During week 5 of class we covered Chapter 6 about Building and Maintaining Good Credit, and we had a guest speaker, Claire Loup.  Chapter 6 covered the pros and cons of credit cards.  It covered credit reports, which we are to obtain a copy of our credit report to review.  I found my credit report very interesting.  Everything in my credit report was correct and no changes had to be made.  The chapter covered laws and acts that pertained to credit such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act and Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.  The second day of class during week 5 was very educational.  We had a guest speaker.  Claire Loup works for the Federal Reserve Bank.  She is a financial educator whose primary audience is teachers.  She spoke to our class about "Money Habitudes".  She said spending is influences by three things:  people, emotion, and situation.  We filled out a paper about which money statements apply to us.  The money habitude that applied to me the most was planning.  I felt this exercise was fun and educational.

The article that I chose for week 5 was "Be Wise at Work: Use Open Enrollment for Your Benefit" from www.fpanet.org.  The article stated that employees need to educate themselves on the health, retirement, and other plans that employers offer.  Employees also need to review plans from past years to see if those plans are still the best choices for the current situation.  Finally the article suggested that employees get help from human resources or financial planners when they are unsure of the best option.  This was a useful article since it is something my family does every fall with my husband's company.

On week 4 of class, we continued with Chapter 4 Income Taxes and started Chapter 5 Managing Checking and Savings Accounts.  All the students printed 1040 tax return forms, and we went through the form together to highlight and make note of important parts.  Like last week some of the income tax material was a review of my income tax accounting class from last semester.  It was good to reinforce of the topics that I learned in the accounting class.  Going over the actual form, after going over tax rules last week, pulled much of the material together for me.  One of the forms that we discussed aside from the regular 1040 was the Child and Dependent Care Form (form 2441).  My children are attending daycare for the first time this semester, and I printed a form to look over for my 2013 tax returns.  We also covered Chapter 5 about managing bank accounts.  Much of this material was a review since I have successfully managed checking and savings accounts for many years.  I also worked in the banking industry years ago.  The main topics in this chapter included different checking and savings accounts, money market accounts, and good money habits.

The article I chose for week 4 is "Let's Talk Planning" from www.letsmakeaplan.org.  The article examined financial rules of thumb.  The article gave several tradition financial rules of thumb and stated whether the rules were accurate and if they still applied.  One example of a rule is:  You can afford a house 2.5 to 3 times your annual income.  The article stated that this rule is incorrect.  Many people make large incomes and still cannot afford expensive homes.  The article suggested that what you can afford is not necessary a function of income, but what someone does with the income.

On week 3 of class we discussed Chapter 4 which was Managing Income Taxes, and Thursday was our first Article Day.  Chapter 4 was very interesting especially since I had the accounting income tax class last semester.  It was a review of some of the material.  I learned that the two biggest threats to someone's finances are inflation and taxes.  One of the topics that was new to me pertaining to taxes was the tax implications of IRA's.  My income tax accounting class did not cover much about IRA's.  A regular IRA has a tax break up-front.  A Roth IRA investor must pay taxes up-front, but the funds come out of the account later tax free.  The choice between IRAs depends on a person's current and future expected financial position.  It also depends on other factors such as age.

My article for this week was titled "How to be Smarter About Buying Cars" from www.fpanet.org.  The article interested me because at this time my husband and I are considering buying a new vehicle.  One of the points in the article was that an expensive car will make you happy in the beginning when it is new.  Later, as you drive to work everyday or run errands, the expensive car does not make any difference in your enjoyment of the ride.  Some of the tips from the article include:  buy inexpensive cars, buy a used car, pay cash and avoid car loans; if possible, don't lease a car, and keep your car as long as you can.  This article made me considered purchasing a used car.

During this week of class, we covered Chapter 3 on Financial Statements, Tools, and Budgets. On Thursday of this week we had an article day.  As an accounting major, I deal with corporate financial statements on a regular basis. It was interesting and useful to see some of that information applied to personal individual finances.  Since I am older and married, I have used much of the information in chapter 3 in my daily life.  I have adequate records, but I have done a poor job of setting financial goals and budgeting.  By the end of this semester I am hoping to have improved in both of these areas.  I know that my family could save a great deal of money if I followed a budget.  One of the hardest aspects of budgeting for me is the food part of the budget.  I do not have an accurate view of how much my family spends on groceries in a month. We also eat out at restaurants a great deal.  I would like to have a record of this expense and keep it to a minimum.  It is very hard to reduce an expense when I don‘t even know how much I am spending.  The second day of this week was an article day.  Every student brought in articles about some aspect of financial planning. My article was about making good decisions when buying a car.  I will need to purchase a vehicle soon.  This is something that I am dreading.  I feel buying a car is a large, necessary expense that depreciates ridiculously fast. The article gave good advice about buying what you can afford instead of what you think you want.  I also enjoyed many of the articles that other students brought to class.  I especially enjoyed the articles about 529 plans and retirement planning.  Overall, I found the article day one of the most interesting so far this semester.

            During this week’s classes we covered chapters on personal finance and career planning.  The chapter that covered personal finance contained an overview of this course and also touched on some of the topics that will be covered during the semester.  One of the topics in the personal finance chapter that I found interesting was the difference between HSA and FSA.  HSA or Health Savings Accounts is a way to save for healthcare through your employer, but the money is not lost if it is not used.  FSA or Flexible Spending Account is available through many employers, but the monies in FSA that are not used by a certain time may be lost.  I personally do not have either of these accounts at the moment, but after getting a job these options may be available.  With a husband and two children, these accounts may be very useful when planning my finances.  The second chapter covered career planning.  We wrote career plans and turned in resumes.  I have thought about career planning a great deal during my life.  I am on my second career path here at LSU.  The first career, teaching high school, did not appeal to me after trying it for three years.  A career in accounting is my plan B.  The resume part of the activity was good for me because it had been quite a while since I worked on my resume.  It still needs work, but now I have a good place to start.  I plan to go to Career Services here at LSU for additional help with the resume.  Since I will be graduating in May, I need to have my resume updated and ready to submit for available job opportunities.  Both chapters that were covered this week contained useful information that I enjoyed learning.