Personal Financial Planning and Strategy

Catalog description

Students will acquire knowledge in managing money and gain new financial skills or strengthen existing skills that are necessary to make sound money-related decisions. The course will promote theory around financial literacy and thinking, critical in making sound decisions while in college before entering the real world. Many adults wish they had learned the foundations of financial literacy earlier in college to help navigate through their day-to-day decisions and behaviors. This course is designed to provide positive and relevant learning experience to students on basic concepts of personal finance. Specifically, students will learn why it is essential to have a spending plan and why budgeting is important. The course will guide students on concepts and tools on savings and investments (stocks and bonds), and how it fits into the budget; theory around managing risk relative to returns complemented by practice using financial tool; role of banks and financial institutions in risk management and as intermediaries; what is a credit score leading into consumer credit and the simple mathematics around calculating interest on student loans, credit card and personal loans; understanding your paycheck and how income tax impacts disposable income and investments decisions; discussions around taxes, society and the services it provides; increasing use of apps such as Venmo, PayPal and Apple Pay and discussions around these tools - are they safe?