Personal Finance

Personal Finance, 3rd Edition offers essential skills and knowledge that will set students on the road to lifelong financial wellness. Byfocusing on real-world decision making, Bajtelsmit Personal Finance engages a diverse student population by helping them make personal connections that can immediately impact their current financial situations. Using a conversational writing style, relatable examples, and up-to-date coverage on important topics – such as student debt, housing, fintech and AI – students gain the knowledge they need to avoid early financial mistakes. By the end of the course, students have identified their goals and developed the problem-solving skills they need to build on as they progress to the next stages of life.

1 The Financial Planning Process

2 Financial Planning Tools: Personal Financial Statements and the Time Value of Money

3 Budgeting and Cash Management

4 Tax Planning

5 Managing Credit: Credit Cards and Consumer Loans

6 Making Automobile and Housing Decisions

7 Insuring Cars and Homes

8 Life Insurance and Long-Term Care Planning

9 Employee Benefits: Health, Disability, and Retirement Plans

10 Saving for Distant Goals: Retirement and Education Funding

11 The Fundamentals of Investing

12 Investing in Stocks and Bonds

13 Investing in Mutual Funds and Real Estate

VICKIE BAJTELSMIT is a Professor Emerita from the Department of Finance and Real Estate at Colorado State University, where she taught a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate classes, including personal finance, financial planning, risk management and insurance, real estate, employee benefits, and investments. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business and a J.D. from Rutgers University School of Law. In addition to her previous personal finance books, A Busy Woman's Guide to Financial Freedom (2001), Personal Finance: Skills for Life (2006), Personal Finance: Managing Your Money and Building Wealth (2008), and the two previous editions of Personal Finance (2016, 2020), she has authored numerous articles in academic and professional journals, focused on personal finance issues related to retirement, insurance, investments, and real estate. Previous professional accomplishments include service as the President of the American Risk and Insurance Association (2010), President of the Risk Theory Society (2010), and President of the Academy of Financial Services (2004) and service on the CFP-Board committee that developed the model curriculum for financial planning programs. Vickie is proud to have chaired the committee that revised the national curricular standards for K-12 personal finance education in 2021, co-sponsored by the Coalition for Economic Education and the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy. She is an Associate Editor for several academic journals, and participates actively in several Society of Actuaries research groups.