| Course | FIN 350 Advanced Personal Financial Planning |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 2 |
| Paper type | undergraduate client spotlight reflection on cash flow and spending |
| Length | About 360 words, 3 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Southern New Hampshire University |
| Program | BS Finance |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for FIN 350 Module 2
Client Spotlight Reflection
What One Month of Statements Says About the Kesslers
The Kesslers sent their September statements before our second meeting. Hannah's net pay after taxes, family health insurance and her 8 percent 401(k) contribution was about $6,750. Dario's salary from the business came to about $6,000 after withholding. Together, about $12,750 came in. About $12,400 went out: $2,400 for the mortgage, taxes and insurance, $760 for the truck, $700 for Hannah's student loan, $1,150 for childcare and after-school care, $1,600 for groceries, $1,180 for restaurants and delivery, a $600 credit card payment, and about $4,000 spread across utilities, fuel, phones, car insurance, the children's activities, $250 of 529 contributions, clothing, gifts and household costs.
The card statement shows a $9,400 balance at 23.9 percent, with a payment of about $600 that barely reduces it. Yet Dario's business checking account holds about $31,000, more than the company needs for a month of payroll. Asked why, Dario said that money is "the business's," not theirs. Thaler (1999) calls this mental accounting: people sort money into separate accounts and treat each by its own rules, even when moving it would save money. Paying off the card from the business cash, through a documented owner draw, would save about $2,200 a year in interest.
The restaurant and delivery total surprised both of them; neither had added it up. Two streaming subscriptions they no longer watch cost $46 a month. Laibson (1997) showed that people weigh the present far more heavily than the future, so a $28 dinner tonight easily wins against a goal 20 years away. The problem is not carelessness. Busy parents with two jobs and a business face constant small choices, and convenience wins most of them.
Before the full analysis, I would suggest three small changes: pay the card from excess business cash, cancel unused subscriptions and set an automatic transfer of $500 a month to a separate savings account on payday. Lusardi and Mitchell (2014) note that even financially literate households benefit from rules that make saving automatic.
What would "not feeling behind" look like for Hannah in a year, and how would she know she had reached it?
References
Laibson, D. (1997). Golden eggs and hyperbolic discounting. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 112(2), 443-478. https://doi.org/10.1162/003355397555253
Lusardi, A., & Mitchell, O. S. (2014). The economic importance of financial literacy: Theory and evidence. Journal of Economic Literature, 52(1), 5-44. https://doi.org/10.1257/jel.52.1.5
Thaler, R. H. (1999). Mental accounting matters. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 12(3), 183-206. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-0771(199909)12:3<183::AID-BDM318>3.0.CO;2-F
What the FIN 350 Module 2 instructions ask for
The client spotlight reflections in FIN 350 typically present a client situation, or ask you to consider one, and invite you to reflect on what it reveals about the client's financial health and behavior. Early spotlights often focus on cash flow, spending, debt or the client's relationship with money, and some ask what you would want to learn next or how you would raise a sensitive issue. The best reflections go beyond restating the facts: they find patterns, explain them with a concept from the course or research and consider how the planner should respond. Keep the reflection focused and specific, with numbers where they help, and a short, honest view of what you would do first.
How this FIN 350 Module 2 client spotlight reflection example is built
The sample reads one month of the composite Kesslers' statements. Take-home pay of about $12,750 meets about $12,400 of spending, leaving almost nothing for goals after automatic 401(k) contributions. A $9,400 card balance at 23.9 percent is carried from month to month, while about $31,000 sits in Dario's business account earning nothing. Restaurant and delivery charges reach $1,180, and two subscriptions nobody uses cost $46 a month. The reflection explains the idle cash and the card balance through mental accounting, the steady small spending through present bias, and the couple's surprise at the totals through low attention rather than carelessness. It proposes three first steps before the full analysis. It ends with the question the planner will ask at the next meeting.
Where the FIN 350 Module 2 rubric puts the points
Reflections are usually graded on insight into the client's situation, application of course concepts, clarity and professionalism, and sometimes on how the student would communicate with the client. Strong reflections identify specific patterns in the numbers, explain why they occur with a named concept, and suggest a response that respects the client. They lose points for summaries with no interpretation, for judgmental language about the client and for advice that ignores the client's goals. A balanced tone, accurate figures and a clear connection to the planning process tend to score well with instructors. Instructors also notice when a reflection names what the student still needs to learn about the client, since that shows awareness of the planning process.
FIN 350 Module 2 help: the mistakes that cost points
Spotlight reflections can drift into a recap of the case. Pick two or three patterns from the client's numbers and ask why each happens: what the client believes or feels that makes it reasonable to them. Use a concept from behavioral finance, such as mental accounting or present bias, to explain it, then decide what you would do first. Keep your tone respectful, since clients who feel judged stop sharing information. Use the client's actual figures, but round them to keep the reflection readable. Close with one question you would ask the client at the next meeting, which shows you understand that planning is a conversation. Numbers that surprise the client are often the best place to start the conversation.
Get FIN 350 Module 2 written to your instructions
Send the FIN 350 Module 2 spotlight directions and the client details you were given. We read the client's cash flow closely, explain the behavior behind the numbers with research and suggest a few first steps. About two days; first reflection free. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Southern New Hampshire University document.
More FIN 350 papers and related BS Finance samples
- FIN 350 Module 1 Discussion: What a Planner Must Learn in the First Meeting
- ACC 345 Module 1 Discussion: Who Reads the Statements, and What They Want
- ACC 202 Module 4 Project Milestone Two
- ACC 423 Module 4 Project One: A Beneish M-Score and Red Flag Analysis
- ACC 405 Module 4 Project One: A Consolidation Worksheet One Year After Acquisition
FIN 350 Module 2 questions, answered
Where can I find a free FIN 350 Module 2 Client Spotlight Reflection sample?
This page includes the full FIN 350 Module 2 reflection on one month of a family's statements, with patterns explained through mental accounting and present bias.
What is mental accounting?
The habit of treating money differently depending on which mental account it belongs to, such as keeping savings idle in one place while paying high interest on debt elsewhere.
What is present bias?
The tendency to give much more weight to rewards now than later, which makes small daily spending easy and long-term saving hard.
Why review a client's bank statements?
Statements show actual spending, which often differs from what clients estimate, and reveal patterns such as recurring charges, revolving debt and irregular income.
How should a planner raise a spending problem with a client?
By showing the numbers neutrally, asking what the spending means to the client and agreeing on small changes, rather than criticizing.