Introduction Some people distinguish between savings and investments, where savings are monies placed in relatively risk-free accounts with modest rewards, and where investments involve more risk and the potential for greater rewards. In this book we do not distinguish between these ideas. We treat them both under the umbrella of investing. In general, income falls into two categories: earned income―which is the income derived from your everyday job―andunearnedincome―which is income derived from investing. You attend college to strengthen your prospects for earned income, so why do you need to worry about unearned income, namely, investment income? There are many reasons to invest and to learn about investing. Perhaps the primary one is to take charge of your own ?nancial future. You need money for short-term goals (such as living expenses, emergencies) and for long-term goals (such as buying a car, buying a house, educating children, paying catastrophic medical bills, funding retirement). Investing involvesborrowingandlending,andbuyingandselling. • borrowing and lending. When you put money into a bank savings account,youarelendingyourmoneyandthebankisborrowingit.Youcan lend money to a bank, a business, a government, or a person. In exchange forthis,theborrowerpromisestopayyouinterestandtoreturnyourinitial investment at a future date. Why would the borrower do this? Because the borrower anticipates using this money in a way that earns more than the interest promised to you. Examples of borrowing and lending are savings accounts, certi?cates of deposits, money-market accounts, and bonds.
This is an undergraduate textbook on the basic aspects of personal savings and investing with a balanced mix of mathematical rigor and economic intuition. It uses routine financial calculations as the motivation and basis for tools of elementary real analysis rather than taking the latter as given. Proofs using induction, recurrence relations and proofs by contradiction are covered. Inequalities such as the Arithmetic-Geometric Mean Inequality and the Cauchy-Schwarz Inequality are used. Basic topics in probability and statistics are presented. The student is introduced to elements of saving and investing that are of life-long practical use. These include savings and checking accounts, certificates of deposit, student loans, credit cards, mortgages, buying and selling bonds, and buying and selling stocks.
The book is self contained and accessible. The authors follow a systematic pattern for each chapter including a variety of examples and exercises ensuring that the student deals with realities, rather than theoretical idealizations. It is suitable for courses in mathematics, investing, banking, financial engineering, and related topics.
