We have had a number of students claim that they will never use anything they have learned in this class in the future. We hope you are not one of those students. If you are, we could tell you countless stories like a former student who is Director of Marketing at his company, but also responsible for capital budgeting decisions, but we won't do that. One thing we are sure you will use the knowledge you have gained is for retirement planning. A recent poll indicates that 82 percent of workers 50 and over say that it is at least somewhat likely that they will have to work in retirement. And while the recent market downturn affected some of these potential retirees, we would guess that most simply did not prepare early and often enough for retirement.
To help you prepare for your retirement (and it is never as far away as you would like to think), we would like to direct you to Professor Joshua Rauh's free MOOC at Stanford University. The course is the Finance of Retirement and Pensions, and although you do not get a grade, it may help better prepare you for your own retirement planning. Notice, you will get the most out of the course if you understand the value of diversified portfolios, interest rates, inflation, perpetuities, and annuities, which we hope you already have learned.
