Life-Event Financial Planning

This unit guides students through major personal finance decisions encountered in adulthood, including insurance and risk management, credit and debt management, investing and tax considerations, real estate transactions, and working with financial professionals. Building on foundational budgeting and saving skills from earlier units, students will apply tools and strategies to plan for education, home ownership, family needs, and legacy concerns while preparing to explore advanced portfolio and retirement topics in the final unit.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze insurance and risk-management options (health, property, umbrella) to calculate coverage needs, compare premiums and deductibles, and recommend appropriate protection for common life events
• Evaluate credit reports and debt scenarios to distinguish good debt from bad debt, compute credit-score impacts, and formulate a targeted debt-reduction or bankruptcy-avoidance plan
• Apply investment and tax strategies to compute investment returns, assess fund performance, choose appropriate long-term and education savings vehicles, and identify techniques to reduce investment-related taxes
• Demonstrate the ability to plan and execute major financial transactions—including buying property, funding education, planning an estate, and selecting financial advisors—by interviewing professionals, analyzing monthly statements/receipts, and documenting decision rationales