Preface

This book on personal finance is designed to equip you with the skills and information you need to create and implement a personal financial plan to achieve your goals. It strives to maintain a balance between academic rigor and practical application. The book is organized into five modules:

• Introduction to financial planning
• Personal financial planning foundation
• Credit and banking
• Financing major purchases
• Investing and retirement planning

Each module contains two to three chapters. Each chapter provides learning objectives to explain what you will learn, exercises and examples to illustrate important concepts, a chapter summary, and end of chapter questions. Some chapters include downloadable spreadsheet templates. An integrated case featuring a young couple demonstrates each step of the financial planning process. At the end of each chapter is a personal financial plan assignment that will help you build your own personal financial plan as you progress through the book.