Barry and Samantha are starting to take their retirement planning seriously. They are both 40 and plan to retire in 25 years at the age of 65. They expect to live 18 years in retirement (a life expectancy of 83). Between their 401k and IRA accounts they currently have $40,000 in retirement savings. They currently have a combined income of $80,000 per year and expect to be able to live comfortably in retirement with 75% of their current purchasing power. They expect inflation to be 2% per year for the rest of their lives. They also expect to earn 9% per year on their investments, both now and in retirement. Conduct an analysis of their retirement planning needs and provide them with a professionally written letter. Use the rubric provided when preparing the letter. In the letter and attached schedules provide information that answers the following questions. Please include a description of the relevant assumptions and any explanatory comments that make the results easier to understand. What amount of annual income will they need (after adjusting for inflation) in each of the eighteen years of retirement to have the purchasing power of 75% of their current income? Assuming they will continue to earn 9% on their investments, how much money will they need to have in their retirement accounts when they retire so that it will provide the eighteen years of income? Taking into account what they currently have in savings, how much will they have to save each month to meet their retirement needs? Sensitivity analysis: Redo the analysis assuming that they only earn 7.5% on their investments, instead of 9%. Determine the needed amounts so they have the money they need in retirement.

Effective business writing gets work done. An effective business writer accommodates the reading style of busy, working readers and facilitates their reading purposes (generally and specifically). Business readers read to gather information for evaluation and decision making. They skim and scan documents to identify and harvest information they need. Well-written documents make this kind of reading easy for their audiences.

	Excellent	Adequate	Marginal
Content What is said.	Demonstrates thorough and focused understanding of context and audience. Clearly expresses and carries out the documents purpose. Employs sound logic supported by complete, accurate, and useful data, definitions, examples, and illustrations.	Demonstrates adequate understanding of context and audience. Adequately expresses and executes the documents purpose. Employs good logic, using some relevant data, examples, and illustrations supportive of the audience and purpose.	Demonstrates minimal understanding of context and audience. Has unclear expression and execution of the documents purpose. Has weaknesses in logic; is vague and unclear Uses few effective and appropriate examples and illustrations.
Organization When and where it is said.	Clearly states the documents organization and purpose in an appropriate location. Uses effective and appropriately ordered headings and subheadings as needed to guide readers through the document. Applies emphasis techniques, topic sentences, and reader cues to lead readers quickly and easily to critical ideas and data. Employs carefully organized sentences and paragraphs; uses transitions effectively.	Adequately states the documents purpose and organization, but may not do so in the most-appropriate location or sequence. Uses some headings to help readers find their way through the document. Applies some emphasis techniques to help important ideas and data stand out to some degree for the reader. Uses adequately organized paragraphs and some transitions between paragraphs and sections.	Doesnt adequately present the documents purpose and organization in an appropriate location. Uses no headings when needed. Doesnt emphasize important information and fails to subordinate lesser ideas in sentences or paragraphs. Presents ideas and information in a confusing order; ideas are not tied together well in paragraphs or in the overall document.
Style (language usage, mechanics, and formatting) How it is said.	Uses language that is unbiased and concise, creates an appropriate tone, and draws the reader into the message. Uses the most appropriate words for the context and audience. Has no errors or only very minor errors in grammar and punctuation and in capitalization, number usage, spelling, and other mechanics. Has a consistent point of view and mood. Is formatted appropriately for the audience and for the documents purpose.	Uses only some biased, wordy language or ineffective language; generally has appropriate tone. Has some errors in grammar, punctuation, capitalization, number usage, and spelling. Is generally formatted appropriately for the audience and the documents purpose. Has some inconsistencies in point of view and mood. Has some formatting errors that dont significantly distract the reader.	Frequently uses wordy, ineffective or biased language, including clichs and idioms. Lacks reader focus and appropriate tone; has inconsistent point of view and mood. Demonstrates only a little mastery of or concern for appropriate parallelism, number usage, and capitalization. Misspells and misuses words and has frequent errors in punctuation and grammar. Has errors in formatting that decrease the effectiveness of the document.