Personal Finance #1 Goals, Planning, & Time Value of Money

Learn core personal finance concepts from a practicing Certified Public Accountant (CPA)

What you'll learn:

• How to define personal finance
• How to set financial goals based on your personal life situation
• Explain the difference between finance, economics, and accounting
• Define time value of money concepts and how they can be used in long-term planning
• Calculate present value using multiple methods including Excel
• Calculate future value using multiple methods including Excel
• Calculate present value of an annuity using multiple methods including Excel
• Calculate future value of an annuity using multiple methods including Excel

This course will cover the core introductory concepts related to personal finance.

We will include many example problems, both in the format of presentations and Excel worksheet problems. The Excel worksheet presentations will include a downloadable Excel workbook with at least two tabs, one with the answer, the second with a preformatted worksheet that can be completed in a step-by-step process along with the instructional videos.

We will discuss what personal finance is and what the differences between personal finance, corporate finance, economics, and accounting are. Learners will also understand why knowing personal finance concepts is important.

You will know how to set goals using a formal structure and process based on your personal life situations.

We will also cover time value of money concepts, including present value and future value calculations. Time value of money concepts will be important whenever we are making long term plans, such as retirement plans or a child’s college education funding plan.

Human beings are quite good at making the day-to-day decisions, often doing so by instinct and habit. However, we are not so good at making long-term, risk verses reword, decisions. Therefore, a more formal process is often needed for longer-term decisions which could have large impacts. Time value of money concepts will be a critical component of the long-term decision process.