Personal Finance
Personal Finance is a class I’ve wanted to take for a while now. My major is Finance not because I want a career in finance but more to learn about finance for my own personal situation. This class taught me so much! During this class I was able to evaluate my financial situation and set financial goals for myself. The four topics that helped me the most were emergency savings, buying a car, purchasing a home, retirement, and estate planning. After completing this class I have a better understanding of these topics and how to achieve my financial goals.
Emergency savings Personal financial planning is important because it helps you prepare financially for the future. My first short-term financial goal is to have an 8-month emergency savings account. This class helped me understand the important steps needed to achieve my financial goals. “Successful financial planning requires specific goals combined with spending, saving, investing, and borrowing strategies based on your personal situation and various social and economic factors, especially inflation and interest rates” (Kapoor, Dlabay & Hughes, 2012). First I evaluated my spending habits. This allowed me to see where I was
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Some fixed costs are depreciation, interest, insurance, & fees. Some variable costs are gasoline, tires, and maintenance on the vehicle. “The largest fixed expense associated with a new automobile is depreciation, the loss in the vehicle’s value due to time and use”(Kapoor, Dlabay & Hughes, 2012). An automobile purchases price might be cheap but when factoring in the fixed and variable cost the automobile could possibly cost more than expected. Websites like Intellichoice.com can help research and compare vehicle costs. This website shows the shopper how much it cost to own the vehicle for 5 years. When researching a vehicle to purchase it is important to consider these costs in order to make a good
Since the word “literacy” is usually used to describe the measure of one’s ability to read, write, and speak a specific language, financial literacy can, thus, refer to:
I found several helpful strategies throughout this course but the ones I found to be most beneficial were the ones on setting goals and managing financial resources. By identifying my specific goals and then divi...
Management of personal finance is important as it enables appropriate plans for future activities. Smith’s family
This chapter covers several tools that can help in your financial planning. The first step is to create a budget. The textbook went into great detail on the different budgets that can be used and their benefits. A budget will review your current financial condition and help you to project realistic choices. These choices can be for immediate or longer term goals. While there are some uncertainties in future projections, your chances of reaching financial goals without one is like rolling the dice. One key is to be conservative in your planning; this helps address the unexpected when they occur.
Me, being a financial independent have experienced first hand how important it is to keep a financial plan. Using a financial plan I have elevated my savings abilities a long way. Knowing where each dollar is being spent helps the spender to manage each dollar in an uplifting way. In a ten-year plan my goal would have to be to save at least twelve hundred dollars a year which would one hundred dollars each month of that financial plan. Using the persona financial profile assigned by you at the beginning of the year this long-term goal would be possible.
all these type of things. I think financial literacy is a really good option to take especially
A portion of the students were placed in the class and a portion of students were not given any formal classroom financial literacy training. All students participated in the Junior Achievement Finance Park simulation in which they were placed in real-life situations and had to make financial decisions. Their decisions affected their personal income and lifestyle within the simulation. The educated group “showed profoundly greater understanding of the financial issues they faced. Their completion rates were higher, they saved more, and they spent less on immediate gratification items such as clothing. These items were consistent with the lessons offered in the curriculum they received” (Carlin & Robinson, 2012). Also, the classroom students were more likely to use available resources, known as decision supports, to help them better understand their potential decisions. An example of a decision support includes additional information provided by a business to further explain their product or its features (i.e. explaining premium options on a health insurance plan). The study believes that “timely decision support and financial literacy training are complements, not substitutes” (Carlin & Robinson,
With these three scenarios, I have learned several things about making a personal budget. I learned how to research the economic situation and best predict the prices for certain things. I also learned how best to manage bills under a tight and a very free budget. I learned how to manage money, not just for myself, but for others that I may one day be responsible for.
One way our school could accomplish the goal of financial literacy education is creating a set class for high school students towards the end of their high school career. Offering classes in a curriculum that is set helps kids become better prepared for the real world. They receive a better understanding of what it is like having a great deal of responsibility, without the overwhelming of stress that comes with it since the class would be set in a classroom. According to the article written by Laura Langemo from Fox6 entitled “MPS Eighth-Graders Get a Lesson in Financial Literacy”, the Milwaukee Public School District Superintendent Gregory Thornton states, “We need [students] to be ready financially. We need them to be ready to step into the world and be able to actually navigate and manage money.” Students should feel confident after graduating that they will be capable of receiving such a great sense of responsibility. Teaching students about financial literacy at an older age throughout high school will allow them to be ready for their lives ahead. According to this article, many of the students were surprised with how bills amass in such a rapid pace. Similarly, the article from the Sandpiper by Edie Ellison includes information about being able to offer high school students classes in
I became an enthusiast of finance ever since I was at high school. At the political economy class, my teacher asked us: if you have a million RMB, how would you use it? She then introduced us the concept of investment, and I was intrigued specifically by the stock. For the latter two years of my high school, I have been reading books and articles regarding the stock market in the U.S. and in China. As one of the outstanding students ranked top 1% in College Entrance Exam in Hainan Province, China, I was accepted by the City University of Hong Kong with a full scholarship. With the strong interest in finance, I chose quantitative finance and risk management as my major.
Managing personal finances is an important skill to acquire. However, no where in school is this subject taught. As a result of a lack of preparation, our society is subject to a high percentage of people who lack financial success. Those who are successful at managing their personal finances will find that they are successful in many other areas as well. To learn how to manage personal finances there are books and web sites that provide a step by step guide to successfully managing personal finances. Those who lack financial success often possess many of the same traits.
Developing a thorough financial plan is a process that comprises a comprehensive analysis of a particular individual’s financial position and their long-term commitment to apply and observe the set financial plan through one’s life. The plan includes but not limited to, how an individual spends, saves monies and invests his or her financial assets. It encompasses knowing how to budget, manage cash and taxes, borrowing of funds, the use of credit cards, minimizing risk, investing and planning for retirement. Such a plan also requires a vigilant thought process for the future so he/she can tweak their financial plans as needed due to changes in lifestyle and economy.
In conclusion always think about how to spend your money rather than how to earn. Be cautions of products and think of how much you want to spend on a specific product always asses what you need and this of how to refrain from impulse buying. Don’t deprive yourself from buying what you love, instead budget yourself and think according. Separate you necessities from other luxuries. If you balance out your spending and savings saving money would definitely get easier. Saving money is being able to control and know how to spend your money wisely.
Having money saved away for emergencies is a must! People do not always know exactly what is to happen in their future, but having money set aside for certain purposes can make the process much easier. For example, one day someone could be making $28 an hour and living financially well, to being laid off and not having any other source of income until
Whether it is dealing with the stock market, electronic commerce, portfolio diversification, or just simply allocating your assets, finance is more than just managing money. As technology progresses, the financial industry will advance and the demand for financial planners and managers could go down. However, there is no specific formula for allocating your wealth or for investing in the stock market. Every person and company is different, and the stock market changes constantly. People will always be running a business or a school, saving for retirement, financing a home, and investing their money. That is one of the reasons why I find finance so fascinating. Even if you aren’t making a career out of it, economic and monetary skills are vital for the rest of your life. Needless to say, finance is and always will be a diverse and ever-changing