Finance: Why and What

Finance is the study of how investors allocate their assets over time under conditions of certainty and uncertainty. A key point in finance, which affects decisions, is the time value of money, which states that a unit of currency today is worth more than the same unit of currency tomorrow. Finance aims to price assets based on their risk level, and expected rate of return. Finance can be broken into three different sub categories: public finance, corporate finance and personal finance.

Contents 1 Areas of finance 1.1 Personal finance 1.2 Corporate finance 1.2.1 Financial services 1.3 Public finance 2 Capital 3 Financial theory 3.1 Financial economics 3.2 Financial mathematics 3.3 Experimental finance 3.4 Behavioral finance 3.5 Intangible asset finance 4 Professional qualifications 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

Areas of finance

Personal finance

Main article: Personal finance

Questions in personal finance revolve around

• How can people protect themselves against unforeseen personal events, as well as those in the external economy?
• How can family assets best be transferred across generations (bequests and inheritance)?
• How does tax policy (tax subsidies and/or penalties) affect personal financial decisions?
• How does credit affect an individual's financial standing?
• How can one plan for a secure financial future in an environment of economic instability?

Personal financial decisions may involve paying for education, financing durable goods such as real estate and cars, buying insurance, e.g. health and property insurance, investing and saving for retirement.
From: wikipedia.org