Income, Investing, and Protection

This unit expands financial decision-making skills by focusing on investing choices, protecting income and assets, tax-smart strategies, and interpreting economic and media signals. Students will evaluate advisor options, construct a personal investing plan, and apply insurance and emergency planning techniques to secure financial stability while preparing for advanced wealth-management topics in the final unit.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze media coverage and economic data to distinguish noise from actionable information and summarize its likely impact on personal financial decisions
• Evaluate the costs, benefits, fiduciary duties, and service models of at least three types of financial advisors and recommend whether hiring an advisor is appropriate for given client scenarios
• Develop a personalized investing plan, including asset allocation and selection criteria for mutual funds and ETFs, that aligns with stated risk tolerance, time horizon, and income goals and justify selections with quantitative rationale
• Apply protection strategies to secure income and assets by calculating basic insurance needs (life, disability, health, property), proposing tax-reduction measures, and creating an actionable plan for managing major medical bills and emergency spending