1. GEK2507 1 Frederick H. Willeboordse phyfhw@nus.edu.sg Compound & Prosper! GEK2507

2. 2 Briefing and Introduction Lecture 0

3. GEK2507 3 Why this course? To be able to understand the basic concepts often used in business There are three objectives: To understand what is necessary to take charge of your personal finances To acquire the skills to use a good tool

4. GEK2507 4 What is in this course? Methods, strategies and background knowledge required for accumulating personal wealth The contents are centered around the three objectives: Basic financial concepts used in everyday business Training in the use of the tool of choice: spreadsheets

5. GEK2507 5 Who am I? Frederick H. Willeboordse S12 #03-09 Department of Physics Specialized in Complex Systems Also ran a business for 5 years

6. GEK2507 6 Approach Business, Financial Modeling and Financial Planning all go hand in hand and we therefore always face a little bit a chicken and egg problem. I’ll try to tackle this by taking a three dimensional approach - working from the outside in.

7. GEK2507 7 The course will follow the workshop approach. This means that lab sessions play a central role. The lab sessions will end with quizzes that need to be completed individually. Methodology

8. GEK2507 8 Course Outline Lectures: 2 hours per week for a total of 22 lecture hours Lab Sessions: 8 lab sessions of 2 hours each The lab sessions will focus on acquiring Excel skills and the working out of problems

9. GEK2507 9 The allocated lab session slots are: Mondays12-14 Tuesdays10-12, 14-16 Wednesdays 10-12 Thursdays12-14, 14-16 Fridays10-12, 14-16 Location S13, Level 4, Lab 1 (Room 04-16) Lab Session Slots

10. GEK2507 10 Lab Session Registration http://chaos.nus.edu.sg/cgi-bin/GEK2507/register.pl You have to choose at least two groups. If you can only make it to a single one. Choose any other and contact me. You will need to show a schedule supporting the fact that you have only one choice.

11. GEK2507 11 You can see for which groups you friends signed up and the practical allocation once it's completed at this URL: http://chaos.nus.edu.sg/cgi-bin/GEK2507/display.pl Lab Session Registration

12. GEK2507 12 All the lecture notes as well as other relevant materials can be found on my web site at: http://chaos.nus.edu.sg/teaching/GEK2507 http://chaos.nus.edu.sg/teaching/GEK2507 The required text book is “The Web”. The web has a lot of excellent information but it also has a lot of garbage. It’s up to you to decide which is which. Why the web? It’s free and it forces you to think critically. A few excellent books are also mentioned on the course home page. References

13. GEK2507 13 Course Contents Lectures 1-3: The Basic Financial Statements Lectures 4-5: Budgets, Running a Company Lectures 6-7: Evaluating a Company’s Performance Lectures 8-10: Investing in the Company Lecture 11:Accumulating Assets The chapters are organized mainly from the investor’s point of view and could be organized entirely differently. This does not affect the basic content.