Have you ever had a class where you realize it’s one of the hardest academic experiences you’ve ever had? Ever had a class that is so time consuming and frustrating and so difficult that you constantly question why you signed up for it in the first place? Have you ever had a class that you knew you were going to benefit from at the end, but getting there was going to be excruciating? That class for me is Elements of Finance. This is, without a doubt, one of the most difficult classes I’ve ever had in my entire life. The only other class I can think of that was this difficult was logic with Stiv Fleishman – in undergrad (that was a good class). Elements is hard course for a few reasons:
1) The amount of work: chapter quizzes every week – on three chapters of the textbook. Each quiz is 25 questions. Takes around a good 2 hours each (or more, give or take an hour). Plus case studies. Plus other readings as assigned. You can take the quiz again if you don’t do well – but the questions are randomized so you don’t get the same quiz twice. Which means another couple of hours (get it right the first time).
2) The concepts: finance is indeed another language. It’s a different way of thinking about things that is not necessarily intuitive to the non-financial person.
3) The speed: we are blazing through some pretty tough and key concepts. And when I say blazing, I mean blazing.
This class is kicking my tail, no joke. I spend most of my time on this class by far, and I feel bad for my other classes. But I know that I’m getting some really good skills out of the course (even though most of the time I feel like I don’t know what’s going on).
The class is difficult but I know it will pay off in the long run. Today we talked about the time value of money, and we saw how easily someone without an understanding of compound interest could get suckered into an adjustable rate mortgage that probably wasn’t in their best interest. This is real, practical stuff. I look at loans differently now. I look at my credit card differently.
So I power on through the course, doing the best that I can. I know I’ll be the better for it. Adversity breeds character. And I like to remember what Ellen Degeneres’ character in Finding Nemo liked to say:
Just keep swimming…just keep swimming.
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