Personal Finance with Financial Planning Software 3e

Madura's hands-on, practical approach and financial plan-based organization-its six-part structure mirrors the six steps of financial planning-ensures students learn to make sound financial decisions and leave the course with their own ready-to-implement financial plans. The Third Edition's enhanced interactive format features integrated Internet resources and a new in-text financial planning workbook to make sure students get more for their money.Financial plan-based organizational structure: Each part of the textbook presents balanced coverage of one of the key components of a financial plan-budgeting and tax planning, managing liquidity, financing large purchases, insurance planning, investing, and retirement and estate planning. As students progress through the text, they develop each of these stages of their own financial plans.Internet-immersed coverage: Over 100 full-color Financial Planning Online boxes illustrate key points in every chapter, and Financial Planning Online Exercises provide hands-on practice using the Internet for financial planning. Students are encouraged to take advantage of the limitless supply of Internet-based financial planning tools. Links are periodically checked and updates can be found on the book's Companion Web site.Hands-on Focus: The text features several running examples to help students see concepts in action. The Stephanie Spratt examples help students develop solid financial decision skills, while the Brad Brooks case, at the end of each part, illustrates the effect of poor decisions. The Sampson case, the story of a family struggling to organize their finances found at the end of each chapter, ensures that students at different life stages have models to follow.Practice, Practice: A wealth of review questions, problems, Web exercises, cases, an online study guide, and an in-text financial planning workbook provide ample opportunity for students to practice applying financial planning concepts. Simplified Math: Madura simplifies the often-intimidating mathematics of personal finance. Clear explanations of the underlying logic are backed up with examples, references to Web sites with online calculators, Financial Planning Problems, and an online study guide. All this practice and support helps students become more comfortable with the requisite math.Financial Planning Software: TheExcel®-based software guides students in making key decisions concerning every aspect of their financial plan. All of the worksheets in the software are linked, and students are prompted to revise their goals, cash flow statement, and personal balance sheet to demonstrate their understanding of the interrelationships among their financial decisions. Each new copy of the textbook is packaged with aCD-ROM containing templates designed to run in Excel 97, Excel 2000, and Excel XP.