Intersession (Winter) Personal Finance Course
During this winter intersession (January 2, 2013 to January 18, 2013), I (Michael Griffin) will be offering FIN320 Personal Finance through our division of Professional and Continuing Education. It carries 3 credits and counts as a business elective. This will be a hybrid course - meaning most of it will be online. There are only 3 face-to-face meetings (1/2, 1/9, 1/18). There are two exams - one at the mid-point and a final. The course will be accelerated and a great deal of the learning activities will fall upon the student but if you are the type who is looking for flexibility and learns well by reading, studying the chapters, and engaging in interactive content (we will utilize an online learning system), then this might be a good course for you. You must be comfortable with myCourses - the UMD online learning management system and we will also utilize McGraw-Hill's Connect system.
The textbook is very good and extremely easy to read however, there will be a lot of ground to cover in just 3 short weeks. Yet, this is a very practical course and one that may appeal to anyone who is interested in a career in financial services, personal financial planning, consumer banking or anyone concerned about increasing their financial literacy.
If you are thinking about catching up by taking an intersession course or trying to lighten your load for a future semester, this course might be appealing to you.
Here's a brief description:
FIN320 Personal Finance
An introduction to the financial planning process of setting goals, developing action plans, creating budgets and measuring results. The student will become familiar with the techniques of financial analyses necessary to make choices when considering housing, insurance, retirement plans, and borrowing and other personal finance issues. This will be a hybrid version of the course in that only 3 sessions will be held face-to-face - an introductory session and two exams. The remainder of the course will be conducted online using both Connect (the courseware) and myCourses.
The book is Personal Finance, 10th edition, Kapoor, Dlabay, Hughes, McGraw-Hill, 2012. ISBN (includes the Connect Online Learning Center): 9780077503949
Here are some of the objectives of the course:
Students will learn about:
1. The personal financial planning process.
2. Goal setting and opportunity costs.
3. Personal financial planning aspects of career planning.
4. How to prepare personal financial statements.
5. How to prepare a personal budget,
6. Calculating personal taxable income.
7. Basics of personal federal tax liability and income tax planning.
8. Savings plans and payment accounts.
9. Choosing sources of consumer credit.
10. The factors to be considered when purchasing and financing a home
11. Principles of life insurance.
12. Investing fundamentals.
13. Investing in Mutual Funds.
14. The basics of retirement planning
Please check with the division of PCE to learn about the costs involved. I believe tuition for the course is about $1,100. If you have any questions, give me a call, stop by my office, or email me at: mgriffin@umassd.edu.
