FIN 300-01
Management of Personal Finance
Spring 2009
Syllabus
Contact Information
Name: James A. Milanese
Office: 385 Bryan Building
Phone number: 334-4864
Office hours: By Appointment
Email address: jamilane@uncg.edu
Overall Course Objective
To provide students with a fundamental understanding of the financial planning process and the
basis for personal, financial decisions
Learning Outcome Goals
1. Understand the financial planning process
2. Create a personal balance sheet and statement of cash flows, and use these
documents to analyze your personal financial condition
3. Understand the fundamentals of U.S. income tax policy
4. Perform time-value-of money calculations and interpret the results
5. Understand the fundamentals of consumer credit
6. Analyze the different options for financing a home
7. Understand the dynamics of stocks and bonds
8. Understand the different types of insurance products available, and the role they
play in the financial planning process
Required Texts
Jack R. Kapoor, Les R. Dlabay and Robert J. Hughes; Personal Finance 9th edition. The
McGraw-Hill Companies, New York, NY, 2009 (REQUIRED)
In addition to the textbook listed above, a financial calculator is required for this course.
Any calculator that is capable of performing time value of money, amortization, net
present value and internal rate of return calculations will be sufficient. The
recommended calculator for this course is the HP 10B or HP 10B II.
Assigned Text Readings
Please read and fully understand the following chapters from the required text:
Chapter 1: Personal Finance Basics and the Time Value of Money
Chapter 3: Money Management Strategy: Financial Statements and Budgeting
Chapter 4: Planning Your Tax Strategy
Chapter 6: Introduction to Consumer Credit
Chapter 7: Choosing a Source of Credit: The Cost of Credit Alternatives
Chapter 9: The Housing Decision: Factors and Finances
Chapter 10: Property and Motor Vehicle Insurance
Chapter 11: Health, Disability and Long-term Care Insurance
Chapter 12: Life Insurance
Chapter 13: Investing Fundamentals
Chapter 15: Investing In Bonds
Chapter 14: Investing In Stocks
Chapter 16: Investing In Mutual Funds
Exams
You will complete four exams. You will have one and a half hour to complete each of
the exams.
How Graded
Exam 1
Exam 2
Exam 3
Final Exam
February 13
March 6
April 3
May 5
Overview of Topics to Be Covered
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Personal Financial Planning
Taxes
Time-Value-of-Money
Consumer Credit
Buying and Financing a Home
Insurance
Basics of Investing
Fundamentals of Bonds
Fundamentals of Stocks
25%
25%
25%
25%
Topics Covered on Each Exam
Exam 1
From the On-Line Tutorial:
Unit 1 Personal Financial Planning
Unit 2 Taxes
Unit 3Time-Value-of-Money
From the Text:
Chapter 1: Personal Finance Basics and the Time Value of Money
Chapter 3: Money Management Strategy: Financial Statements and Budgeting
Chapter 4: Planning Your Tax Strategy
Exam 2
From the On-Line Tutorial:
Unit 4: Consumer Credit
Unit 5: Buying and Financing a Home
From the Text:
Chapter 6: Introduction to Consumer Credit
Chapter 7: Choosing a Source of Credit: The Cost of Credit Alternatives
Chapter 9: The Housing Decision: Factors and Finances
Exam 3
From the On-Line Tutorial:
Unit 6: Insurance
Unit 7: Basics of investing
From the Text:
Chapter 10: Property and Motor Vehicle Insurance
Chapter 11: Health, Disability and Long-term Care Insurance
Chapter 12: Life Insurance
Chapter 13: Investing Fundamentals
Final Exam
From the On-Line Tutorial:
Unit 8: Fundamentals of Bonds
Unit 9: Fundamentals of Stocks
From the Text:
Chapter 15: Investing In Bonds
Chapter 14: Investing In Stocks
Chapter 16: Investing In Mutual Funds
Final Grade Determination
Your final grade will be based on the following scale:
92 – 100
90 – 91.9
88 – 89.9
82 – 87.9
80 – 81.9
78 – 79.9
72 – 77.9
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
70 – 71.9
68 – 69.9
62 – 67.9
60 – 61.9
Below 60
CD+
D
DF
Exam Guidelines
1. The exam will only be available for a 12-hour period. If it is not taken in that time
period, no consideration will be given.
2. From the time you begin the exam, you will have one hour and a half to complete
and submit each exam. If you log-off, the clock is still running. No exam will be
accepted if this time limit is exceeded.
3. You are to work independently on the exam. You may not confer with anyone about
the exam.
4. You may not use anything but a calculator during the exam. Things such as books,
notes, recordings or other aids are not permitted. You are to take the exam as if you
were in a classroom with nothing but your pencil and calculator.
Any violation of points 3 or 4 above is a violation of the UNCG Academic Honor Code
and will result in an automatic grade of F in this class. In addition, formal charges will be
brought against the student.
Honor Policy
All graded material for this class is subject to the UNCG Academic Honor Policy. If you
are not familiar with this policy, please use the following link:
http://www.uncg.edu/reg/Policy/HonorPolicy.html
Student Disabilities:
All students with a disability requesting special services must go through the Office of
Disabilities Services. If you are requesting special accommodations, please bring your
paper work from Disability Services directly to me the first week of class. All such
information will be help in confidence.
The web link to this office is
http://ods.dept.uncg.edu/services/ .