Description:

Part of a series of courses that present core components of personal finance applicable to individuals and financial service workers. Focus is on financial goals, historical risk and returns of major asset classes, asset allocation, maximizing after-tax returns and monitoring investments.

Outcomes:

After completing this class, students should be able to:

• Evaluate budget versus long-term financial goals (1)
• Articulate personal financial goals (1)
• Differentiate between asset classes, their characteristics, and their historical returns and risk (2,3)
• Articulate how asset allocation is done (4)
• Assess Mutual funds, index funds, ETFs (2,3,4)
• Evaluate case studies of traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, 401Ks and other tax-advantaged savings (2,3,4,5)
• Evaluate investment returns versus cost of debt (5,6)
• Evaluate investments against indices (6)