Cal Poly Pomona

 

EGR 403 CAPITAL ALLOCATION THEORY

 

Resource Website - The web sites below have been expored and reviewed by members of EGR 403 Capital Allocation Theory Classes At Cal Poly Pomona. The purpose of this web site is to share information related to economic decision making for both personal and business decision making.

The opinions given are those of the reviewers and do not reflect an position of the university or the instructors of EGR 403 classes. Costs, fees, and rates of return are subject to change over time.

Peoplefirst.com

The Peoplefirst website is a website where you can obtain quotes for car or motorcycle loans. You can choose how much money you would like to borrow and they will put an interest rate. Then they will calculate how much you have to pay every month. There is another option on the website where you can choose the interest rate and compute what you have to pay every month. The website is very straight forward and you get quick quotes for a car or motorcycle loan without giving them too much information about yourself. This website has helped me by seeing how much a car payment would be per month given how much I would want to borrow, and at what interest rate I get the loan. - Richard Varela - Spring 2001

CNBC Financial Network

As a long time viewer of the CNBC financial network, I am also aware of its web site (www.cnbc.com) which features lots of useful tools for financial matters. I think this site is helpful because it contains the most current news about stocks and has many different links regarding loans, retirement, taxes, and investing. In fact I have looked under the mortgages center and found out that when applying for mortgages, lenders look at a variety of factors, including the ability and willingness to repay the loan. The ability to repay is verified by one's current employment and total income. And the willingness to repay is closely related to how one have fulfilled previous financial commitments. This is why lenders place such an emphasis on his/her credit report Overall, I think this site is great because it not only provide useful financial information, it even has calculation tools for further purposes. Nhan Nguyen - Spring 2001

Sharebuilder.com

 

ShareBuilder is for anyone who is looking for a simple, flexible and affordable way to invest online in the stock market. It is a privately held internet company that provider of low-cost, easy to use, online investment products and tools that help people to build wealth over the long-term.

Following are some of ShareBuilder unique features:

1) ShareBuilder is simple: they'll walk you through a long-term, dollar-based investment plan that you can change at any time.

 

2) ShareBuilder is flexible: you can set aside a fixed amount to spend regularly on stocks, or make a one-time stock purchase when it fits your budget.

 

3) ShareBuilder is affordable: you pay only $3 per recurring transaction ($2 for custodial accounts) and $3 for a one-time investment

 

This site is really great because it gives individual a opportunity to invest online (no brokers involve!). Secondly, one can buy stock for any amount that he/she wants to buy, there is no limit. In addition, there is no paper work or commissions that investors have to deal with because sharebuilder make it so easy to use. I am actually having an account with ShareBuilder since last year. I strongly recommend this site to anyone. Hung Nguyen - Spring 2001

Smartmoney.com

Smartmoney.com virtually covers all aspects of finance from A to Z. It is is named after the magazine of the same name. I found it through a search whereby I typed in the key words "Personal Finance". This website is an exceptionally helpful one-stop source of information for bonds, interest rates, loans, investing, retirement, stocks, etc. There are articles and columns on numerous current subjects relating to finance, and an extensive archive library. A section devoted to careers is also available. A membership option provides additional in-depth access to more information, exclusive offers, and unlimited use of investor tools. The website is easily navigated and plays catchy blurbs of music or sound bites with certain selections. I especially liked the user-friendly worksheets designed to calculate such things as an affordable home price, mortgage payments, and retirement savings, to name just a few. These were found by clicking on the Personal Finance tab on the home page. In summary, I found this to be an educational and enjoyable website which readily provided answers to all of my current financial questions. Alice Ramos - Spring 2001

Visual Retirement Planner

How long do I have to save to retire at the age I want and with the life style I dired? Well, this question can be answered with a "Visual retirement planner". This web site composed of a simple/complex financial calculator along with a plot of ages versus the amount of saving. All input data are based on the retirement age, annual salary, desired monthly income, and the ability to compensate for inflation. The graphical computation is greatly useful to foresee savings growing until the retirement age. It is very interesting to see the effect of the saving by varying certain parameters such as annual income, age of retirement, or desired monthly income. It's a great tool to dream on our future. Vincent Duong - Spring 2001

mPower cafe

 

The above website lays out everything someone would need to know about 401(k) plans, from a plain definition on to the specifics on investing and managing that account. It starts by outlining that employers offer 401(k) plans; a percentage of the person’s paycheck is automatically deducted before taxes, and invested into anything from mutual funds to that company’s stock, depending on the employer. The money deducted will not ever be taxed while compounding on the investment, although it will be taxed once withdrawn in retirement. Because the idea is for the 401(k) to work for retirement, a penalty will often be accrewed when trying to withdraw from the money before retirement. However,
because it is not originally taxed and builds and compounds investment gains (the amount depends on the risk of the investment), the money developed outweighs the taxes in retirement far and away. Other advantages include being able to take the plan with you to other employers, and some companies even match the investment to a various extent. With strategizing your retirement and spreading your portfolio intelligently using this dollar-cost averaging plan, the 401(k) plan is outlined to be an extremely valuable investment for retirement.

 

I feel the 401(k) plan is a very smart investment strategy. On top of the money invested accruing worth because of the interest of the investment, there is another 20-30% in addition that can build interest compared to a regular investment, because the money is not taxed. The small percentage deducted will probably not even be missed, and because it is automatically deducted, it does not involve a great deal of attention. After time, the compounding of the small investment will lead to large numbers, and without doubt, a comfortable retirement. And if the company matches, then that’s just more money in the bank. The 401(k) appears to be the best way to save for retirement; I have no doubt I’ll take advantage of it once I start working full-time. Robert Milversted - Spring 2001

Yahoo Loan Calculator

I found this site by going to yahoo finance, auto loan calculator. It asks for inputs of purchase price, cash rebates, value of trade in, amount owed on trade in, down payment, loan term, and interest rate. Then it gives you the results of your monthly payment. There is a graph of various loan terms of time vs. payments. An EXCEL table is provided showing month, monthly payment, remaining amount, principal paid, interest paid, and cumulative interest paid. Last an explanation tells how each input will effect the monthly payment. This is an excellent website that covered many of the things that we practiced in chapter 3 and the homework and has many other calculators that should be looked at for reference. Dan Corrigan - Spring 2001