Courses

Managing your personal finances is an important part of living a happy life. But how to do it is rarely taught in school, often clouded in hype, and commonly obfuscated by financial professionals. In this course, we will actualize the potential of personal finance management with a clear approach that any motivated person can adopt. We will do this in three steps. First, we will learn the concepts that underlie good economic decisions: odds, risk, growth, needs, fade, incentives, bias, and dependence. Together, these concepts lay a foundation for making more thoughtful and well-reasoned money choices. Second, we will apply these concepts to view with clarity the different spheres of personal finance: working, spending, borrowing, saving, investing, insuring, and planning. Third, we will learn how to make the best use of various financial products, including annuities, bonds, CDs, ETFs, IRAs, loans, mutual funds, real estate, and stocks. We will also assess the role that intermediaries like financial planners, accountants, and robo-advisors should—or should not—play in our lives.

This course will focus on simple solutions that work. We will not dwell on formulas, Wall Street jargon, or untested investments, nor will we endorse an all-consuming regimen that is hard to adopt. Instead, we will use plain language, timely cases, and time-proven concepts to help students develop the confidence to make good economic decisions over a lifetime.