Personal Financial Plan - Assignment Example

s Personal Financial Plan Part A: Choosing a Retirement Plan Employer 1.5 points) Employer #2 (1.5 points) Name of Company and Company Website Amgen http://careers.amgen.com/employment-benefits/us-employee-benefits/ Henry Ford http://careers.henryford.com/content/benefits/ Type of Retirement Plans 1. 401(K) retirement and saving plan 2. Employee stock purchase plan 3. Retirement medical saving account 1. Retirement Saving Plan (RSP) 2. Voluntary 403(b) program for mutual fund investment Employer Match? How much? Not available Not available Vesting Requirements Not available Not available Education/Support Services Available? Available Available Who can participate? Not available Not available Other Important Attributes Retirement plan package has a supplemental plan and deferred compensation for eligible staff. RSV involves both fulltime, part time, contingent and temporary employees. 1. a) The following is a description of Henry Ford retirement plan description Retirement Saving Plan (RSP) This benefit plan is funded by Henry Ford Health System and employees contributions to help plan for their future financial wellness. RSV involves both fulltime, part time, contingent and temporary employees. This is the main advantage of the plan; involving all categories of the employees so that no one feels excluded. The main disadvantage of the plan may be lack of investment knowledge on the side the retiring employees. Voluntary 403(b) program for mutual fund investment The program provides offer to all employees whereby they can invest in mutual funds on a pre-tax or post-tax basis. I think the main advantage of the plan is that it encourages investment culture (and goes beyond to ‘force’ employees do invest). The disadvantage is lack of flexibility on the side of the employee. The employees have no option of investing in other areas apart from pre-tax and post-tax basis. The following is a description of Amgen retirement plan description: 401(K) retirement and saving plan Provides a core contribution of 5% as well as a company matching contribution of 100% of staff contributions up a 5% of eligible pay. On addition, professional, customized financial advice services to help staff make informed investing decisions specific to their retirement planning strategy at no cost to staff members. The main advantage of the plan is that it provides free investing decisions to employees to allow them make well-informed investing decisions. The disadvantage of the plan is that some employees may not be eligible thus blocking them out of the plan. Employee stock purchase plan The plan gives staff an opportunity to buy Amgen stock at a discount. The plan encourages and facilitates employees’ to invest in securities. On the contrary, it may not be flexible enough to facilitate employees’ diverse investment options. Retirement medical saving account Provides staff an opportunity to save for eligible health care expenses after retirement. The main advantage of the plan is that it hedges employees’ medical expenses after retiring. On the other hand, the disadvantage may arise in case the employee does not want to subscribe the plan in case of the existence of other medical plan. b) Amgen provides options apart from the main 401 retirement plan. The other options includes employees’ stock purchase and retirement medical pan, among others. The options provides are advantageous in that they enable one to make retirement decisions from myriad of options available based on his/her case. c) According to me, Amgen offer better employment plan in that it includes free advisory services to employees to inform their investment decisions. This reduces the probability of making wrong investment decisions that will lead losses on the side of retirees. 2. The main lesson learnt from the retirement planning is that inasmuch as all retirement plans provided by employers are good, they may not suffice all employees’ requirement in general. Thus there is need for individual employee to analyze the situations facing him/her during process making. Part B: Applying Financial Skills to Your Life: Realtor Due to the interest and a multiple of unanswered questions I have always had in real estate industry, I decided to interview a realtor so that I fill in gaps in my understanding in this industry. The following is the information gathered from the interview. Firstly, even before mentioning what I learnt generally, the two take away messages I learnt from the interview was that the real estate industry is more complicated than most people imagine thus rendering the role of realtors relevant and real estate is one of the fastest growing industry in the community. The legal formalities to be met in the industry mostly supposes most of the clients’ know-how thus creating the need for the realtors. Besides, the industry is have not been fully exploited the needs keep on arising as the business operations’ mode change with emergence of technology and more advanced investment. What it all boils down to is that there is need for more people to venture into the industry but in the process, those interested, should research and be well informed of the needs of the market. A realtor or popularly known as real-estate agent aids people to buy and sell property. They act as agents for clients selling or purchasing commercial buildings, apartments and homes. This may include even land or any other real estate. The main duty of a realtor is to look for buyers by advertising and listing the property under consideration. Besides, the realtor networks with other agents representing clients; but now buyers. So basically, a realtor advises clients on market conditions by researching to aid both sellers and buyers establish proper channels of carrying out the transaction. This includes relevant legal formalities at hand in the process of transacting. Realtors also help clients draw up sales agreements for the property. The information gained is instrumental to me, particularly in future when I will want to venture into real estate industry. This is simply because there is need for one gather all relevant information of the prospective industry before venturing in (well learnt lesson). Consequently, the assignment was very beneficial and I would be happy to do such assignments in future. It has enabled me to gain some experience in the industry. Thanks for the assignment. Financial Professional Interview Contact Information and Signature Page Must complete and turn in with your assignment! You will not receive credit for this portion of the assignment if this portion is not complete. (E-mail documentation will be sufficient if interviews are conducted via phone) Name of Financial Professional: ____Bernard Jimmy___________________________________________________ Title: ________Realtor______________________________________________________________________ Phone Number: ______0700338515________________________________Email: ___benardjimmy2@gmail.com______________________ Address: ___________________________________________________________________________ Professionals Signature: _______bj____________________________ Date of Interview: __13/11/2015_________________ References http://careers.henryford.com/content/benefits/ http://careers.amgen.com/employment-benefits/us-employee-benefits/ Read More