Student Comments Session One

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Student Questions and Comments

Duplicate Questions Removed

Hello Professor Munchbach:

I’m Brittney, a student in your BUSI3300 class and I’m reaching out to clarify the guidelines for L1’s Article. Following the viewing of the videos, I understand we must provide an intro, summarize the videos, and answer the following 5 questions. However, following these questions are an additional 5 questions that are very similar to the previous ones and the discussion questions in Lesson 1. I want to assure this isn’t a typo or me misunderstanding the question itself as I was asked to analyze my 5 year plan three times within one lesson😂. I also wanted to specify how you would like the Class Participation to be completed. Please contact me when it’s convenient for you.

Thank you,

Brittney

What is a Financial Plan?

A “financial plan” is a set of guidelines that allows people to live their best lives through careful and disciplined management of income. As long as you stick to the plan, it works. Without a financial plan you’ll fail to manage your money in the most effective way possible.
Financial Plan is the one keep you safe with your financial. It will keeps you away from bad debt, keep you still have house and car and maintain the life.
Every one need one cause if you don’t have it, you will fall apart and may become homeless somedays.

Roadmap

To me, a financial plan is a roadmap that details a person’s financial circumstances, short-term and long-term goals, and possible ways to achieve these goals by ways of rigorous budgeting and/or investing. To have a financial plan is to have a foundation to attain long-term financial security. In order to achieve and maintain the lifestyle that I want, I need to have a financial plan to cut and compromise spending where needed, on top of investing my money wisely.

What Does it Mean to Be a Millionaire?

Most of people desire to have a wealthy life. A life without worrying about bills to pay every month, such as utilities, housing, transportation, insurance, childcare, etc. To me, becoming a millionaire needs a several skills in thoughts, acts, and aims. The millionaire will do whatever it takes to achieve his/her goals. Additionally, he/she would focus on a big winning, and does not allow anything to get in the way of his/her dreams.

What it means to be a millionaire is to become financially stable however in literal terms it is having a wealth of one million.

Your Financial Future

I feel like I need a lot of work before I’ll be comfortable on my own in regards to financial stability.
5 years from now? I want to have 10K saved up from my new habits formed in this class
10 years from now? I want to have my own property/land
25 years from now? I want to be retired and traveling the world.

5 Years From Now

I know around this time I will be dealing with many milestones and stress in my life aside from my personal goals (reasons why they call it a mid-life crisis haha) so I would like to set simple goals for 5 years . As long as I am secured with a job and housing for myself, I will be satisfied as I pursue saving up for large investments such as a house or car.

10 Years From Now

In 10 years, I would likely be at a more stable point in my life with a more stable job and income which would allow me to invest in more goals. If I’m pretty successful in the event planning field, I would invest in a workspace for a business. If I choose to settle for a family, I would seek out a suitable house and save up for any future childcare expenses needed.

25 Years From Now

During this time, I would hope to be in retirement so my financial priorities would be more self-fulfillment or charitable. It has always been a life goal of mine to develop my own animal shelter or rescue but requires heavy involvement and financial investment.

How do You Feel About Online Courses

Time Management

No Traffic

I love having online classes because I feel you are able to focus more on the tasks that are given to you and at the same time when I am done with my hw or project I am able to move onto the next daily activity without having to go through the Houston traffic of coming and going to campus. Also I work full time so having online classes for me is much more convenient since I am able to adjust when I do school work depending on how my work schedule is that week.

Online Skills Inventory

I love online courses because they make me feel like I have more time on my hands. Since this is an asynchronous class, I can do other things and balance my summer lifestyle while still doing all my homework. I feel really stressed out when it comes to managing money because I do not have much experience and this is going to be my first time ever being independent. I think I am a wise person, so I do not think I will have trouble saving for my financial future. I am confident on the savings part. The most important skills you need to accomplish these goals are responsibility, wisdom, attentiveness, and self-control.

Enjoy Online Courses

Personally, I do enjoy taking classes online because I am able to work around my work schedule and I enjoy being able to study when I like. On the other hand, I prefer taking math courses in person because it is not my strongest subject and prefer to have a professor available when I struggle.
I prefer online courses due to the flexibility and accessibility that they offer since my commute to campus is about an hour, not to mention the gas and parking money that I would save by taking online courses. On top of that, I feel more at ease having constant access to classroom materials, especially at times when I need to refresh on important concepts.
I have been taking all online classes since 2020 and I have really learned to enjoy them. I think it’s great to be able to do things at my pace and wherever I want. I feel good about my financial future because I have very minimal student loans and I am graduating after next semester. I will be able to get a good job with good pay so I will be able to comfortably support myself.
throughout my college career i have taken in person and online classes. personally i like online classes better for the fact that i can manage my own time into completing assignments. furthermore, with a professor like you and a class like this its more engaging and fun with the way you teach the course and the way its set up. all in all i believe that a online course is much better
I personally love online courses because I can work on my own time. I can also work at my own pace since I usually like to get ahead with my work. I feel good about my financial future, this class will hopefully help me learn a lot to be successful in the future.
I enjoy online courses because I have gotten so used to them. I started the University of Houston taking all online because of Covid. I had my very first semester in Spring 2022 and I realized quickly I do better online.
I personally really love online courses since not only does it save me from having to commute (especially with the crazy gas prices right now) but also because they give me flexibility with my job and when I can work on school.
I enjoy online courses because I have gotten so used to them. I started the University of Houston taking all online because of Covid. I had my very first semester in Spring 2022 and I realized quickly I do better online.

Mixed Feelings

I have mixed feelings about online courses. There are pros and cons associated with having an online class. The beneficial thing about online courses is that you don’t have to leave your home and attend the call in comfortable attire. The unfortunate thing about online classes is that you have to pray that your internet will not time out. I remember when my internet gave out during a test.

How are you feeling about your financial future?

Really Stressed

I feel really stressed out when it comes to managing money because I do not have much experience and this is going to be my first time ever being independent. I think I am a wise person, so I do not think I will have trouble saving for my financial future. I am confident on the savings part. The most important skills you need to accomplish these goals are responsibility, wisdom, attentiveness, and self-control.

Unworried

Managing money like a responsible adult in the future is something that I feel unworried about because I handle my spending pretty well. Learning more about personal finance will only strengthen my financial life goals. A challenge that I thought I would face would be attempting to take out the savings too early. The skills that I need to accomplish my financial life goals are self-discipline on how much I spend, what I spend, and being organized.

Financial Anxiety

I have a love hate relationship with online courses. While I enjoy the freedom that I feel with online courses, I find that it is a bit more challenging for me to ensure that I stay on top of my assignments. I feel a bit of anxiety about my financial future only because I consider myself a novice in the area of money management. I don’t think I will have an issue with saving once I have a good structured savings plan in place. I think one of the main skill you need when saving is discipline.
I feel anxious about my future because I have very little knowledge of managing my finance (as a matter of fact, I might as well not know anything about finance at all). I receive financial assistance from my parents, so I am not independent with my finances. I have a part-time job, but I never thought about opening a savings account or retirement account.

Uncertainty

I feel good about my future but at times I am a little uncertain about how some financial situations should be handled. I am looking forward to getting more familiar with budgeting so that I can feel a bit more prepared.

Feeling Okay, Excited to Learn, a Little Anxious

I feel okay about my financial future. I opened my first savings account when I was 16 and had just gotten my first job. I have always had the need to save up my money for “just in case” purposes. I am excited to learn more about how to make my savings grow.
I would obviously feel a little anxious as my current school situation is already expensive and has limited my schedule to work more to cover those expenses if I were to be financially independent. I however though, believe following my graduation and securing a job, I could afford to care for myself comfortably.
At this moment, I feel okay just saving money and making sure I can prepare myself for adulthood. Once I became a server, I realized how difficult it was to make money, and ever since I have been good with my finances. The skills I will need to accomplish my financial goals and maintain goals, set timelines, and make sure to have open communication.
I feel as if after taking this personal finance course, I will have a good feeling about my financial future. I’ve grown up saving money all my life so I believe managing my finances as an adult will not be too difficult as long as I budget my expenses accordingly. Some skills I believe I will need to accomplish my financial life goals is to learn more ways to budget my finances and have a set spreadsheet to organize my finances.

Great Expectations

I want to start off by stating how excited I am to be taking this course with Professor Munchbach and I am more than sure that I will be achieving all my personal financial goals after this summer class. I will be using the NerdWallet, Chase Bank App and BayRock online planning portal to track all my expenses for this class. I am excited and afraid to get my budgeting in order.

Okay with No Bills

Currently I feel okay, but I don’t have a full-time job or any bills that I have to pay on my own yet. In order for me to feel confident as a financially independent adult, I need to understand how to create a budget, and also I’d like to understand more about investing. Overall I would just like to know how to manage my money in the most beneficial way possible.

Quite Daunting

Although the expectations of managing my finances all on my own are quite daunting, I am optimistic that I will be prepared to deal with all things money-related after college by the end of this course. A challenge that I foresee in the near future is drawing a distinct line between what I need versus what I want. In order to accomplish my financial life goals, I believe that I will need to have better budgeting, saving, and investing skills.

Difficult to Think About

Managing my money is difficult to think about because most people like me have a spending problem. It is important to work with your budget to be able to manage your money. Limiting some expenses would be helpful. A financial plan is basically how you are spending your money currently and the goals of your future spending, and how you would achieve those goals. In 5 years I would like to have my budget cut down and start with more savings. In 10 years, I would like to own my own car fully paid off, and my own house. In 25 years, I would like my house and all other debt to be paid off.

Pretty Stressful

It feels pretty stressful to be honest since I’ve never really grasped all the intricate details and responsibilities that come with managing my money. Saving for my future is definitely something I want to learn more of and I am interested to learn what I can do to improve my chances of saving and reaching my goals. A far as skills needed, I definitely need to improve upon keeping track of expenses and movements in my investments. I also need to learn how to live as frugal as possible without going overboard and not allowing myself to enjoy life every now and then.

How Will You Track Your Spending

Mint

I will track my expenses using Mint or I might end up writing down all my expenses in excel instead of using the app. I will see which one I am more comfortable with. I also like the envelope system more and will be using that since I already use that now.

I will track my spending with the Mint app. I already was using this to track my spending prior to the class. I am used to the interface and data it gives.

I will be using Mint to track my spending this semester since it is free and beginner-friendly, as it automatically keeps tabs on a variety of accounts and budget categories of my choice. Furthermore, there is no restriction on how many budget categories I can maintain at once and the app also helps me stay within the limits I set for these categories.

I am going to use Mint to track my expenses since I have been using it for a little bit now and it makes it easy to see what categories my expenses are as well as keeping up to date with credit scores and budget limits.

Excel

Envelope System

My Bank App

I will be utilizing the Chase Bank as my current finances are already there and they have multiple helpful features including a pie chart of my expenses to help me monitor my monthly spending.
I currently use my discover bank app to track my spending. It is all in one app and I pay my statements in this app too.
To track my spending, I will utilize the capital one mobile app. This app has a feature that allows me to put aside money in my checking and savings account for future uses which also helps with budgeting and saving for emergency expenses digitally.

What Are You Learning and Liking

7 Baby Steps

Taking Steps Right This Minute

After watching the video and reading the parts, I like the baby steps. These are the generic steps of becoming not only wealthy but also being stress-free in life. I definitely will take all these steps into consideration and start my baby steps right this minute. This video really persuaded me to start taking this more seriously.

Baby Steps Summarized Kind of…

Dave Ramsey states that it is key to financial success. First, save 1,000. The second list all debts one might owe and the smallest ones pay off first. People can be debt-free in 2 years. Three rainy day funds one should be ready for anything. At this point, the person has evened out their expenses. Five everyone’s situation is different did the individual save money for their kid’s college. Six is to pay off the house. The first, second, and third programs are the hardest.

The Baby Steps = Financial Planning Foundation

I think the baby steps provide a solid foundation for financial planning in both the short run and the long run. I appreciate that they account for potential financial emergencies and make up a debt-adverse approach to money management so that financial security is not compromised.
I think the 7 baby steps are a great way to really start to grasp and plan what you should be doing with your money. Tackling these issues all at once can be overwhelming. The baby steps give a good structure to get you on the right track!

Emergency Funds

Emergency Funds definitely hit a soft spot for me. After experiencing the pandemic as a college student, taking those precautions to be financially stable can be very helpful in unexpected times.

Interesting Comments from Students

Family Business TakeOver

I feel very confident about my future because I am fortunate to work with my parents to get an insight of their businesses trying to find ways to maximize profits and reduce unnecessary expenses. If everything goes well in the next few years despite the current economic situation, I should be able to handle their businesses very well once my parents decide to retire. With the knowledge that I will gain from this course, I will be more prepared to handle my own finances and my parents’ finances as well.

Vote on Collaboration Tools

GroupMe

I definitely vote for Groupme. It’s really easy to connect with other and hope we all know and learn from each other questions and answers.
I like to pose question in Groupme cause I get quick answer and give other students the chance to participate as well. It’s win-win situation.
I would favor GroupMe as its a common platform in other classes so it’s an app most students are familiar with.
Group me is a solution for cross-platform group messaging. It helps students simple ways to stay in touch with friends and family. I voted for Group Me, because I actually love the convenience of this app. GroupMe makes it very easy to chat. Also, it’s a clean design, smooth and fluid flow.

Signal

Signal is pretty great, please don’t crucify me.

Quiz Comments

The first quiz was relatively easy, as it reinforced a basic understanding of the baby steps, which in a sense follow the order of present to future planning. I also appreciate that the quiz helped me to recall the material by inquiring about the baby steps in a non-consecutive order.

What Are You Reading

I’m reading 7 financial lessons to master by age 30, because I’m 25 this year and 30 will be here for I know it.
I’m reading “Top 10 Most Common Financial Mistakes”. I started my investment funds and retirement funds 3 years ago just by watching people on youtube. I think the article will help me detect any mistakes I’ve made without notice, and avoid them happening in the future.
I’m reading “What Is Your Money Personality Type?” because I think that when I understand my money personality type, I can appropriately improve my consumption concept according to the situation, so as to better manage my property.
I am reading “What is your Money Personality Type” because I think it would be extremely helpful if I could identify what my spending habits are so I can properly address them.

Click Here to Enroll: Make Your Money Count