MeritKeep

A position statement that reconciles

Produce a net-worth statement and a monthly cashflow — for yourself, or for a fictional person you invent and describe. Either is fine; the marking is identical, and inventing one is the sensible choice if you would rather not hand over your own figures. The work is not the arithmetic. It is the annual costs that do not appear in a monthly view, and the honesty about what you left out.

Part of the Personal Finance & Investing course~90 minutesEvidence: a write-upWe mark it against a checklist you can read first
01 · What counts as done

What you have to hand in

  • A net-worth statement whose totals add up and tie to a named source.
  • Any residual difference identified rather than absorbed into a rounding line.
  • Irregular and annual costs apportioned into the monthly view, with the method stated.
  • A line for the unexpected, sized from something rather than guessed.
  • An explicit list of what the statement excludes, and which exclusion would most change the picture.
  • Structured so next month's version is an edit, not a rebuild.
02 · How it will be marked

The checklist, published before you start

We score your work against each line below, and every score has to quote the part of your work it is based on. You read all of it first, so you can argue with any score on the specifics.
  • The numbers reconcile30% of the grade

    Totals add up, and the statement ties back to something real — a statement balance, a payslip, a bill.

    1. AbsentTotals do not add up, or nothing ties back to a source.
    2. DevelopingAdds up internally but is not reconciled to anything external.
    3. Competent— this is the pass markAdds up and reconciles to a named source.
    4. StrongReconciles, and any residual difference is identified rather than absorbed.
  • Irregular and annual items are present25% of the grade

    Costs that do not arrive monthly appear anyway, apportioned, rather than being discovered later.

    1. AbsentMonthly items only; annual costs missing entirely.
    2. DevelopingSome annual costs present, others obviously absent.
    3. Competent— this is the pass markIrregular costs identified and apportioned.
    4. StrongApportioned, with the method stated and a line for the unexpected.
  • It says what it leaves out25% of the grade

    A figure with an unstated scope cannot be checked by anyone.

    1. AbsentNo statement of scope.
    2. DevelopingScope implied but not written down.
    3. Competent— this is the pass markExclusions listed explicitly.
    4. StrongListed, with a note on which would most change the picture.
  • A person could act on it20% of the grade

    The artefact is legible to its owner a month later, not only on the day it was built.

    1. AbsentUnlabelled figures; no one could reuse it.
    2. DevelopingUnderstandable only with the author present.
    3. Competent— this is the pass markLabelled and self-explanatory.
    4. StrongStructured so next month's version is a small edit rather than a rebuild.
03 · What this proves

The skills a pass would prove

Pass, and these skills count as proven, with this piece of work attached as the evidence.

This brief is part of the Personal Finance & Investing course

Starting it starts the course: every skill above, in the order they depend on each other, with this brief at the end as the thing you hand in — marked against the checklist you have just read and nothing else.

About three minutes to set up: what you want to do with Personal Finance & Investing, where you are starting from, and how many hours a week you actually have. The subject we already have from this page.Start the Personal Finance & Investing course
See the whole Personal Finance & Investing course, or every graded brief we run.

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