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Cover of Personal Finance v3.1
Published: 
July 2020
Page Count: 
446
ISBN (Digital): 
978-1-4533-3481-2

Personal Finance

Version 3.1
By Rachel S. Siegel

Included Supplements

Key Features

  • Includes over 370 hyperlinks to videos and webpages to enrich online courses, engage students, and reinforce or augment many of the presented topics.
  • Divided into five sections that reflect the typical cycle of personal financial decisions:
    • Learning Basic Skills, Knowledge, and Context (Chs. 1-6)
    • Getting What You Want (Chs. 7-9)
    • Protecting What You’ve Got (Chs. 10 & 11)
    • Building Wealth (Chs. 12-17)
    • Getting Started (Ch. 18)
  • Presents clear Learning Objectives, Key Takeaways, and exercise problems in each section.
  • Features personal financial planning problems, solutions, and exercises.
  • Customizable.

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Personal Finance was written with two simple goals in mind: to help students develop a strong sense of financial literacy and provide a wide range of pedagogical aids to keep them engaged and on track. This book is a practical introduction that covers all of the fundamentals and introduces conceptual frameworks, such as the life cycle of financial decisions and basic market dynamics, in a way that students can easily grasp and readily use in their personal lives.

New in This Version

  • New “Do the Math” sections in appropriate chapters provide additional opportunities for students to practice math, calculator, and spreadsheet skills using quantitative models and applications.
  • Expanded explanations of math steps and calculations (Chapter 4 “Evaluating Choices: Time, Risk, and Value”).
  • Reflects changes created by 2017’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (Chapter 6 “Taxes and Tax Planning”).
  • Reflects changes created by 2019’s Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act (Chapter 11 “Personal Risk Management: Retirement and Estate Planning”).
  • Includes a more in-depth discussion of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) (Chapter 17 “Investing in Mutual Funds, Commodities, Real Estate, and Collectibles”).
  • Presents additional web-based platforms (Chapter 18 “Career Planning”)
  • FlatWorld Homework product is expanded to include more items that require mathematical calculation.
  • About the Author
  • Acknowledgments
  • Dedications
  • Preface

    • Chapter 1: Personal Financial Planning

  • 1.1 Introduction
  • 1.2 Individual or “Micro” Factors That Affect Financial Thinking
  • 1.3 Systemic or “Macro” Factors That Affect Financial Thinking
  • 1.4 The Planning Process
  • 1.5 Financial Planning Professionals

    • Chapter 2: Basic Ideas of Finance

  • 2.1 Introduction
  • 2.2 Income and Expenses
  • 2.3 Assets
  • 2.4 Debt and Equity
  • 2.5 Income and Risk

    • Chapter 3: Financial Statements

  • 3.1 Introduction
  • 3.2 Accounting and Financial Statements
  • 3.3 Comparing and Analyzing Financial Statements
  • 3.4 Accounting Software: An Overview

    • Chapter 4: Evaluating Choices: Time, Risk, and Value

  • 4.1 Introduction
  • 4.2 The Time Value of Money
  • 4.3 Calculating the Relationship of Time and Value
  • 4.4 Valuing a Series of Cash Flows
  • 4.5 Using Financial Statements to Evaluate Financial Choices
  • 4.6 Evaluating Risk
  • 4.7 Do the Math

    • Chapter 5: Financial Plans: Budgets

  • 5.1 Introduction
  • 5.2 The Budget Process
  • 5.3 Creating the Comprehensive Budget
  • 5.4 The Details of Budgeting and Specialized Budgets
  • 5.5 Budget Variances
  • 5.6 Budgets, Financial Statements, and Financial Decisions
  • 5.7 Do the Math

    • Chapter 6: Taxes and Tax Planning

  • 6.1 Introduction
  • 6.2 Sources of Taxation and Kinds of Taxes
  • 6.3 The U.S. Federal Income Tax Process
  • 6.4 Record Keeping, Preparation, and Filing
  • 6.5 Taxes and Financial Planning
  • 6.6 Do the Math

    • Chapter 7: Financial Management

  • 7.1 Introduction
  • 7.2 Your Own Money: Cash
  • 7.3 Your Own Money: Savings
  • 7.4 Other People’s Money: Credit
  • 7.5 Other People’s Money: An Introduction to Debt

    • Chapter 8: Consumer Strategies

  • 8.1 Introduction
  • 8.2 Consumer Purchases
  • 8.3 A Major Purchase: Buying a Car

    • Chapter 9: Buying a Home

  • 9.1 Introduction
  • 9.2 Identify the Product and the Market
  • 9.3 Identify the Financing
  • 9.4 Purchasing and Owning Your Home
  • 9.5 Do the Math

    • Chapter 10: Personal Risk Management: Insurance

  • 10.1 Introduction
  • 10.2 Insuring Your Property
  • 10.3 Insuring Your Health
  • 10.4 Insuring Your Income

    • Chapter 11: Personal Risk Management: Retirement and Estate Planning

  • 11.1 Introduction
  • 11.2 Retirement Planning: Projecting Needs
  • 11.3 Retirement Planning: Ways to Save
  • 11.4 Estate Planning
  • 11.5 Do the Math

    • Chapter 12: Investing

  • 12.1 Introduction
  • 12.2 Investments and Markets: A Brief Overview
  • 12.3 Investment Planning
  • 12.4 Measuring Return and Risk
  • 12.5 Diversification: Return with Less Risk
  • 12.6 Do the Math

    • Chapter 13: Behavioral Finance and Market Behavior

  • 13.1 Introduction
  • 13.2 Investor Behavior
  • 13.3 Market Behavior
  • 13.4 Extreme Market Behavior
  • 13.5 Behavioral Finance and Investment Strategies

    • Chapter 14: The Practice of Investment

  • 14.1 Introduction
  • 14.2 Investment Information
  • 14.3 Investing and Trading
  • 14.4 Ethics and Regulation
  • 14.5 Investing Internationally: Risks and Regulations

    • Chapter 15: Owning Stocks

  • 15.1 Introduction
  • 15.2 Stocks and Stock Markets
  • 15.3 Stock Value
  • 15.4 Common Measures of Value
  • 15.5 Equity Strategies
  • 15.6 Do the Math

    • Chapter 16: Owning Bonds

  • 16.1 Introduction
  • 16.2 Bonds and Bond Markets
  • 16.3 Bond Value
  • 16.4 Bond Strategies

    • Chapter 17: Investing in Mutual Funds, Commodities, Real Estate, and Collectibles

  • 17.1 Introduction
  • 17.2 Mutual Funds
  • 17.3 Real Estate Investments
  • 17.4 Commodities and Collectibles
  • 17.5 Do the Math

    • Chapter 18: Career Planning

  • 18.1 Introduction
  • 18.2 Choosing a Job
  • 18.3 Finding a Job
  • 18.4 Leaving a Job

    • Appendix A: Present Value and Future Value Tables

    FlatWorld Homework System

    FlatWorld Homework

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    Instructor’s Manual

    Instructor’s Manual

    The Instructor’s Manual guides you through the main concepts of each chapter and important elements such as learning objectives, key terms, and key takeaways. Can include answers to chapter exercises, group activity suggestions, and discussion questions.

    Instructor’s Manual

    PowerPoint Lecture Notes

    PowerPoint Lecture Notes

    A PowerPoint presentation highlighting key learning objectives and the main concepts for each chapter are available for you to use in your classroom. You can either cut and paste sections or use the presentation as a whole.

    PowerPoint Lecture Notes

    Test Generator - powered by Cognero

    Test Generator - powered by Cognero

    FlatWorld has partnered with Cognero, a leading online assessment system, that allows you to create printable tests from FlatWorld provided content.

    Test Bank Files for Import to Learning Management Systems

    Test Bank Files for Import to Learning Management Systems

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    Test Item File

    Test Item File

    Need assistance in supplementing your quizzes and tests? Our test-item files (in Word format) contain many multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, and short-answer questions.

    Sample Syllabi

    Sample Syllabi

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    Rachel S. Siegel Northern Vermont University

    Rachel S. Siegel (MBA Yale University, CFA) was a professor of finance, economics, and accounting at Vermont State University from 1990–2016. She has also taught as an adjunct faculty member at Trinity College (Vermont), Granite State College (New Hampshire), Springfield College (Massachusetts), the University of Vermont, and in Tel Aviv, Israel, for Champlain College. Rachel has been a consultant to the CFA Institute on exam development, data forensics, and curricula, and has consulted on various exam prep courses in finance. She has also developed a freelance career as a financial editor and writer, for both investment firms and academics. Her column “Follow the Money” has been a regular feature of the Northstar Monthly since 2001. Originally from Providence, Rhode Island, Rachel now lives in Barnet, Vermont.

    Additions & Errata

    9/25/23: Incorrect table values updated in tables 4.9–4.13; adjusted the wording of Chapter 6 Do the Math question 1 (c) which was missing information. Question now reads as follows: "If your federal income tax obligation is $50,000 at a 32% tax rate, what was your taxable income?"

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