MGF 100: Introduction to Personal Finance Open to any student fall 2021

Posted by Tim on May 10, 2021 in Academics, Community Announcements

The School of Management is offering MGF 100 as an open enrollment class available to all students this fall 2021 semester.  Please encourage your students to enroll if they have room for electives.  It is an extremely valuable class for students who may be financially distressed perhaps due to COVID-19 or simply new to navigating finances on their own.  The course is offered Thursday evenings to accommodate student schedules and it is scheduled to be in person at this point.

MGF 100: Introduction to personal finance

Students will learn why it is essential to have a spending plan and why budgeting is important.  The course will guide students on concepts and tools on savings and investments (stocks and bonds), and how it fits into the budget; theory around managing risk relative to returns complemented by practice using financial tools/models; role of banks and financial institutions in risk management and as intermediaries; what is a credit score leading into consumer credit and the simple mathematics around calculating interest on student loans, credit card and personal loans; understanding your paycheck and how income tax impacts disposable income and investments decisions; discussions around taxes, society and the services it provides; increasing use of apps such as Venmo, PayPal and Apple Pay and discussions around these tools – are they safe?  

The course is designed to promote creativity, modeling, observing, developing and demonstrating tools critical in acquiring financial literacy skills.  It will be important to explore behavioral aspects of personal finance, focusing on areas such as the temptation in use of credit cards and how accumulation of debt could negatively affect the society in general and the broader economy.  The objective will then be to tie this into a personalized spending plan. Students will hear from other recently graduating student’s cognitive impact of past behaviors, and how that has influenced their decisions, now as working adults.