Personal finance course helps students plan for the future

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/moneytree.jpg” caption=”Money doesn’t grow on trees. That’s why the DeGroote School of Business is offering a course on personal finance to help students manage their money. Photo by Susan Bubak.”]Is your summer job less about a line on your resume and more about the looming tuition bill you have to pay this fall? Worried about paying off your student loans when you graduate?

A course at the DeGroote School of Business can help plump up your piggy bank. The finance & business economics area at DeGroote is offering a course on personal finance (Commerce 4FP3) beginning in September. Open to year III and IV students in programs other than commerce or engineering & management, this popular course builds on the Personal Financial Management course offered to commerce students within the School of Business.

“Learning how to manage one's financial affairs is a skill that everyone, especially young people, should be encouraged to develop,” says professor Trevor Chamberlain, chair of finance & business economics. “This personal finance course is specifically designed for students who do not have any formal preparation in subjects like finance, statistics and accounting.”

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 & 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.

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[img_inline align="right" src="http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/moneytree.jpg" caption="Money doesn't grow on trees. That's why the DeGroote School of Business is offering a course on personal finance to help students manage their money. Photo by Susan Bubak."]Is your summer job less about a line on your resume and more about the looming tuition bill you have to pay this fall?  Worried about paying off your student loans when you graduate?<br />
<br />
<p>A course at the DeGroote School of Business can help plump up your piggy bank.  The finance & business economics area at DeGroote is offering a course on personal finance (Commerce 4FP3) beginning in September.  Open to year III and IV students in programs other than commerce or engineering & management, this popular course builds on the Personal Financial Management course offered to commerce students within the School of Business.<br />
<br />
<p>"Learning how to manage one&#039;s financial affairs is a skill that everyone, especially young people, should be encouraged to develop," says professor Trevor Chamberlain, chair of finance & business economics. "This personal finance course is specifically designed for students who do not have any formal preparation in subjects like finance, statistics and accounting."<br />
<br />
<p>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.<br />
<br />
<p>"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."<br />
<br />
<p>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.<br />
<br />
<p>For more information, please contact the chair of finance & business economics, Trevor Chamberlain, at <a href="mailto:chambert@mcmaster.ca">chambert@mcmaster.ca</a> or the Commerce 4FP3 instructor and finance undergraduate student advisor, Sherman Cheung, at <a href="mailto:scheung@mcmaster.ca">scheung@mcmaster.ca</a>.  The course outline is also available <a href="http://www.degroote.mcmaster.ca/curr/academ/undergr/finance.aspx">online</a>.<br />
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