| Course | GF590 Personal Financial Planning |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 3 |
| Paper type | Net worth statement |
| Length | About 720 words, 5 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | MS in Finance |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for GF590 Unit 3
One Date, One Source per Line: A Unit 3 Net Worth Statement for a Pharmacist and a Teacher
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
GF590: Personal Financial Planning
Unit 3 Net Worth Statement
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The household, its accounts, values and debts are composite and illustrative; the sources cited are real.
Statement of Net Worth at December 31
Each line gives the item, the owner, the valuation basis and the value. Assets run from most liquid to least, and liabilities from shortest term to longest, so a reader can compute liquidity and debt ratios without rearranging anything (Garman & Forgue, 2018).
Cash assets
1. Checking account, joint, statement balance, $6,400.
2. Savings account, joint, statement balance, $14,800.
3. Total cash assets, $21,200.
Invested assets
4. 403(b) plan, pharmacist, statement balance, $186,000.
5. Roth IRA, pharmacist, statement balance, $31,000.
6. 403(b) plan, teacher, statement balance, $22,500.
7. Brokerage account, joint, statement value, $16,400.
8. 529 plan, parents as owners, older child as beneficiary, $18,600.
9. 529 plan, parents as owners, younger child as beneficiary, $7,900.
10. Total invested assets, $282,400.
Use assets
11. Home, joint, comparable sales estimate, $415,000.
12. Two vehicles, joint, resale value from a pricing guide, $30,500.
13. Furnishings and household goods, joint, estimated resale, $12,000.
14. Total use assets, $457,500.
Total assets, $761,100.
Liabilities
15. Credit card, joint, 22.9 percent, $450 monthly payment, $7,300.
16. Auto loan, joint, 6.5 percent, $594 monthly, $17,800.
17. Student loans, teacher, 5.0 percent, $410 monthly, $38,500.
18. Mortgage, joint, 3.6 percent, 24 years remaining, $263,600.
19. Total liabilities, $327,200.
Net worth, $433,900.
Notes on Valuation
The valuation basis column carries most of the judgment in the statement. Account balances come from year-end statements. The home is valued from three recent sales of similar houses on the same street, and no selling costs are deducted because the couple has no plan to sell; deducting them would understate a house they intend to keep. Vehicles are shown at resale value, not purchase price, because resale is what the household could actually raise. Retirement accounts are shown before tax, with a note that withdrawals will be taxed, since an after-tax figure would require guessing future tax rates.
The 529 accounts are listed as the parents' assets because the parents own them and control the money; the children are only named beneficiaries. This affects both the statement and later financial aid calculations.
The Pension, Below the Line
The teacher participates in a state teachers' pension in place of Social Security. Her refundable contribution balance is $58,300. It is recorded as a memo line beneath the total, not inside it.
The pension is real wealth, but it cannot be sold, borrowed against or left to the children except as the plan's own rules allow, so counting it beside a brokerage account would overstate what the household can actually use.
With the pension, net worth would be $492,200. Both totals appear side by side so the couple can see the difference, and the full value of the pension is analyzed in the retirement unit. A guaranteed lifetime benefit behaves much like a bond the household already owns, which is why its value matters later when the couple decides how to invest everything else (Bodie, 1990).
Ratios and Readings
1. Emergency fund ratio. Cash of $21,200 covers 3.05 months of essential spending of $6,948 a month. This is adequate but thin for a household with one income outside Social Security.
2. Debt to assets. Liabilities are 43.0 percent of assets, typical for a household of this age with a mortgage.
3. Loan to value. The mortgage is 63.5 percent of the home's estimated value.
4. Invested assets to gross income. At $282,400 against $203,000 of gross pay, invested assets are about 1.4 times income.
Ratio benchmarks for households are useful as signals rather than rules, and the readings above are interpreted against this family's circumstances rather than a single target (Greninger et al., 1996).
Items to Verify
The home estimate should be checked against a county assessment. The teacher's pension statement should confirm the refundable balance and the survivor provisions. The student loan servicer should confirm whether the loans qualify for public service forgiveness. Credit card statements for the last three months are needed to confirm the balance trend.
References
Bodie, Z. (1990). Pensions as retirement income insurance. Journal of Economic Literature, 28(1), 28-49.
Garman, E. T., & Forgue, R. E. (2018). Personal finance (13th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Greninger, S. A., Hampton, V. L., Kitt, K. A., & Achacoso, J. A. (1996). Ratios and benchmarks for measuring the financial well-being of families and individuals. Financial Services Review, 5(1), 57-70. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1057-0810(96)90027-X
GF590 Unit 3 instructions, in plain terms
Unit 3 of GF590 asks for a single-date snapshot of a household's assets and debts. Use a conventional order, liquid assets first and long-term debts last, so ratios can be computed directly. For every line give the owner, the valuation basis and the value. Choose valuation methods deliberately: statement balances for accounts, a market estimate for the home with your treatment of selling costs explained, resale value for vehicles. Decide how to treat assets that cannot be sold or borrowed against, such as a defined benefit pension, and explain the choice; showing totals with and without it is often clearest. List debts with rates and payments. Follow the statement with a few ratios, each interpreted for this household rather than compared with a benchmark alone. Close with items to verify. Cite personal finance sources in APA 7.
How this GF590 Unit 3 example is built
The statement opens with numbered lines for cash, invested and use assets, each with owner, basis and value, citing Garman and Forgue on the order. The 529 accounts appear under the parents as owners. Liabilities list rate and monthly payment for the card, auto loan, student loans and mortgage. Valuation notes explain why no selling costs are deducted from the home and why retirement accounts are shown before tax. A pension section records the $58,300 memo line, and the highlighted sentence explains the exclusion. A sentence citing Bodie compares the pension to a bond. Four ratios follow: 3.05 months of essential spending in cash, debt at 43.0 percent of assets, a loan to value of 63.5 percent and invested assets at 1.4 times income, read with Greninger and colleagues.
Reading the GF590 Unit 3 grading rubric
The first points on a GF590 net worth statement go to completeness and order: every asset and debt on one date, in a sequence that lets a reader compute ratios. Graders then look closely at the valuation basis column, rewarding sourced, defensible choices and a stated reason for any adjustment left out. The treatment of a pension or similar asset is where judgment shows most, and presenting totals both ways with an explanation earns strong credit. Ownership recorded on every line matters for later estate and aid analysis. Instructors in the MS in Finance program value ratios that are interpreted for the household rather than simply calculated. Garman and Forgue, Bodie and Greninger and colleagues, cited in APA 7, meet the source requirement for this assignment.
Common GF590 Unit 3 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Common GF590 Unit 3 problems start with dates: balances from different months mixed into one statement. Homes appear at purchase price, and vehicles at what was paid for them rather than what they would sell for. Ownership is left out, so it is unclear whose account is whose or who controls the 529 plans. Pensions are added at a guessed lump sum without any explanation. Debts are listed without rates, which hides the most expensive one. Ratios are computed and compared with a textbook benchmark but never interpreted. For a household with different assets, such as a business, rental property or stock options, keep the same approach: one date, conventional order, an owner and a basis for each line, a reasoned treatment of hard-to-sell assets, debts with rates, interpreted ratios and items still to verify.
Get a GF590 Unit 3 example written to your instructions
A statement whose every line shows owner and valuation basis, with any pension handled openly and ratios at the foot, is what the custom version provides. It needs the account list or case figures from your GF590 Unit 3 prompt, the statement date and the rubric. No fee for the first; back within 24-48h. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
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GF590 Unit 3 questions, answered
Should the home be valued at purchase price or market value?
Market value at the statement date, with the source stated. The sample uses an estimate from recent comparable sales and says so. Purchase price describes history, not what the household owns today. Some instructors ask for selling costs to be deducted; if yours does, show the deduction on its own line rather than folding it silently into the estimate.
How should a defined benefit pension appear?
Opinions differ, so the sample shows it both ways. Its main total excludes the pension and a memo line records the refundable contribution balance, since the benefit itself cannot be sold or borrowed against. Some courses ask for a present value instead. Whichever your section prefers, state the method and keep the figure consistent across the plan.
Do 529 accounts belong to the parents or the children?
In most treatments they are the account owner's assets, usually a parent's, with the child named as beneficiary. The sample lists them under the parents for that reason. The distinction affects estate planning and can affect financial aid calculations, so a note records owner and beneficiary for each account rather than grouping them as the children's money.
Where can I find a free GF590 Unit 3 sample paper?
You can read a complete GF590 Unit 3 net worth statement for a pharmacist and teacher household here, with an owner and valuation basis on every line, a pension memo line, four interpreted ratios and APA 7 references.
Why are no selling costs deducted from the home?
The couple has no plan to sell, so deducting agent fees and closing costs would understate a house they intend to keep. The statement says so in its valuation notes.