For most all individuals, the two most important financial planning documents are the cash flow statement (a.k.a. income statement, income and expense statement, budget) and the net worth statement (a.k.a. balance sheet). In the chapter, we learn how to create these two documents. Keep them updated! Keep them current! They should serve you well for years to come.

“Why should I think about retirement planning now? I have plenty of time!” That is what many younger adults ask themselves as they struggle to manage their current, day-to-day money management tasks. The answer is simple: If you don’t start planning now, your options become fewer and fewer and your choices become harder and harder. As we will learn in this presentation, more and more of the burden of providing an income in retirement is being placed squarely upon the shoulder of employees. It...

No one enjoys thinking about a time when they will not be around anymore. Nevertheless, not dealing with estate planning can make your demise much more painful for your heirs. In this presentation, we discuss the various estate documents used in the estate planning process, including wills and trusts, as well as the important role of the competent legal professionals. We end with some advice about how to deal with a windfall. Thank you all for a great semester! We wish you the best of luck...

It is said that real estate has created more millionaires in the United States than any other investment class. While this may be true -- it certainly seems plausible -- real estate is not without its risks. Ask those who bought that flipper condo in 2006. They lost their entire investment (their down payment) and still owe tens of thousands of dollars more than its current market value. In this presentation, we take a close look at real estate as an investment. We also take a quick look as...

In our final presentation, we then turn our attention to just a few of the major mutual fund families and their offerings and take a look at a sample mutual fund with a long track record. Lastly, we revisit dollar cost averaging and find that if we choose wisely, invest consistently, and remain patient, with a long time horizon, we might just be very wealthy one day. But remember: There are no guarantees!

How can we say that stock investments have returned 8% to 10% over the long term? In the session, we discuss the various stock indexes that are used to measure the success (or lack thereof) of stock investing. We also learn how to compute some of the most popular and fundamental numerical measures of stock investments, including earnings per share, dividend yield, book value, market capitalization, and price-to-earnings ratio. We end by examining these numerical measures of some very...

Stocks are exciting! Stocks are sexy! Stocks are risky! Welcome to our first presentation on stock investing. What are stocks? Why do corporations issue stock? Why do investors purchase stocks? We learn these and other fundamentals of stocks and stock investing, how investors purchase stocks, and the largest categories of stock types. Let's get started!

No insurance can be more necessary and, at the same time, more evil than life insurance. For many decades, consumers groups and state insurance commissioners have advised consumers that they will almost always be better off choosing low-cost term life policies instead of high-cost whole life policies. Not surprisingly, for the same number of decades, the life insurance industry has steered people away from low-cost term life policies and toward costly whole life policies. Every few years,...

We finish our chapter on taxes with discussions of tax resources, tax audits, and effective strategies for reducing your taxes. As we will see, one of the most effective methods for reducing taxes for upper-middle class taxpayers is to own a home. For those at the lower end of the home buying public, the tax savings from owning a home are not as great as the real estate professionals often make them out to be. For many at the lower end of the housing market, especially married couples, the...

In this presentation, we build a typical homeowner's tax return. We cover the Form 1040, Schedule 1, and Schedule A, the homeowner's friend. We learn how to calculate gross income, adjusted gross income, taxable income, and income tax due. We see the effect of adjustments to income, the standard deduction or itemized deductions, and tax credits. What we hope you will see is that while the typical homeowner's tax return is not trivial, it is not as difficult to produce as you might have been...

"In this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes." No one likes to pay taxes. While we can't help you avoid taxes altogether, there are various strategies for helping you pay fewer dollars in taxes. We start our discussion with the various types of taxes and we also learn how to calculate the effect of taxes on purchases. In other words, how much does it really cost you after you take into account the effect of taxes?

One of the most common attributes of highly successful people is that they are goal oriented. We want to learn from them! In this presentation, we will learn how to create well-written goals that should help us attain the successes that all too often, people only dream about. We will also learn how to compute the future value of money and see that if we start young and are consistent, we can accumulate considerable sums simply by paying ourselves first each month ... before the cable payment,...

“Why should I think about retirement planning now? I have plenty of time!” That is what many younger adults ask themselves as they struggle to manage their current, day-to-day money management tasks. The answer is simple: If you don’t start planning now, your options become fewer and fewer and your choices become harder and harder. As we will learn in this presentation, more and more of the burden of providing an income in retirement is being placed squarely upon the shoulder of employees....

No one enjoys thinking about a time when they will not be around anymore. Nevertheless, not dealing with estate planning can make your demise much more painful for your heirs. In this presentation, we discuss the various estate documents used in the estate planning process, including wills and trusts, as well as the important role of the competent legal professionals. We end with some advice about how to deal with a windfall. Thank you all for a great semester! We wish you the best of luck...

Mutual funds truly are the “Investments for the Masses.” With as little as $25 to $50 per month, investors get professional money management and diversification, two great advantages. What are the disadvantages? Well, for starters, mutual fund investors get charged fees that the investors rarely understand. We briefly discuss the annual operating expenses and the various fee classes.

In our final presentation, we then turn our attention to just a few of the major mutual fund families and their offerings and take a look at a sample mutual fund with a long track record. Lastly, we revisit dollar cost averaging and find that if we choose wisely, invest consistently, and remain patient, with a long time horizon, we might just be very wealthy one day. But remember: There are no guarantees!

When attempting to learn how to do something, does it not make sense to study those who are the experts at doing it? In this presentation, we introduce some of the "All Stars of Investing" and listen to what advice they can give us. We also take a look at a collection of famous myths and stupid sayings and try to learn from them what not to do! Lastly, we examine how can get started in a career in the stock market.

How can we say that stock investments have returned 8% to 10% over the long term? In the session, we discuss the various stock indexes that are used to measure the success (or lack thereof) of stock investing. We also learn how to compute some of the most popular and fundamental numerical measures of stock investments, including earnings per share, dividend yield, book value, market capitalization, and price-to-earnings ratio. We end by examining these numerical measures of some very...

No one enjoys thinking about a time when they will not be around anymore. Nevertheless, not dealing with estate planning can make your demise much more painful for your heirs. In this presentation, we discuss the various estate documents used in the estate planning process, including wills and trusts, as well as the important role of the competent legal professionals. We end with some advice about how to deal with a windfall. Thank you all for a great semester! We wish you the best of luck...

How can we say that stock investments have returned 8% to 10% over the long term? In the session, we discuss the various stock indexes that are used to measure the success (or lack thereof) of stock investing. We also learn how to compute some of the most popular and fundamental numerical measures of stock investments, including earnings per share, dividend yield, book value, market capitalization, and price-to-earnings ratio. We end by examining these numerical measures of some very...