Section 1.1 Welcome to Money and You!
Welcome to Money and You! I am thrilled that you are part of my course. I hope that this course will end up being one of your most useful in your undergraduate curriculum. Understanding personal finance and how you think and act about money can benefit you in a number of ways.
Money and You is a twist on a traditional personal finance course. Over the semester, you will learn the fundamentals of managing your money, which you will be able to use for the rest of your life. You will learn techniques for setting a budget; why and how to build credit; the process, benefits, and drawbacks of buying a home; the world of insurance; taxes as they apply to you; loans and debt; car-buying; scams; saving for retirement; using modern finance tools; and setting financial goals.
The twist on this course is the opportunity to reflect on how you (individually) behave around and think about money. You will develop techniques to manage stress about money, explore how money can affect your relationships, reflect on why you want certain things, explore your feelings about risk and reward, and consider why long-term financial goals can be difficult without the proper mindset.
Subsection 1.1.1 What this course is not
This course is not a “how to get rich quickly” lesson. It is more of a “how to accumulate wealth slowl” course. Let’s just get this out of the way now. If there were a proven track to move into the upper class, it wouldn’t be some secret that is easily divulged in a self-help book or class. The course is about setting and achieving realistic and manageable financial goals.
This course is not a course on investment techniques. We will cover how to save for retirement, which can involve investing, but we will not explore specific investment strategies like picking particular stocks or trying to predict the crypto market. We will explore what finance experts do with their own money and why. We will explore general strategies for saving. We will not make any speculations or bets on particular investment opportunities.
Cards on the table, I am a professor of mathematics. However, this course is not a mathematics course. Of course, there will be numbers since money is a quantitative object. You will not need to memorize complex formulas. You will need to be able to understand some arithmetic and how to apply arithmetic in the context of some applied problems, but you will have access to pretty much all computational tools you would like.
Subsection 1.1.2 Course Norms
Let’s talk about the expectations and norms for this class.
First and foremost, everyone should feel welcome and included in this class. Each of us comes into this class with different experiences, identities, ideas, and social positions. You can expect of me to foster an environment in which you can reach your academic goals. I will expect of you, in-turn, to participate in that learning environment and contribute positively to other’s learning. Contributing positively to the learning environment means the following expectations (among others):
- Everyone is allowed to exist as themselves. Harassing, dismissive, violent, disrespectful, or discriminatory rhetoric/behavior is not allowed. You are allowed to be who you are. Give that same freedom to others. It is ok to disagree. It is not ok make someone else feel less valuable. I reserve the right to request students who engage in such behavior be removed from the course. If you feel that something I have said during class does not support your right to be yourself, please let me know.
- I will often ask you to talk or work in small groups. You should contribute to your groups in meaningful ways. If you would prefer to work on a task individually, please feel comfortable to let me know.
- During class, you may think and write in whichever language you choose. However, please be aware that there are very few languages that I can read fluently. So, please try to write submitted work in English (or something that I can read). Also note that talking in small groups will require you to communicate effectively with each other.
- Class attendance and participation is important for this course. Please come to our classroom before the time begins and plan to stay until the end of the period. You are welcome to leave the class for short periods of time as necessary. However, arriving to class extremely late or disappearing for long periods of time will be considered as an absence.
- Let’s do it. Let’s talk about AI. No college course is about you turning some pieces of paper that say the right thing for college credit. It is about learning what you need to succeed in your career, becoming an educated and compassionate citizen, and learning how to formulate your own ideas and communicate them effectively. I am not opposed to you using AI appropriately. Here is the general rule for this course: AI should not be used to generate ideas. Use it to correct your grammar. Use it to delve deeper into a topic you want to know more about. Do not ask AI to write out a solution or submission for any assignment. This includes “just using it to check an answer.” Your submitted assignments should be a representation of how you connect with the material. Using AI inappropriately will be considered a violation of the University’s Academic Honesty Policy. If you have any questions about appropriate AI use, please let me know.
- I understand that life happens. Sometimes, unexpected things require us to focus on other things. I will keep this in mind regarding attendance and assignment submission. However, I will expect honest, timely, and open communication. If you need to miss a class to attend a major event, let me know ahead of time so we can work something out. Poor communication or ghosting the course are harder things to be flexible about.
- Feel safe but avoid safetyism. Safetyism is an obsession with eliminating or avoiding threats (even imaginary ones) to such an extent that you are unwilling to make reasonable trade-offs or accommodations necessitated by practical or moral concerns. It is the belief that it is unhealthy to experience negative emotions. In order to learn, you need to struggle a bit. No one is a master of everything. It’s ok to feel confused. It’s ok to be disappointed. It’s ok to think about things that are a bit uncomfortable. A big part of this course will be reflecting on how you relate to money. I’ll tell you now, you’re going to have a lot of negative emotions regarding finances over your life. This course will help you prepare for those emotions, but you need to be willing to really think and explore your own mind. Don’t withdraw from challenge. Don’t hide from life.
