COMR 186A - Personal Finance

This course teaches the basics of personal finance to students who have little or no exposure to finance. Personal finance is an extremely valuable skill that helps us invest and borrow responsibly, spend wisely, and plan appropriately. The course will cover a broad range of topics, including budgeting, investing, purchasing real estate, taxes, as well as the basics of how our financial system works.

Learning objectives

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Understand the differences between saving and borrowing, know when it is optimal to do each or neither, and know how a typical person may differ from recommended.
• Understand time value of money and risk to be able to compare the attractiveness of various investment products accounting for transaction costs.
• Understand the basic infrastructure of our financial system and know the roles of commercial banks, investment banks, central banks, mutual funds, pension funds, insurance companies, hedge funds, private equity funds, and venture capital funds.
• Know basic accounting, be able to create a balance sheet for herself or read a balance sheet of a firm, be able to create a budget for herself or a small business.

Note: This course is open to students at all year levels, with the exception of BCom students completing the Finance option.