Staff Commentary: Calculating the Future

At the beginning of my senior year, I had most of the classes completed that John Carroll University demanded from me.
However, I was still required by my father, a chief investment advisor at a money management firm, to take what he considered to be the most important class offered on any college campus.

Last semester, I took a personal finance class.  I think, after months of reflection, I’m finally ready to talk about it.
As a communications major, I had mixed feelings about venturing into the Boler School of Business. I worried about being assigned homework that had right and wrong answers or that I’d be asked point-blank the date of Warren Buffett’s birthday. I was, however, super excited to use my calculator again… if I could only find it.
I may be graduating from the College of Arts and Sciences in a few short weeks, but I wasn’t a total financial idiot walking into the unwelcoming classroom.

 I’ll admit that I liked watching Jim Cramer rant, rave and pop pills on CNBC before I enrolled in this class.  Thanks to Accounting 201, I knew about balance sheets and the importance of looking at numbers conservatively.
But, I had a lot to learn.  And by learn, I mean get scared out of my mind. I’m not being dramatic when I say I had a new fear at the end of every class.
I called my dad in a panic each week about what I could do to prevent identity theft or ask him if I should invest in overseas markets. I demanded to know why I wasn’t told to start saving my kindergarten milk money for retirement. I told him that in case he hadn’t heard, I couldn’t depend on Social Security because the system needs a major overhaul.

“You’ll be fine,” he assured me from an entire state away. “Your mother and me won’t let you go homeless.”
“Your mother and I,” I screamed into my phone.

Aside from learning that I had a homeless protection plan, I did learn a lot in the BSOB. I learned why companies issue convertible bonds and that clothing is typically the only expense that decreases after retirement.
Now, I look back on the semester I spent in the BSOB with a bit of nostalgia. Non-business majors, I encourage you to venture into the unknown.
The information taught in FN 142 is useful to you now.  And, as an added bonus, you get to use your calculator again.