BAFN608 - Financial Planning

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

Teaching organisation

Unit rationale, description and aim

Personal financial services have been one of the dynamic growth sectors of the recent past. Australia has the third largest holder of superannuation assets in the world. Compulsory superannuation contributions will generate continued growth in the value of assets under management. The financial advice industry is expected to thrive with increasing needs for unbiased and appropriate financial advice. The dynamic nature of the sector and multitude of complex financial products require suitably qualified financial planners with enhanced professional behaviour and ethical values.

The unit focuses on the role of the financial planner, regulatory, social, economic and ethical considerations involved in financial planning, understanding and evaluating investors' goals, risk management strategies, evaluating investments and financial instruments and constructing a financial plan. The unit aims to provide students with fundamental knowledge and competencies in financial planning with a special focus placed on professional behaviour, ethical awareness and communication skills.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - critically analyse the role of the financial planner in the context of serving the common good and the inherent challenges in the role. (GA2, GA4, GA5)

LO2 - evaluate the needs and risk profiles of clients. (GA4, GA5)

LO3 - compare and contrast diverse financial services and products. (GA4, GA5)

LO4 - formulate a financial plan. (GA2, GA3, GA5, GA9)

LO5 - apply the ethical frameworks available to manage the inherent conflicts of interest and moral concerns within the financial planning industry and the effects on personal financial planning and compliance demands on the financial planner. (GA2, GA3)

Graduate attributes

GA2 - recognise their responsibility to the common good, the environment and society 

GA3 - apply ethical perspectives in informed decision making

GA4 - think critically and reflectively 

GA5 - demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession 

GA9 - demonstrate effective communication in oral and written English language and visual media 

Content

Topics will include:

• The regulatory framework and professional framework for financial planning in Australia;
• FASEA Codes of Ethics / Professional Conduct;
• Risk profile;
• The role and importance of personal financial planning;
• Overview of personal financial planning products, e.g., insurance.
• Communication and ‘knowing your client’ skills applied to financial planning;
• Direct investments in the various asset classes and the managed funds industry;
• Ethical and moral dilemmas affecting the financial planning industry;
• How to manage consumer credit, personal budgeting, and credit use;
• Leveraged investing using gearing (including margin lending) or financial derivatives;
• Taxation issues in Financial Planning
• The benefits of superannuation, social security and estate planning;
• Due diligence and best interest duty in formulating a financial plan.

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

ACU’s teaching policy focuses on learning outcomes for students. Our teaching aims to engage students as active participants in the learning process while acknowledging that all learning must involve a complex interplay of active and receptive processes, the constructing of meaning for oneself, and learning from others. ACU promotes and facilitates learning that is autonomous and self-motivated, is characterised by the individual taking satisfaction in the mastering of content and skills and is critical, looking beneath the surface level of information for the meaning and significance of what is being studied. 

Mode of delivery: This unit is offered in different modes. These are: “Attendance” mode and “Online” mode.  

This unit is offered in two modes to cater to the learning needs and preferences of a range of participants and maximise effective participation for isolated and/or marginalised groups. Students are able to attend the interactive online sessions or face-to-face sessions, engage in self-directed learning supported by online activities, readings, forum discussions, assignment preparation and complete authentic activities and assessments. 

Attendance mode 

The schedule of the workshop is designed in such a way that students can achieve intended learning outcomes sequentially. Teaching and learning activities will apply the experiential learning model, which encourages students to apply higher order thinking. The unit ensures that learning activities involve real-world scenarios that potentially pave the way for real-world preparedness. The unit also uses a scaffolding technique that builds a student’s skills and prepares them for the next phase of the learning process.  

This unit is structured with required upfront preparation before workshops, most students report that they spend an average of one hour preparing before the workshop and one or more hours after the workshop practicing and revising what was covered. The online learning platform (LEO-Learning Environment Online) used in this unit provides multiple forms of preparatory and practice opportunities for you to prepare and revise.

Online Mode 

This unit uses an active learning approach to support students in the exploration of the essential knowledge associated with financial planning. Students can explore the essential knowledge underpinning financial planning and develop knowledge in a series of online interactive lessons and modules. Students are given the opportunity to attend facilitated synchronous online seminar classes with other students and participate in the construction and synthesis of knowledge, while developing their knowledge of financial planning. Students are required to participate in a series of online interactive workshops which include activities, knowledge checks, discussion and interactive sessions. This approach allows flexibility for students and facilitates learning and participation for students with a preference for virtual learning.

Assessment strategy and rationale

Assessments are used primarily to foster learning. ACU adopts a constructivist approach to learning which seeks alignment between the fundamental purpose of each unit, the learning outcomes, teaching and learning strategy, assessment and the learning environment. In order to pass this unit, students are required to submit all pieces of assessment and achieve an overall score of at least 50%. Using constructive alignment, the assessment tasks are designed for students to demonstrate their achievement of each learning outcome.  

Each of these assessment pieces have been designed to empower students, lead to greater equity and deepen students’ skillsets by virtue of their design. They are assessment that are constructed to integrate the unit’s instruction and curriculum. The first assessment, which is an individual task, directs students to critically evaluate the role of the financial planner and the inherent challenges of ensuring that the financial planner is serving the individualistic needs of the client but also the wider common good. The second assessment is a group assessment which enables students to learn to be a part of a collaborative and consultative team to analyse clients’ needs and risk profiles in order to construct a personalised financial plan. The final assessment captures the entirety of a client plan by contrasting diverse financial services and products by consideration of clients’ risk profiles and needs.   

Overview of assessments

Attendance mode ;

Online mode 

Representative texts and references

Australian Master Financial Planning Guide, (latest edition). CCH Australia. 

Baxt, R, Black, A & Hanrahan, P 2016, Securities and financial services Law, 9th edn, Lexis Nexis. 

Fitton, GD, Hayes, T & Kiddell, R 2017, Australian financial planning handbook 2017-18, Thomson Reuters. 

Lustig, Y 2016, FR Guide to saving and investing for retirement: the definitive handbook to securing your financial future, Pearson Education. 

McKeown, W, Kerry, M. & Olynyk, M 2017, Financial planning, 2nd update edition, Wiley e-text John Wiley & Sons, Brisbane, QLD. 

Miller, M 2017, Personal financial services: essentials for lawyers, Lexis Nexis.  

Taylor, S & Juchau, R, Seymour, E, Cull, M, Colley,G, Monahan, R, Perkins, M & Griffin, R 2015, Financial planning in Australia 2015 essentials edition, , 6th edn,  

LexisNexis Butterworths, Australia.  

Taylor, s & Juchau, R 2017, Financial planning in Australia: advice and wealth management, 8th edn, LexisNexis, Buttwerworth. 

Tillery, S. & Tillery, T, 2017 Essentials of financial planning, John Wiley & Sons,