Essential Personal Finance

Lien Luu is a Chartered and Certified Financial Planner and a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Insurance. She is also a Registered Life Planner and has previously worked as a financial planner helping clients build wealth. Lien is currently an Associate Head of School for Enterprise and Commercial in the School of Economics, Finance and Accounting, Coventry Business School and has taught at universities for more than 15 years.Jonquil Lowe is an economist and has previously worked as an investment analyst and head of the Money Research Group at Which?. Jonquil is now Senior Lecturer in Economics and Personal Finance at The Open University and also a freelance researcher/author. Jason Butler is an author of the first and second editions of The Financial Times Guide to Wealth Management: How to plan, invest and protect your financial assets. He is also a columnist for The Financial Times where, as ‘The Wealthman’, he writes about personal finance-related issues. Jason also provides expert comments on personal finance to BBC Radio and a range of other publications, media and websites.Tony Byrne is a financial planner and an ex-accountant. He has been a regular contributor to both national and local press for many years. He has written a regular column for Money Marketing for more than 10 years. He is a previous Chairman of The Institute of Financial Planning Northern Home Counties branch.

‘This book is impressive in both the range and depth of coverage of key elements of personal finance. It is unusual to find a book that attempts to provide both academic and practical perspectives, and yet can still manage to be accessible to those with limited or expert knowledge in the topic. This book will clearly benefit both undergraduate and postgraduate students of financial services, but will also benefit those who are interested in learning more about the topic.’ — Steven Leonard, The University of the West of Scotland, UK‘An essential text book on personal finance, dealing with the discipline in an innovative way… The style is lively and pithy, and will appeal both to the casual reader and to the undergraduate student studying at university or for professional exams. Topics are clearly laid out with relevant, topical case studies, activities and end of chapter questions. Hitherto little explored areas such as youth unemployment and getting help from your family and the impact of these on personal financial decisions adds a unique dimension to this book.’ — M. Shahid Nawaz, Glasgow Caledonian University, UK‘This book is a well written textbook that brings together all the essential components of financial planning in one place. It can also serve as a reference book for many to use at a later date when going through different stages of life as each life stage presents different needs and challenges’ — Dr Pushpa Wood ONZM, Director Westpac Massey Financial Education and Research Centre, Massey University, New Zealand.

• List of figures List of tables List of boxes AcknowledgementsIntroduction Part I Have a vision and a plan1 The necessity of private wealth Lien Luu2 Defining and achieving your desired lifestyle and legacy Jason Butler3 Money and happiness Jason Butler4 Plan your future Jason ButlerPart II Build a secure foundation5 The pillars of wealth: budgeting and saving Tony Byrne and Lien Luu6 Insuring risks Lien LuuPart III Multiply your wealth7 Residual income Lien Luu8 A place to live Jonquil Lowe9 Make wise investments Tony Byrne and Jonquil Lowe10 Saving for later life Jonquil Lowe11 Help from your family Jonquil LowePart IV The next steps12 Take action Lien Luu AppendixGlossaryIndex