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I emailed Michelle Johnson (East River Federal Credit Union president) on Sept. 14 and told her I was interested in banking and was wondering if she would be interested in mentoring and helping me with my senior project. She had to talk to her board of advisors and ask them what they thought. She called me back Sept. 19 and told me that her advisors said that they were to small of a bank to do any mentoring.
 * September**
 * East River Federal Credit Union**

Scott finished harvesting in mid october and I contacted him and made an appointment on November 8th. Researched the average income of different income people and what their income goes into. ===**Scott Schlisner** === I have contacted Scott and he said he would love to help I talked to him about my project. He is also a farmer so he is harvesting right now but said he would most likely be done by the 3rd or 4th of October. He would contact me and we could get started on my project then.
 * October**

On the first of the month I called Waddel and Reed and made an appointment with Scott to talk about my senior project and see if he would be interested in helping. I met with my mentor on the 8th at 4:00 PM and he explained and showed me what he does and all the ins-and-outs of financial advising. We didn't spend enough time for him to explain everything to me because of the whole financial planning process is so long and complex. So I told him as we did this project I would like to learn as much as I can in this field to see if I would be interested in a career doing something like this. I told him that I would talk with my advisors on what all they wanted me to create with this portfolio idea. I told him that I would check with them and then make another appointment with him.
 * November **

December I made four appointments with Scott to work on my projects. On the 4th we started working on hypothetical clients we could use to base our project on. We picked a couple who were in their mid thirties. This way we could see how much they would have to change their daily living ways to meet the financial goals they planned. This process took a long time to do because of how much detail goes into a couples lives. We started out by choosing how much they would make in a year. After that we went on and made up amount of home much they would spend monthly and annually. After we were done calculating their expenses we subtracted that from their annual income. This gave us their surplus for the year. This is the basis were we could distribute that money into different categories were we could start to fund their different financial goals. Since this process takes so long I met with Scott on the 13th to continue the process. After we had got through the couples income and surplus then we went on to make it a little more interesting. We gave our couple two kids and an education plan. These two kids were also given Certificates of Deposit (CD's) from their grandparents. After we had finished putting together the whole hypothetical situation we went on to the actual financial planning process.To begin this we had to discuss the six areas of financial planning. These are questions that our couple would answer to asses their financial position. These questions were things about taxes, retirement, and managing debt and risk. Then we continued on asking what their financial goals and objectives were. Things like how they want to retire and if they would like to pay for their children education. After that we asked them what was important about money to them. Scott said that 90% of the time this answer comes down to being able to take care of their family is most important. Next we met on the 19th and 25th. This was one of the longest parts to do. We sat down and after prioritizing their financial goals we started to gather the information. This was especially long because the fact that we didn't have the clients to talk to and tell us what their financial position was. We had to create all the information. This is were hours were spent making out what they all spent on groceries, gas, insurance, mortgage, clothes, etc.
 * December **

This month we met three times the 10th, 23rd and, 29th. We spent mostly all of this time on the focus plan. We started by asking and answering questions like if the owned or rented and what their career plans are. We collected personal data and went on to see what concerned them the most with their money and financial security. We go the name of there bankers attorneys and accountant. After that we continued with getting the names and dates of birth of their dependents. Then we had them answer a series of questions to determine their risk tolerance. Then proceeded with gathering their income and tax information. Next we wrote down how much they spend on their expenses like housing, child care, transportation, food, and clothing. This part we didn't go into much detail on because we already had the detailed laundry list we created on their expenses. Next we collected all the assets and hard assets. These consisted of things like there home and vehicles. Then we added in the loans and liabilities they had at that time. After doing their insurance we went into their education goals. These were the goals we made for them to help their children through college. Next was accumulation goals and after that was survivor needs. This told what would happen if one of them was to die. Finally we ended with the estate planning. Which would also help with what was to be paid off when they died and were the inheritance would go. This month seemed like we spent a lot of time on one little section but this section was the most complex and informative section.
 * January**

February was the meat and potatoes of my project. With the help of my mentor we where able to complete the actual financial plan. This is where we gathered all of the information like the asset allocation, retirement, education goals, and survivor needs and put them together to look nice and neat and easy for a client to understand with many visuals such as bar graphs. On February 5th we worked for about three and a half hours on putting in the financial statements. This included the cash flow summary, net worth statement. We also went on an completed the asset allocation part of the FP(financial plan). Next time I met with my mentor on Thursday the 14th and we continued working on inputting information for another four hours. Next we took on retirement which took awhile because of the fact that you have to calculate how much they make and how much they need to put away to see what they will be able to retire on and if they are able to meet their financial goals. That same day we did get to work on the education part as well this was simpler because there was only two children which meant less things to figure out. On the 20th we worked for a little over three hours to to put in a bit more of the FP. We worked on accumulation and survivor needs, then we ended on disability. Survivor needs were really interesting because of all the things that you need to account for when doing a budget. These are all things that you obviously need to live, but we really don't realize how much we do need/use. Accumulation being just as important as survivor needs my mentor spent a lot of time explaining to me what this couple will have to do to meet their financial goals. This is where all the information about how much is made and where it needs to be saved and in what accounts like 401-k's, IRA's and other accounts used for different purposes. Last we worked on disability which my mentor made very clear that it is one of the absolutely most important thing to do regarding a FP. If something was to happen to you and you didn't have disability insurance and your unable to work all of your other financial goals can not be met. If your not making any money you won't be able to fund those goals.
 * February**

This month the projects are due on the 19th, and we present them that night and on the 21st we have the session with the judges. Since my mentor and I had finished working on the FP in February he though we should spend our next few visits going over what we did and what he thought I should talk about when presenting my project at both the project fair and the judging. We met on the 7th of March and he helped me get all of the papers and booklets all neat and ordered nicely. After three hours of work we got through a little over half of what I would like to present. He told me that there was no way I would be able to learn everything and be able to answer detailed questions because of how complex all of what he does is. We thought it was important that I did know the most I possibly could, so we reviewed the first half. I met again with Scott again on the 12th for a few hours where we continued working on the second half of briefing the FP. He helped me learn as much as I could in this time. With his help, I feel like I will be able to complete the rest of my project and be able to present this to my project.
 * March**