CSP-FIN7101 - Financial Literacy 101

Course Description

Earning, Spending & Borrowing - Learn how to manage your income, expenses, and debt effectively to achieve financial stability and freedom.

Course Outline

 Earning, Spending, and Borrowing 
• Introduction and class survey (to uncover student’s personal objectives and
   interests in order to cover those as appropriate)
• Overview of the course and topics
• Basic tax forms (W-4, I-9, W-2, 1099, K-1, etc.) for earners 
• Basic income tax terminology and basic income tax strategies for both W-2
  (employee) and 1099 (contractors) workers 

• Basic income tax planning techniques, filing requirements, state vs Federal, multi-
state income (Form ES, tax savings accounts, etc.) 

• Basic budgeting forms and budgeting strategies for W-2 and 1099 earners and
projecting retirement spending 
• Introduction to inflation
• Basic overview of financial modeling and budgeting tools including present-value
and future-value terminology, financial modeling (straight line vs. stochastic/Monte
Carlo) 
• Overview of available financial management technology and applications (desktop /
cloud apps; e.g. eMoney, Mint, proprietary and white-label via financial service
providers) 
• Basic to intermediate overview of types of credit and building “good credit” (FICO
scores), including revolving credit (e.g. credit cards), credit lines vs. credit loans
(particularly for small business owners), auto loans and leases, and mortgages
(ARMs, fixed, terms, etc.) 

• Basic overview of credit / loan terminology including APR, LTV, DTI, asset-
dissipation, secured/unsecured 

• Basic overview of real estate transactions (for both personal and investments /
  business purposes) 
• Summary / review of key concepts, terminology and strategies 
• Q&A 

Learner Outcomes

Notes

Method of instruction: Lecture, group work, discussions, case studies.

Evaluation: Participation in discussions and group work; involvement in case studies.