{"id":6325,"date":"2017-01-10T16:05:41","date_gmt":"2017-01-10T21:05:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/2017\/01\/17\/university-offers-seniors-workshop-on-personal-finances\/"},"modified":"2022-11-06T20:41:02","modified_gmt":"2022-11-07T01:41:02","slug":"university-offers-seniors-workshop-on-personal-finances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/university-offers-seniors-workshop-on-personal-finances\/","title":{"rendered":"University Offers Seniors Special Workshop on Personal Finances"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whether it\u2019s learning to manage a budget, minimize debt or develop a long-range investment strategy, every Furman University senior will have the opportunity to master the fundamentals of financial literacy by the time they graduate this spring.<\/p>\n

Beginning Jan. 25, the university will offer all seniors a free, comprehensive, six-part \u201cPersonal Financial Literacy\u201d workshop that will give them the tools to navigate the complicated and often confusing financial landscape they\u2019ll encounter after leaving the university.<\/p>\n

\"Furman

Furman business professor Tom Smythe will facilitate the workshop for seniors.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThe Furman Advantage promises every student a range of experiences that prepares them for a successful future beyond the classroom, and this workshop will address some of the most important financial realities the graduates will face,\u201d said George Shields, Furman\u2019s Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost. \u201cWe hope every senior will take advantage of this important opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The non-credit workshop will be offered at two different times.\u00a0 Weekly classes will be held Wednesdays (5:30-8 p.m., Jan. 25-March 1) or Thursdays (5:30-8 p.m., Jan. 26-March 2). The workshop will be facilitated by Furman business professor Tom Smythe, who teaches a course on personal finance.<\/p>\n

Those interested in learning more or signing up for the workshop should contact Stephanie Ferguson at stephanie.ferguson@furman.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here are the topics that will be covered during the six-part workshop:<\/p>\n

Session 1: Budgeting<\/strong><\/p>\n

The most critical aspect of any enterprise is to effectively match expenses with income.\u00a0 Historically, Americans have spent more than they have made, making the process of planning for kids\u2019 college education, car purchases, retirement, vacations, and many other big ticket items next to impossible.\u00a0 The monthly budget is the basic foundation, so individuals and families need to ensure that they do not spend more than they make.\u00a0 This seminar will provide tips for identifying and tracking expenses, walk through the process of identifying income and expenses, and discuss the need for an emergency fund and how to achieve it.<\/p>\n

Session 2: Managing Credit<\/strong><\/p>\n

While budgeting is the foundation of the personal financial planning process, understanding how to manage credit is the next step to financial security.\u00a0 The United States is the largest borrowing nation on the planet. Most people carry very large credit card debts, have car loans, and home mortgages. This seminar will help graduates understand the cost of such activity and outline ways to minimize debt. The primary way to \u201chandle\u201d debt is to pay it off, which will require strong discipline that is aided by the budgeting process.<\/p>\n

Session 3: A Primer on Risk and Return<\/strong><\/p>\n

This seminar will explain the concepts of risk and return as they apply to investments, mutual funds, and retirement planning. Topics include defining risk, basic measures of risk, the concept of diversification, and applying diversification to investments.<\/p>\n

Session 4: Mutual Funds<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even just 20 years ago, people thought that \u201cinvesting\u201d was only for the wealthy.\u00a0 In today\u2019s world, almost every adult is\u2014or should be\u2014thinking about investing. This is due in large part to the fact that people are having to fund their own retirements through individualized retirement accounts like an IRA, Roth IRA, 401(k) and the like. This seminar will cover the basics of mutual funds, why they are the best investment vehicle for most individual investors, and discuss factors the graduate should and shouldn\u2019t use when making mutual fund choices.<\/p>\n

Session 5: Retirement Planning<\/strong><\/p>\n

This may be the single biggest area that most Americans fall short in their personal financial health. Some put off planning for retirement because it seems so far in the future; some believe that Social Security will provide adequate income for retirement; some believe they don\u2019t have the money or skills to plan for retirement. This seminar will focus on why it is critical to save for retirement, introduce ways of estimating future expenses for retirement, and look at the most common investment products available for retirement savings.<\/p>\n

Session 6: Risk Management<\/strong><\/p>\n

While Americans fall short with their retirement planning, they know that retirement is coming and generally know that they should plan for retirement.\u00a0 In contrast, with the exception of life insurance, people tend to overlook the broader area of risk management (i.e., protecting what they have in the event of a catastrophic event).\u00a0 Of the risk management items overlooked most commonly is disability insurance. Also, people often purchase more life insurance than they need or the wrong type of insurance. This seminar will look at how to manage the risk, in a way that is most economical to the individual.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whether it\u2019s learning to manage a budget, minimize debt or develop a long-range investment strategy, every Furman University senior will have the opportunity to master the fundamentals of financial literacy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":16504,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,20,46,35,61,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-department-page","category-business-and-accounting","category-economics","category-parent-news","category-the-furman-advantage","category-top-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}