FIN 350 is SNHU’s Advanced Personal Financial Planning course. It centers on the personal financial planning process for a household: gathering data, financial statements and ratios, goals, client psychology and cognitive bias, cash flow and debt, education funding, retirement needs with time value of money, tax planning, insurance and estate basics and a complete written plan. Every module below opens a full sample paper or takes a free request for one; searches like "fin 350 module 3", "FIN350 sample paper" and "FIN 350 milestone example" land on this page.
What FIN 350 is really about
FIN 350 is SNHU's advanced personal financial planning course, and its strongest submissions read like advice a household could act on. They calculate ratios from the client's own statements, explain how the client's habits and biases shape their choices, show every time value of money input for college and retirement goals and rank recommendations so the family knows what to do first.
The samples on this shelf share one composite household in Omaha, Nebraska: Hannah Kessler, 39, a hospital pharmacist, and Dario Kessler, 41, who owns a twelve-person heating and cooling company, with children of 9 and 6, combined income near $263,000, a mortgage, credit card and student debt and about $262,000 in retirement and brokerage savings. The family and its figures are illustrative.
What FIN 350’s modules ask for
Across eight modules, FIN 350 typically asks for discussions on the planning process, taxes and risk, client spotlight reflections and journals, Milestone One analyzing the client's financial health, psychology, goals and biases in Module Three, Milestone Two calculating funding needs with time value of money in Module Five, and a complete financial plan as the final project in Module Seven.
Where students lose points in FIN 350
The most common FIN 350 deduction comes from plans that are not built on the client's numbers: ratios without a benchmark, retirement targets with no inflation or return assumption, or recommendations that ignore the family's actual cash flow. Close behind is treating client psychology as an afterthought. Showing every input and tying each recommendation to a goal and a bias fixes most of these.
The FIN 350 drawers
FIN 350 Module 1 Discussion example
An opening post that walks through the first meeting with the composite Omaha household, a hospital pharmacist and the owner of a small heating and cooling company with two children, showing what a planner must learn before giving any advice: goals in the clients' own words, the full balance sheet including the business, how each spouse feels about money and where they disagree, following the planning process in the CFP Board's standards, with Lusardi and Mitchell on financial literacy and Grable and Lytton on risk tolerance. Full sample paper, read it free.
FIN 350 Module 2 Client Spotlight Reflection example
A Module Two client spotlight reflection on one month of the composite Kesslers' bank and card statements: $12,750 of take-home pay against about $12,400 of spending, a $9,400 card balance at 23.9 percent carried while $31,000 sits in the business account, $1,180 of restaurant and delivery charges and two forgotten subscriptions, read through Thaler's mental accounting and Laibson's present bias, with three small changes the couple could make before the full analysis. Full sample paper, read it free.
FIN 350 Module 3 Milestone One example
Milestone One, due in Module Three, analyzes the composite Kesslers in full: a balance sheet showing $786,000 of assets and $367,600 of net worth, ratios for liquidity, debt, housing and saving set against common benchmarks, the money beliefs each spouse brought from childhood measured with the Klontz Money Script Inventory, five goals rewritten in measurable form and the biases that will push against them, including mental accounting, loss aversion and Dario's confidence in his business, with Thaler, Kahneman and Tversky and Stanley and Danko. Full sample paper, read it free.
FIN 350 Module 4 Education Planning Assignment example
A Module Four assignment that projects four years at a Nebraska public university for the composite Kesslers' children, now 9 and 6, from about $28,000 a year today rising 5 percent a year, finds a combined funding gap near $330,000 after their two 529 balances, works out the $1,971 a month full funding would take, compares 529 plans, a Coverdell account and a Roth IRA, notes the state deduction, the tax credit they earn too much to claim and the limited need-based aid their income allows, and recommends a 60 percent target funded in stages, citing Dynarski and Thaler and Benartzi. Full sample paper, read it free.
FIN 350 Module 5 Milestone Two example
Milestone Two, due in Module Five, works out the composite Kesslers' retirement need with the annuity method: $108,000 a year from savings in today's dollars becomes about $219,500 in the first year of retirement 24 years from now, a 30-year inflation-adjusted annuity at 6 percent requires about $4.48 million on the first day, current savings of $262,000 grow to about $1.06 million, and closing the $3.42 million gap takes about $67,300 a year against the $24,560 they save now; three adjusted scenarios bring the need within reach, citing Scholz, Seshadri and Khitatrakun, Thaler and Benartzi and Lusardi and Mitchell. Full sample paper, read it free.
FIN 350 Module 6 Discussion example
A Module Six post on four tax moves for the composite Kesslers: raising Hannah's 401(k) toward the $23,500 limit, replacing Dario's SEP-IRA with a safe harbor 401(k) for his twelve-person company, keeping his S corporation salary reasonable while the qualified business income deduction applies to the rest, and using Nebraska's 529 deduction, with Madrian and Shea and Chetty and colleagues on whether tax breaks or defaults drive saving. Full sample paper, read it free.
FIN 350 Module 7 Final Project example
The final project, submitted in Module Seven, turns the composite Kesslers' analysis into one written plan: clearing the credit card from surplus business cash in month one, a six-month reserve within two years, term life and disability coverage for the business owner, wills and named guardians, Hannah's 401(k) moved out of stable value and stepped toward the limit, a safe harbor 401(k) at the company, 529 contributions staged to a 60 percent college target and retirement saving raised to about $46,800 a year, with a month-by-month cash flow bridge, an implementation calendar and the biases each step is designed around, citing Madrian and Shea, Thaler and Benartzi and Klontz and colleagues. Full sample paper, read it free.
FIN 350 Module 8 Discussion example
A closing Module Eight post on the gaps the composite Kesslers almost left open: a business owner with no disability coverage and only $250,000 of life insurance against a need near $1.25 million, no wills and no named guardians for two children, and a twelve-person company with no succession plan; it explains the needs approach to life insurance, why disability is more likely than early death during working years, what a will and guardianship do, and cites Bernheim and colleagues on how often households are underinsured. 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 350 sample the right way
Read a FIN 350 sample by checking that every number traces back to the client's statements and every recommendation to a stated goal. When the time value of money inputs are visible and the advice fits the family's real cash flow, the plan holds together. For FIN 350, send the client case, the guidelines and the rubric, and the first custom sample is written free within 24-48h.
FIN 350 questions, answered
What does FIN 350 cover?
The full personal financial planning process for a household: data gathering, financial statements and ratios, client psychology, education and retirement funding, tax planning, insurance and estate basics and a written plan.
What are the FIN 350 milestones?
Milestone One analyzes the client's financial health, psychology, goals and biases; Milestone Two calculates funding needs for goals such as retirement with time value of money; the final project combines them into a plan.
Is the family in the FIN 350 samples real?
No. The Omaha household and its numbers were invented so all eight modules can follow one plan; your course supplies its own client case.