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1Financialplanninginahousehold
1.1Basicproblemsofpersonalfinance
Financereferstoallissuesrelatedtohumanactivity,whereaflowofmoneyis
involved.Finance(asadiscipline)discussesnotonlythisflowitself,butalsoother
issues,likethevalueofthisflowordecisionmakingprocessofentitiestowhomor
fromwhomthisflowtakesplace.
Therearedifferentbrancheswithinthescienceoffinance.Oneofthemostbasic
criteriatoclassifythesebranches,isthecriterionofentity.Asitiswellknown,there
arefourbasicentitiesineacheconomy:publicsectorinstitution,nonfinancial
company,financialinstitutionandthehousehold.Thisleadstothefollowingbranches
withinthescienceoffinance:publicfinance,corporatefinance,banking(andsome
otherbranches,particularlyinsurance)andhouseholdfinance(personalfinance).
Thisbookdiscussestheproblemsofpersonalfinance.Wewillusethisterm
todenotehouseholdfinance,sinceintheliteraturethesetwotermsareused
interchangeablyandtheterm“personalfinance”isusedmoreoften.
Despitethefactthatmanymethodsandtheoreticalideasinpersonalfinanceare
thesameoratleastverysimilartothoseconsideredintheotherbranchesoffinance,
thereisonemaindifference:thegoaloftheentityrelatedtoitsfinancial.Asitiswell
known,forsuchanentity,likeacompanyorafinancialinstitution,itiswidely
acceptedthatthegoalwouldbemaximizationoftheitsvalue.Thesituationis
differentinthecaseofthehouseholdfinance.Herethemaingoalistherealizationof
thelifecyclegoals,likeforexample:livinginhouse,raisingwelleducatedchildren
orhavingsafeandsatisfyingperiodofretirement.Theproblemofhouseholdgoals
isthekeyproblemofpersonalfinanceanditalsoisthecornerstoneoffurther
considerationsinthisbook.
Asitwasmentioned,differentbranchesofscienceoffinancerefertodifferent
entities,buttheyareallbasedonthesameprinciplesandcategories.Thisisofcourse
truealsoforpersonalfinance.Themaincategories,whichmaybeconsideredas
basic“buildingblocks”ofpersonalfinanceare:time,asset,capital,cashflow,value,
return,liquidityandrisk.
Aswithanyotherentity,personalfinancehasadynamicnature.Firstofall,
financialmanagementtakesplacethroughoutthelifecycleofthehousehold.
Secondly,thedecisionstakenbythehouseholdatanygivenmomentimpactthe
household’sfinancialsituation.Sinceinpersonalfinancetheflowofmoneyis
involved,thetimeunitinwhichthisflowtakesplace,isimportantforitsvaluation.
Assetisanitemwhichisownedbythehouseholdandwhichhasvalue,whereas
thecapitaliscomposedoftheseassetswhichcanbeusedtoachievesomefuture
benefits.Asarule,therearethreetypesofassets(andthreetypesofcapital)thatcan
bedistinguished:
Realassets;
Financialassets;
Humancapitalassets.