COURSE NUMBER: MBA296.3

COURSE TITLE: Personal Finance

UNITS OF CREDIT: 3

INSTRUCTOR: Terrance Odean

E-MAIL ADDRESS: odean@berkeley.edu

CLASS WEB PAGE LOCATION: bcourses.berkeley.edu

PREREQUISITE(S): None

CLASS FORMAT: This is a hybrid course that is taught through a combination of online content (video lectures, discussion forums, etc.) and traditional face-to-face classes. Classes will be a mix of lecture, discussion, and guest lectures. Many of the course videos can also be found at: http://bit.ly/odeanvideos

REQUIRED READINGS: Articles and videos.

BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE: Class participation, short homework assignments, midterm, final, and group video project.

ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:
Survey of major life financial decisions (e.g., career choice, consumption v. saving, investments, mortgages, insurance) and how decision-making biases (e.g., overconfidence, present bias, limited attention) can lead to suboptimal choice.

The main learning objectives for the course are:

• Understand the major financial decisions that you will face during your life.

• Develop the tools needed to make choices that are best for your personal situation.

• Analyze products and services that would improve personal finance choices and outcomes for others.

• Understand how psychologists, sociologists, and economists conduct research in these areas.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:
Terrance Odean is the Rudd Family Foundation Professor at the Haas School of Business. He is a member of the Journal of Investment Consulting editorial advisory board, of the Russell Sage Behavioral Economics Roundtable, of the WU Gutmann Center Academic Advisory Board at the Vienna University of Economics and Business and is a Wall Street Journal Expert Panelist. He received the James R Vertin Award from the CFA Institute in 2016. He has been an editor and an associate editor of the Review of Financial Studies, an associate editor of the Journal of Finance, a co-editor of a special issue of Management Science, an associate editor at the Journal of Behavioral Finance, a director of UC Berkeley’s Experimental Social Science Laboratory, a member of the Russell Investments Academic Advisory Board, a visiting professor at the University of Stavanger, Norway, and the Willis H. Booth Professor of Finance and Banking. As an undergraduate at Berkeley, Odean studied Judgment and Decision Making with the 2002 Nobel Laureate in Economics, Daniel Kahneman.