Overview: Final Project Part II
There are two parts to the final project for this course. Part I is the creation of a personal wealth portfolio plan. Part II is the creation of a business wealth
management memo.
Serving high net worth clients and businesses is a critical part of a financial service firm’s work. The value of these clients’ assets makes them a significant source
of revenue, but also increases the stakes around each piece of investment advice. Consequently, companies invest a lot of time and resources in understanding
and serving these clients’ unique needs. As a current or future finance professional, you may be asked to help support those efforts in a variety of ways—
preparing marketing reports, investigating specific investment opportunities, assessing risks and returns, making preliminary suggestions to the portfolio
managers who oversee the clients’ accounts, etc. The knowledge and skills you gain in this wealth management course will help you better fulfill those roles and
set a foundation for future career advancement.
In this second part of the final project, you will write a brief memo for the portfolio manager outlining wealth management considerations for the same client’s
start-up limited liability corporation (LLC). This memo will lay out retirement benefits, succession planning, tax, and business risk strategies for the manager to
keep in mind in the review for the client.
Final Project Part II includes one milestone to scaffold learning and ensure quality final submissions. This milestone will be submitted in Module Six. The final
product will be submitted in Module Eight.
In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:
• Assess the needs of businesses and high net worth clients for recommending appropriate financial products and investments
• Weigh the pros and cons of various wealth-enhancing personal and business options by employing appropriate financial statement, market, and risk
analyses
• Recommend wealth management strategies for portfolio planning and tax management substantiated by sound financial analyses
Prompt: Final Project Part II
For the second part of the final project, imagine the client you chose for the Final Project Part I also recently created a fast-growing technology limited liability
corporation (LLC) that the client wants to see grow and succeed. The business currently employs five full-time staff, and the client is heavily involved in managing
the company. However, the client expects the company to grow rapidly, and would eventually like to sell the business to pursue other interests. (Note: The
business scenario is the same, regardless of which of the two client profiles you selected in Part I. As before, you may make assumptions about details of the
business that are not included in the description above, as needed to inform your suggestions. However, you must specify these assumptions clearly in your
memo.)
The client has asked for your firm’s advice on ways to anticipate and mitigate risks, provide retirement benefits for employees, comply with tax laws in ways that
are most beneficial to the company’s long-term bottom line, and plan for business succession. (In order to determine relevant laws and regulations, assume the
business is headquartered in the state/location where you currently reside or in a location in which you might be interested in doing business in the future. Be
sure to state clearly in your memo what location you are using.)
To prepare for an initial conversation with the client, the portfolio manager has asked you to prepare a brief, high-level memo laying out issues or concerns
related to business wealth management in broad terms.
Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:
I. Executive Summary. Briefly restate the client’s request, as well as how you went about answering it. What additional information might you need to
gather from the client to better assess the business’s needs?
II. Business Risk. How might the client mitigate common business risks? Support your response with specific examples that illustrate both the risk and
potential ways to address it. Your suggestions do not need to be exhaustive, but should give an idea of the different types of financial risk a start-up
might face, including elements of the financial statements that the client should pay particularly close attention to as they review annual performance.
III. Retirement Benefits. What are the key considerations in planning retirement benefits for the business? What options might the client consider and
why? Be sure to discuss the pros and cons of each option and how those would (or would not) change as the business grows. Your suggestions do not
need to be exhaustive, but should serve as a starting point for discussion with the client.
IV. Tax Implications. How might the client incorporate tax considerations in planning? Give examples of different federal or state tax rules that might apply
and how these might impact the company’s opportunity for growth. Because the purpose of the memo is to start a conversation with the client, your
response does not need to be exhaustive but should be illustrative of different types of tax management strategies the business might consider.
V. Business Succession Planning. Suggest business succession options for the client to consider. Justify your response, highlighting the strengths and
weaknesses of the different options and how the client might go about determining which option best aligns with the needs.
Final Project Part II Deliverables
Final Project Part II Milestone: Business Wealth Management Memo Draft
In Module Six, you will submit a draft of your business wealth management memo. Your draft should contain all of the critical elements of the Final Project Part
II. Upon submission, the instructor will provide feedback, which should then be applied in preparation for the final submission. This milestone will be graded
with the Final Project Part II Milestone Rubric.
Final Submission Part II: Business Wealth Management Memo
In Module Eight, you will submit your business wealth management memo. It should be a complete, polished artifact containing all of the critical elements of
the final product. It should reflect the incorporation of feedback gained throughout the course. This milestone will be graded using the Final Project Part II
Rubric.
Final Project Part II Rubric
Guidelines for Submission: Your business wealth management memo should be 3–5 pages long (not including references or any appendices), double-spaced, 12-
point Times New Roman font and should use the most current APA format for references. Relevant graphs or tables may be included either in the main text or in
an appendix, but these pages do not count toward the recommended page length.
Critical Elements Exemplary (100%) Proficient (85%) Needs Improvement (55%) Not Evident (0%) Value
Executive Summary
[FIN-450-01]
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
employs particularly insightful
approaches for determining and
responding to client needs
Briefly restates the client’s
request, approach to answering
it, and additional information
required to assess business’s
needs
Restates the client’s request,
approach to answering it, and
additional information required,
but response is lengthy,
contains inaccuracies, or omits
key details
Does not restate the client’s
request, approach to answering
it, and additional information
required to assess business’s
needs
15
Business Risk
[FIN-450-03]
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
mitigation options presented
are based on a nuanced
assessment of the range of
business risks facing this type of
company
Analyzes how the client might
mitigate common business risks,
supporting response with
specific examples that illustrate
risks, ways to address them, and
specific elements of financial
statements to pay attention to
Analyzes how the client might
mitigate common business risks,
supporting response with
examples that illustrate risks,
ways to address them, and
elements of financial
statements to pay attention to,
but response contains
inaccuracies or examples are
not relevant
Does not analyze how the client
might mitigate common
business risks, supporting
response with examples
illustrating risks, ways to
address them, and elements of
financial statements to pay
Retirement Benefits
[FIN-450-03]
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
analysis demonstrates keen
insight into the long-term risks
and benefits of different
retirement options for business
growth
Lays out key considerations in
planning retirement benefits for
business and options client
might consider, weighing pros
and cons of different options
and how these would (or would
not) change as the business
grows
Lays out key considerations in
planning retirement benefits for
business and options client
might consider, weighing pros
and cons of different options,
but does not consider how
these would (or would not)
change as the business grows,
or response contains
inaccuracies or is not relevant to
business specified
Does not lay out key
considerations in planning
retirement benefits for business
and options client might
consider, weighing pros and
cons of different options
15
Tax Implications
[FIN-450-04]
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
suggestions are especially wellsupported, offering keen
insights into the financial
implications of diverse tax rules
on business planning and wealth
Suggests options for
incorporating tax considerations
into business planning,
supporting response with
examples and analysis of
financial impact
Suggests options for
incorporating tax considerations
into business planning,
supporting response with
examples and analysis of
financial impact, but response is
cursory or contains inaccuracies
or examples are not relevant
Does not suggest options for
incorporating tax considerations
into business planning,
supporting response with
examples and analysis of
financial impact
30
Business Succession
Planning
[FIN-450-01]
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
options suggested show keen
insight in anticipating client
needs
Suggests business succession
options, justifying response by
highlighting strengths,
weaknesses, and selection
criteria
Suggests business succession
options, justifying response by
highlighting strengths,
weaknesses, and selection
criteria, but response is cursory,
is poorly-supported, or contains
inaccuracies
Does not suggest business
succession options, justifying
response by highlighting
strengths, weaknesses, and
selection criteria
15
Articulation of
Response
Submission is free of errors
related to citations, grammar,
spelling, syntax, and
organization and is presented in
a professional and easy-to-read
format
Submission has no major errors
related to citations, grammar,
spelling, syntax, or organization
Submission has major errors
related to citations, grammar,
spelling, syntax, or organization
that negatively impact
readability and articulation of
main ideas
Submission has critical errors
related to citations, grammar,
spelling, syntax, or organization
that prevent understanding of
ideas
10
Total 100%