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Wondering where you're going to find the money to pay for presents this season, never mind rent, food, or tuition? Worried about paying off your student loans when you graduate?

An innovative new course at the DeGroote School of Business can help plump up your piggy bank. The Finance and Business Economics area at DeGroote is offering a course on personal finance (Commerce 4FP3) beginning in January. Open to students in programs other than commerce or engineering and management, this new course builds on the very popular Personal Financial Management course offered to commerce students within the School of Business.

“This new personal finance course is specifically designed for students who do not have any formal preparation in subjects like finance, statistics and accounting,” says professor Trevor Chamberlain, chair of Finance and Business Economics.

While the course will introduce students to some of the mysteries of the stock market, its primary goal is to provide them with an introduction to personal financial decision-making. They will be shown how to set practical personal financial goals and then take steps necessary to achieve them.

“The amount of information available for making personal financial decisions is vast,” says Elizabeth Seymour, director, student financial aid & scholarships. “A course like this that teaches students how to sift through information and determine what is useful, as well as when it might be appropriate to rely on financial professionals versus managing their own affairs, could be very valuable.”

Topics to be discussed include credit and debt management, investing in stocks and bonds, personal insurance and risk management, home purchases and mortgages, retirement planning, and wills and estate planning.

For more information, please contact the chair of finance and business economics, Trevor Chamberlain, at chambert@mcmaster.ca or the Commerce 4FP3 instructor and finance undergraduate student advisor, Sherman Cheung, at scheung@mcmaster.ca. The course outline is also available online at www.business.mcmaster.ca/COURSES/com4FP3/4FP3-outline.doc.