Table of Contents

1. Overview of a Financial Plan
PART 1: TOOLS FOR FINANCIAL PLANNING
2. Planning with Personal Financial Statements
3. Applying Time Value Concepts
4. Using Tax Concepts for Planning
PART 2: MANAGING YOUR LIQUIDITY
5. Banking and Interest Rates
6. Managing Your Money
7. Assessing and Securing Your Credit
8. Managing Your Credit
PART 3: PERSONAL FINANCING
9. Personal Loans
10. Purchasing and Financing a Home
PART 4: PROTECTING YOUR WEALTH
11. Auto and Homeowner’s Insurance
12. Health and Disability Insurance
13. Life Insurance
PART 5: PERSONAL INVESTING
14. Investing Fundamentals
15. Investing in Stocks
16. Investing in Bonds
17. Investing in Mutual Funds
18. Asset Allocation
PART 6: RETIREMENT AND ESTATE PLANNING
19. Retirement Planning
20. Estate Planning
PART 7: SYNTHESIS OF FINANCIAL PLANNING
21. Integrating the Components of a Financial Plan

Features

Reach every student with MyLab Finance
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About the book
Personal Finance’s structure mirrors a comprehensive financial plan, teaching students the skills they need to build their own plan.

• Updated –Building Your Own Financial Planexercises prompt students to review and revise their financial goals, personal cash flow statement, and personal balance sheet to reflect their shifting priorities. At the end of the course, they’ll have completed a financial plan that they can continue implementing beyond the school term.
• Revised – In End-of-Chapter Case Studies featuring the Sampsons, students plan for a family with two young children struggling to organize their finances, by working through a series of exercises and worksheets. In the 7th Edition, this case has been revised to include the most recent tax law changes.
• Certified Financial Planner exercises ask for students’ advice on how financial planning should be adjusted in response to changes in economic conditions.
• Updated – Coverage of present economic conditions, including the effects of tax law changes. The text discusses how to select a college, a major, or an occupation; paying bills online; improving your credit score; prevention of identity theft; loans; retirement plans; and much more.

An interactive approach incorporates internet-based resources along with many examples and problems to provide students with hands-on practice applying financial concepts.

• Updated – A running example throughout the text walks students through the financial story of the fictitious Stephanie Spratt, a recent college graduate and new entrant into the workforce, helping them apply the material to real-life scenarios.
• Apps for Personal Finance highlights a wider array of useful apps that students can download (for free) to their smartphones that apply to some of the key concepts covered in the chapter.
• Financial Planning Online lists internet resources for more information on a chapter topic.
• Financial Planning Online Exercises show students how to obtain, critically evaluate, and use these internet-based resources in making personal finance decisions.
• Web Search Exercises allow students to conduct an online search for real-world events related to the key content in each chapter.

Real-life, ongoing scenarios woven throughout the chapters illustrate the interdependence of personal finance decisions.

• Updated – Brad Brooks Cases illustrate the adverse effects of poor financial decision-making.
• Explanation by Examples illustrate how concepts have been applied in realistic scenarios — to help cement student understanding.

Learning tools aid in student comprehension

• Chapter Introductions provide interest-grabbing scenarios that preview the chapter’s content.
• Learning Objectives correspond to the chapter’s main headings and guide students through the material.
• The Psychology of Personal Finance explains how financial planning decisions are affected by psychology.  
• Chapter Summaries present the key points of the chapter to aid in student study.
• Ethical Dilemmas showcase real-life ethical situations, along with questions, to encourage students to think critically about ethics.
• Video Exercises encourage students to think critically by asking them to review video clips on the main topics within each chapter and then recommend ones that they believe would be most useful for other students.
• Financial Literacy Tests help students assess their knowledge of personal finance before they begin the course, and then again afterwards, to determine their mastery of personal finance concepts.
• Several projects in Appendix B focus on assessing students’ credit, career planning, leasing an apartment, the stock market, and comparison shopping, helping to strengthen students’ financial planning skills.

Reach every student with MyLab

• Teach your course your way: Your course is unique. So whether you’d like to build your own assignments, teach multiple sections, or set prerequisites, MyLab gives you the flexibility to easily create your course to fit your needs.
  • New – Pearson eText is a simple-to-use, mobile-optimized, personalized reading experience available within MyLab. It lets students highlight, take notes, and review key vocabulary all in one place — even when offline. Seamlessly integrated videos and other rich media engage students and give them access to the help they need, when they need it. Educators can easily share their own notes with students so they see the connection between their eText and what they learn in class.
• Empower each learner: Each student learns at a different pace. Personalized learning pinpoints the precise areas where each student needs practice, giving all students the support they need — when and where they need it — to be successful.
  • Question Help consists of homework and practice questions to give students unlimited opportunities to master concepts. Learning aids walk students through the problem — giving them assistance when they need it most.
  • The Study Plan gives students personalized recommendations, practice opportunities, and learning aids to help them stay on track.
• Deliver trusted content: You deserve teaching materials that meet your own high standards for your course. That’s why we partner with highly respected authors to develop interactive content and course-specific resources that you can trust — and that keep your students engaged.
• Improve student results: When you teach with MyLab, student performance often improves. That’s why instructors have chosen MyLab for over 15 years, touching the lives of over 50 million students.