Personal Finance – Scheme and Syllabus
Course Description
This course integrates economics and personal finance concepts to help students of all majors better
understand the implications of economic events and make informed financial decisions.
Personal Finance provides the tools necessary for students to gain both economic and financial
literacy. The course also provides a set of practical applications to help students understand the
complexities of financial decision-making. Students who complete the course will be in a position to
compute the monetary value of additional education, evaluate prospective business projects, invest
in and value financial securities, and plan for their future.
Evaluation and Grading
Because the course covers many topics and lectures, it’s critical that each student come to class well
prepared. Each lecture will begin with a short quiz on the previous lecture, rather than having a
midterm exam. The problem sets serve as practice and preparation for the quizzes. The last quiz will
be administered in Lecture 12. The topics introduced in Lecture 12 will not be tested and will serve
as supplementary material. The case study and course summary in Lecture 13 will serve as a review
for the course. There will also be in-class discussions regularly.
A project will be required and students will present their work at the end of the course. A final exam
will test concepts learned throughout the course.
Final grades will be calculated as follows:
Weekly quizzes 30%
Class participation 10%
Project 20%
Final exam 40%
Quizzes: There will be a total of 11 quizzes. The quizzes will occur during the first 10 minutes of each
class and will be based on the previous lecture’s material. No makeup quiz will be allowed. Instead,
only ten of the eleven quizzes will count toward the final course grade. That is, if students miss or do
poorly in a quiz, the score on that quiz is dropped without affecting the overall grade. If students do
all quizzes, the lowest quiz grade will be dropped. The resulting ten quiz grades will have equal
weight. Because there are weekly quizzes, there is no midterm.
Project: Students are required to apply the personal finance skills they learned in a final project. The
project may be an individual case study, financial advice for a target audience, or a plan for
workplace financial education, as presented in the project description and examples. Students may
choose to work in groups (maximum of three per group) or individually. The project will be
presented in class at the end of the course.
The George Washington University School of Business Duquès Hall, Suite 450 | 2201 G Street NW | Washington, D.C.
20052 202-994-7148 | GFLEC@[Link] | [Link]
Final exam: The final exam covers the material presented in the lectures. Students cannot consult
the lecture notes but can bring two sheets (single sided, standard size) to the final exam with
anything written on it. Exams must be taken at the scheduled time.
Class participation: Participation will be based on attendance and contributions to class discussion.
Requirements and Reading
No textbook is needed, as all course topics are covered in detail in the lecture slides. However, the
course requires a financial calculator. Qualifying calculators include Texas Instruments BA II Plus
Financial Calculator, Texas Instruments BA II Plus Professional Financial Calculator, and the HP 10bII+
Financial Calculator. The course material uses the Texas Instruments BA II Plus Financial Calculator
for demonstrated examples.
Lecture Schedule
Topic Brief Description Material
1 Course Preview This lecture previews the topics covered in Lecture 1 PowerPoint
Interest Rates the course and discusses interest rates, Lecture 1 Problem Set
interest compounding, and financial
decision-making applications.
2 Time Value of Money This lecture develops the concept of time Quiz on Lecture 1
Financial Calculator value of money; it introduces present value Lecture 2 PowerPoint
Guidelines (PV), net present value (NPV), and internal Lecture 2 Problem Set
rate of return (IRR), along with practical
applications. The second part of the
lecture, which is optional, explains how to
use a financial calculator.
3 Consumer Borrowing This lecture applies previous lecture Quiz on Lecture 2
concepts to analyze common consumer Lecture 3 PowerPoint
borrowing products; it introduces loan Lecture 3 Problem Set
amortization and APR for monthly payment
loans.
4 Saving and Investing This lecture introduces common Quiz on Lecture 3
investment products (stocks, bonds, and Lecture 4 PowerPoint
mutual funds) and uses previous concepts Lecture 4 Problem Set
to evaluate these products; it also shows
how to save for short- and medium-term
financial goals.
5 Planning for This lecture focuses on planning and saving Quiz on Lecture 4
Retirement for retirement. Lecture 5 PowerPoint
Lecture 5 Problem Set
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6 Inflation, Purchasing This lecture covers inflation and how it Quiz on Lecture 5
Power, and the Fed affects an individual’s income, wealth, Lecture 6 PowerPoint
debt, and savings; it also discusses money Lecture 6 Problem Set
supply and the role of central banks.
7 Mortgage Borrowing This lecture explains mortgage borrowing Quiz on Lecture 6
and analyzes various mortgage terms Lecture 7 PowerPoint
(mortgage length, fixed vs. floating rate, Lecture 7 Problem Set
and mortgage points).
8 Personal Taxes This lecture discusses and analyzes tax Quiz on Lecture 7
issues related to individuals, including Lecture 8 PowerPoint
marginal taxation, deductions, and capital Lecture 8 Problem Set
gains.
9 Basic Probability and This lecture introduces the fundamental Quiz on Lecture 8
Risk vs. Return concepts in probability theory and builds Lecture 9 PowerPoint
upon these concepts to explain risk and Lecture 9 Problem Set
how to insure against risk; it also examines
the trade-off between risk and returns in
both theory and practice.
10 Risk Diversification This lecture develops the concept of risk Quiz on Lecture 9
diversification and discusses its role in Lecture 10 PowerPoint
common financial situations. Lecture 10 Problem Set
11 Risk, Leverage, and This lecture applies previous lecture Quiz on Lecture 10
Retirement Planning concepts to discuss and analyze the risks Lecture 11 PowerPoint
faced in saving for retirement. Lecture 11 Problem Set
12 Biases in Consumer This lecture explains cognitive, emotional, Quiz on Lecture 11
Finance and other biases that commonly affect Lecture 12 PowerPoint
consumers’ financial decisions.
13 Case Study The first part of this lecture is a case study Case Study PowerPoint
Course Summary that applies the concepts learned Course Summary
throughout the course; the second part PowerPoint
summarizes main takeaways from the
course.
14 Project Presentations Students present their projects in class. N/A
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