Financial Foundations

Economics for Life: Real-World Financial Literacy is designed to help soon-to-be college graduates start their "real lives" with a better understanding of how to analyze the financial decisions that they will soon have to make. Written in an easy-to-read, conversational style, this textbook will help students learn how to make decisions on saving and investing for retirement, buying a car, buying a home, as well as how to safely navigate the use of debit and credit cards.

Students are confronted with major financial decisions as they enter college, and yet they have little experience with personal finance. Their decisions, if not well made, could adversely affect them throughout their lives. This book is meant to empower students at the beginning of their financial lives with basic, straightforward information on managing bank accounts, creating spending plans, determining how much they can afford to pay for college, making student-loan decisions, establishing a credit history, and other money-management options. The intent of Financial Basics is to enhance student readers' financial knowledge and provide money-management options for finding their own best way to become masters of their money.

This indispensable resource explains principles of financial planning and financial psychology to help teens and young adults make good financial decisions now and achieve their financial goals. Financial literacy for savvy teens and young adults means meeting them where they are, which is in high school and college. It also means understanding how they differ from their Gen X and elder millennial parents. For example, they tend to be debt-averse, thrifty, and responsible but may err on the side of taking too little risk, such as not investing early enough. This book uses economics and psychology to help Generation Z students make better decisions throughout their lives and especially in their formative years. Financial Literacy for Generation Z addresses decisions students have to make while still in school, after graduation, and later, with the greatest emphasis on the decisions closest at hand to them. It encompasses not just money talk--for example, how much to contribute to your 401(k)--but also decisions that are directly connected to money, such as choosing a major and a career, building a credit record, and managing your first real income.

Combining practical advice with targeted information on virtually every aspect of personal finance and money management, this book is the ideal resource for young people who want to start off their financial lives properly. The guide updates traditional personal finance topics, such as budgeting, credit, debt, savings, and investment, and goes beyond those fundamentals to furnish important life lessons on such concerns as career planning, starting a business, Internet fraud, and avoiding financial scams. It even provides useful background on the tax system, how to avoid bankruptcy, legal issues young adults often face, and the plethora of government benefits they can access. In fact, young readers will come away from this book with basic knowledge of every important area of personal finance.