final post. Any ‘placeholder’
posts with little or no content will be deleted.
After you make your post, you should take a screenshot of it to include in your
Learning Community Report. Make sure that you include the date and time of the post
in the screenshot.
Word Limit
The maximum word count for your Learning Community Post is 1,000 words.
Please note that there is no leeway of 10% to this word limit. It is a ‘hard’ limit. Your
post must be under or equal to 1,000 words.
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This word count does not include references.
Writing Style
This assessment is different from a traditional essay and so an informal writing style is
acceptable. You may write in the first-person if you would like to do so, especially when
talking about the personal applications of the article. You may also make selective use
of headings, bullet-points and tables where appropriate.
However, you are reminded that this is also an assessment for a university course.
You are expected to provide a clear summary of the main points of the article and link
your practical applications to those summary points and/or lecture material. You should
use clear reasoning. Basically, I won’t be very impressed with arguments that basically
take the form of “this article is really good because I feel it is good”.
Referencing
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 post. If you would like to reference the
lecture slides (or the course videos on Youtube), you can reference them informally
using the Unit title (or video title) and slide number (or video timestamp). The key thing
is that I’m pretty relaxed about how you cite or reference the content in my lecture
slides as it is generally ‘assumed knowledge’ for your Learning Community Report.
I’m expecting that most references or citations in your Learning Community Report are
for sources that are external to the lecture slides. This will obviously include the article
itself but may also include any other related articles from which you have drawn ideas.
However, note that only one article/blog/book chapter/video is required as a source for
each submission.
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 26 April 2024, https://www.domain.com.au "
For Youtube videos, provide the title of the video, author, date uploaded and the URL.
The following website provides some good examples for referencing:
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
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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.
Structure and Content of Post
Main Points
Provide a detailed summary of the main point(s) of your chosen article. You should
avoid copying the content of the document. You need to use your own words to explain
the main points. This is an exercise in comprehension.
Application
Provide a clear explanation of how you (or other students) can apply the main points
of the article to your/their personal situation either now, after graduation or at some
stage in the future. Is there anyone else that you know who may benefit from the main
point(s) of the document? If you disagree with the main points, what warnings or ideas
does the document provide to you? What warnings or ideas does it provide for others
whom you know?
Rating: X/10
Replace the ‘X’ in the title of this section with a score from 0 to 10 (0 is terrible and 10
is outstanding) as your final rating for the article that you have chosen. This section
should provide a clear explanation of why you gave it that score.
Note that all three of the above sections (including headings) are included in the word
count. References are not included in the word count.
2. Learning Community Details
Please provide me with the details of the post that you made in the Learning
Community forums and also your article using the ‘Learning Community Details’ link.
This link can be found under the ‘Learning Community’ section of the course website.
The details that you need to provide mirror the information in the table at the start of
your Learning Community Report (see the next section).
You can submit the details multiple times in case you change your mind about which
article you are using.
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3. Learning Community Report
The Learning Community Report contains the details of your article and post, a
screenshot of your post and also the text of the post itself. It will be the main document
that I use to mark this assessment. If you notice any typos in your post, you are
welcome to correct these in your final report submission but any changes should be
minor.
Template
You should use the Microsoft Word Template document provided under the ‘Learning
Community’ section of the course website. 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 on page 16.
Formatting
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).
File format: You should submit your file in Microsoft Word format.
Filename: Please use the filename following the format ‘zID Learning
Community.docx’. If your zID is z999999, you should name your document ‘z999999
Learning Community.docx’.
Structure and Content
Your Learning Community Report should contain the following sections and content:
Title page
Please do not change the format of the title page from the one provided in the Microsoft
Word Template provided. Please also do not add a table of contents.
Student details: Provide your UNSW student zID and also your name as it appears
on your UNSW student card.
Learning Community Post details: Provide the Unit number and title to which your
article is most closely linked. Please also provide the title of your post and the date of
the post.
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Article details: Provide details of the type of article, the title of the article, the name of
the author of the article, the source of your article, a website link, a full academic
reference and a rating for the article out of 10.
Screenshot of Learning Community Post
Please provide a screenshot of your Learning Community Post including the date and
time of the post. If your post is more than one screen, it is okay to just provide a
screenshot of the top half of your post that contains the title of your post, date and the
first few paragraphs of text.
For Windows users, you can either use the ‘Snipping’ application or press Win + G
and then press the Camera icon.
For Mac users, press Shift + Command + 4 to take a screenshot.
Text of Learning Community Post
Please copy and paste the text from your Learning Community Post into your Microsoft
Word document. The text should include the discussion of the main point(s) and main
application(s), the rating and explanation of that rating.
Submission
There are three components of your submission for this assignment:
1. Learning Community Post: This is your post under the ‘Learning Community’
section of the course website.
2. Learning Community Details: This is where you provide the details of your article
to me in the fields provided. It is basically just the summary information on the title
page of your Learning Community Report. You submit these details using the
‘Learning Community Details’ link under the ‘Learning Community’ section of the
course website. It only takes about 1 minute to submit these details.
3. Learning Community Report: This should be submitted in Microsoft Word format
using the ‘Learning Community Report’ TurnItIn link under the ‘Learning
Community’ section of the course website.
The due dates for these submissions are listed on page Error! Bookmark not
defined..
Further information about the file name and formatting is available on page 12. The file
should be submitted in Microsoft Word format.
The TurnItIn service has a ‘preview’ function for your uploaded document. This
preview isn’t very good and often stuffs up the formatting of your document. I wouldn’t
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worry about this. I download the original file you submit and mark this directly and so
formatting is rarely a problem (especially if you just use Arial/Helvetica fonts).
The penalties for late submission are indicated under the section ‘Late penalties’ on
page 4. Note that there is no point submitting a Learning Community Assignment
submission more than 1 week late since the score will be zero. Note that the maximum
special consideration that will be granted in any case is a 1 week extension from the
original due date.
Assessment Criteria
You will be assessed based on following criteria:
Criteria Descriptor
CONFORMITY
(Penalties)
You did not submit the Learning Community Details via the link provided on course website (5 marks)
You did not use the MS Word Learning Community report template provided (5 marks)
You did not use the file name format indicated in the assessment instructions (5 marks)
You did not submit your file in MS Word format. (5 marks)
The presentation of the content of your post does not follow the assessment instructions (5 marks)
The table on page 1 of the MS Word report template was not completed correctly (5 marks).
A screenshot of your post on the Learning Community forums was not included in your report (5 marks)
The text of your post was not copy and pasted into your report as text (5 marks).
The article is not correctly referenced on the cover page (5 marks)
Other articles referred to in your post are not correctly referenced (5 marks)
ARTICLE (20%) Expertise in selecting an article, blog, video or book chapter of suitable sophistication in order to be able to discuss
the main point(s) and applications required in this assessment.
SUMMARY (40%) Detailed summary of the main point(s) of the chosen article under the ‘Main Points’ heading.
You have avoided simply copying the content of the document and instead have used your own words to explain
the main points.
Ideas are clearly expressed with correct use of spelling, grammar and punctuation.
Appropriate use of bullet-points and prose where appropriate to the content.
APPLICATION (40%) You have provided a clear explanation of how you (or other students) can apply the main points of the article to
your/their personal situation either now, after graduation or at some stage in the future. If you disagree with the
main points, you have identified some warnings or ideas that the document provides to you or others.
Your applications are specific and carefully explained.
Your applications are clearly linked to the main points of the article and/or lecture material.
Ideas are clearly expressed with correct use of spelling, grammar and punctuation.
Appropriate use of bullet-points and prose where appropriate to the content.
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