FIN 340 is SNHU’s Fundamentals of Investments course. It centers on the investment process for individual clients: securities and investment vehicles, risk tolerance and return objectives, investment policy statements, risk, return and diversification, bond pricing and interest rate risk, market efficiency, stock analysis and portfolio construction. Every module below opens a full sample paper or takes a free request for one; searches like "fin 340 module 3", "FIN340 sample paper" and "FIN 340 milestone example" land on this page.
What FIN 340 is really about
FIN 340 is SNHU's fundamentals of investments course, and its best grades go to work that puts the client ahead of any single security. The strongest submissions state each client's goals, time horizon, liquidity needs and willingness and ability to take risk, show the calculations behind return and risk estimates and explain why each holding belongs in a particular client's portfolio.
The samples on this shelf share two composite clients of a two-adviser fee-only practice in Keene, New Hampshire: Tessa Lindqvist, a 29-year-old dental hygienist with a new 401(k) and $18,000 in savings, and Gordon and Renee Abernathy, 57 and 55, who hold about $860,000 and hope to retire within eight years. The clients and their figures are illustrative.
What FIN 340’s modules ask for
Across eight modules, FIN 340 typically asks for discussions on investing goals, market efficiency and investor behavior, assignments on investment vehicles, risk and return and bond valuation, Project One analyzing the clients' objectives and constraints in Module Three, and Project Two analyzing stocks and building a portfolio recommendation in Module Seven.
Where students lose points in FIN 340
The most common FIN 340 deduction comes from portfolios that are not tied to the client: a stock list with no reason it suits a 29-year-old or a couple near retirement. Close behind are risk tolerance statements that mix willingness with ability, return figures without a time period and valuation inputs pulled from a website with no explanation. Writing every recommendation as "because this client needs" fixes most of these.
The FIN 340 drawers
FIN 340 Module 1 Discussion example
An opening post that introduces the course's two composite clients of a Keene, New Hampshire advisory practice, a 29-year-old dental hygienist with $18,000 in a savings account and a couple of 57 and 55 with $860,000 who hope to retire within eight years, and shows that "risk" means a market drop to one and running out of money to the other, separating willingness from ability to bear risk with Markowitz, Grable and Lytton and Benartzi and Thaler. Full sample paper, read it free.
FIN 340 Module 2 Investment Vehicles Assignment example
A Module Two assignment that reads the composite client Tessa's eight-fund 401(k) menu, explaining how mutual funds, a collective trust, an index fund, a target-date fund and a stable value fund differ in structure, holdings and cost, then shows that $500 a month for 36 years at 7 percent grows to about $962,000 at a 0.04 percent expense ratio but about $804,000 at 0.78 percent, and recommends a vehicle for her, drawing on French, Carhart and Benartzi and Thaler. Full sample paper, read it free.
FIN 340 Module 3 Project One example
Project One, submitted in Module Three, analyzes the course's two composite clients: the 29-year-old hygienist, whose low willingness but high ability to take risk, condo down payment in five years and 22 percent tax bracket make her a growth investor for retirement money only, and the couple of 57 and 55, who need about 1.5 percent a year above inflation to reach $1.3 million in today's dollars by retirement and are classified as income investors with a growth component, each summarized in an investment policy statement, with Grable and Lytton, Kahneman and Tversky and Brinson, Hood and Beebower. Full sample paper, read it free.
FIN 340 Module 4 Risk and Return Assignment example
A Module Four assignment that computes expected return and standard deviation for all-stock, 90/10, 60/40, 40/60 and all-bond mixes from long-run estimates of 9.5 and 4.5 percent returns and 17 and 6.5 percent volatility, shows the portfolio's risk falling below the weighted average when stocks and bonds move loosely together, tests a correlation of 0.5 to reflect 2022, compares Sharpe ratios, and explains why Gordon's three engineering stocks carry risk the market does not pay for, with Markowitz, Sharpe and Statman. Full sample paper, read it free.
FIN 340 Module 5 Discussion example
A Module Five post on the composite client Gordon Abernathy's plan to manage the couple's savings himself by picking stocks after retirement, weighed against the efficient market hypothesis and the evidence: Fama and French's finding that few mutual funds show skill beyond luck after costs, Carhart's finding that winning funds rarely stay winners, and Barber and Odean's finding that the most active household traders earned far less than the market, ending with a compromise that limits the stock-picking share. Full sample paper, read it free.
FIN 340 Module 6 Bond Valuation Assignment example
A Module Six assignment that prices the bonds the composite Abernathys might hold for income: a 5-year Treasury note with a 4 percent coupon at a 4.2 percent yield, a 10-year A-rated corporate bond with a 5 percent coupon at 5.1 percent and a 10-year zero, works out current yield and yield to maturity, uses duration to estimate and then check the price change from a 1-point rise in rates, explains the corporate spread with Elton and colleagues, and builds a five-rung $150,000 Treasury ladder for the couple's first retirement years, citing Fisher and Weil and Litterman and Scheinkman. Full sample paper, read it free.
FIN 340 Module 7 Project Two example
Project Two, due in Module Seven, finishes the course's two composite client files: a stock analysis of Procter and Gamble, using CAPM and a constant-growth dividend model that shows how a single point of growth moves value from about $157 to $247, and of Microsoft, read through its price to earnings ratio and growth; then a growth portfolio for the 29-year-old hygienist across her 401(k), a Roth IRA and a condo fund, and a 60/40 portfolio for the couple near retirement that phases out concentrated stock and adds the Module Six Treasury ladder, with Sharpe, Gordon and Shapiro and Brinson, Hood and Beebower. Full sample paper, read it free.
FIN 340 Module 8 Discussion example
A closing Module Eight post on the call the composite hygienist made in April 2025, when the S&P 500 had fallen about 19 percent from its February high after the tariff announcements and she wanted to move her 401(k) into the stable value fund; the post explains loss aversion, myopic loss aversion and the disposition effect with Kahneman and Tversky, Benartzi and Thaler and Odean, follows the market's rebound to new highs by late June and lists the habits that keep investors in their plan. Full sample paper, read it free.
Your classroom shows something else?
Southern New Hampshire University revises courses; module counts and deliverables shift between terms. Send what your classroom shows and the desk matches it exactly.
Using a FIN 340 sample the right way
Read a FIN 340 sample by asking, at every holding, which client need it serves. When each fund, bond or stock is tied to a stated goal, horizon or limit, the portfolio holds together and the arithmetic has a purpose. For FIN 340, send the client scenarios, the guidelines and the rubric, and the first custom sample is written free within 24-48h.
FIN 340 questions, answered
What does FIN 340 cover?
The fundamentals of investing for individual clients: investment vehicles, risk and return, diversification, bonds and stocks, market efficiency, investor behavior and building a portfolio from a client's objectives and constraints.
What are the FIN 340 projects?
Project One analyzes clients' return objectives, risk tolerance, liquidity and other constraints, often as investment policy statements; Project Two analyzes stocks and recommends a portfolio for each client.
Are the clients in the FIN 340 samples real people?
No. The hygienist, the couple and their numbers were invented so all eight modules can follow the same two clients; your course supplies its own scenarios.