This assignment aligns to objective(s):
- compare and contrast financial institutions.
- evaluate and select a financial institution that best fits your needs.
For this assignment, you’ll be creating a document or project.
Now that you have learned a bit about the different types of financial institutions and how to evaluate them, it is time to determine which type of financial institution best meets your needs. For this assignment, we are going to build on the SMART financial goal that you wrote earlier. Keeping that goal in mind, you are going to select the financial institution that is most aligned with this goal, and you are going to explain why you think that institution is the best fit in a well-developed paragraph. Please follow the outline below for constructing your paragraph:
- Referencing your goal, make a claim about which institution in the most appropriate to help you reach this goal. This will act as your topic sentence. Here is an example for Maren and her SMART goal:
- Since I need to save $50.00 per week over the next 10 weeks, a savings or checking account at a credit union would be my preference.
- In addition, provide three reasons why you believe the type of institution you chose is appropriate for you and your current goal(s). Here is an example:
- One reason why I feel that a credit union would best support my goal is that credit unions are non-profit and often pay higher interest rates and charge lower fees than traditional banks. This is important to me at this stage in my life because I do not earn a lot of money and even a small fee might cut into my savings. Since I am only trying to save $50.00 a week for the next 10 weeks, a fee of $5.00 is 10% of my weekly goal and 1% of my total goal. Therefore, the lower the fees, the better for me.
- You need to do the previous step three times in total for three supporting points and explanations. Here are two more examples:
- Another characteristic of credit unions that supports my current goal is that they are insured through the Credit Union National Administration (CUNA), which is similar to the FDIC. Knowing this helps comfort me that my money will be safe in a credit union account.
- Finally, I might earn a dividend from the money I save in a credit union account. According to the State of Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions, “Credit unions accept deposits from their members and use them to make short-term loans. Deposits are regarded as purchases of shares, and all earnings of the credit union are paid out as dividends to members.” While I might earn interest if I put my money in a traditional bank, I might not get the return on investment that a credit union might provide, especially since I do not have a lot of money to put into an account right now.
- Try to include transitional words like “First of all” or “Lastly” to transition between reasons. When directing your reader to an explanation or example, consider something like “For example,” or “To illustrate.”