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CS 007: Personal Finance for Engineers – Stanford University 2017-20
- jtchang 7y agoPretty solid all around. Would benefit anyone not just engineers. I like how the included a lecture on real estate.
- tunnuz 7y agoHow would one go about attending this course without being enrolled?
- jasonjei 7y agoI saw there’s a topic on compensation, and I think this is perhaps one of the most important topics for engineers in the Bay Area. I rarely run into an engineer with budgeting issues, but more often than not, I run into an engineer who has taken a compensation offer that is less than ideal at an early stage company. I think it’s great that there is a whole topic on compensation. I think the equity side is super complicated for small companies and in many cases, cash is king unless an engineer really believes the idea is going to be a home-run success...
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- wil421 7y agoI see a net worth video. How important is net worth? My wife and I had about $200k net worth until we bought a house. Now it’s probably the same amount but negative after the house purchase. We max out our 401ks and employee stock purchase. Our mortgage and car note is below the 30% suggestion. It will probably be 5-8 years or more until it’s positive again.
- thfuran 7y agoBuying a house shouldn't make your net worth go negative (unless it massively depreciates, I guess). The mortgage balance is debt, but it's backed by the value of the house.
- kevin_thibedeau 7y agoYou don't own the house until it's paid off.
- _fizz_buzz_ 7y agoYes you do!
- sct202 7y agoBut you own a portion of the house and the bank owns a portion equal to the loan value.
- bradjohnson 7y agoThe bank doesn't, really, they own your debt. The amount that you owe the bank does not increase or decrease with the value of your property.
- idoh 7y agoYou do, in fact, own the house. It is encumbered in that if you sell the house, you have to pay back the mortgage first.
- drharby 7y agoCan you sell the house and keep the cash? You own the house, the deed is in your name. You have a debt with the bank. The bank has your house as collateral but the city chargers you taxes on it because you own it.
- dcchambers 7y agoBuying a house doesn't negatively impact your net worth, even if you owe money to the bank, unless your home value nose-dives for some reason (eg recession/depression). Here's an example: Let's say today you have $100,000 cash in your bank account and no other assets to your name. Your net worth is $100,000. -- Now let's say that you buy a house tomorrow for $500,000. You put 20% down ($100,000) and secure a loan from the bank for the final $400,000. Here's your new net worth: Asset: House $500,000 Debt: Loan ($400,000) -- Total: $100,000
- harikb 7y agoI think there should be a section on stock options, what happens to your options on subsequent rounds of funding. Similar to how the new law makes it illegal for employers to ask about salary history, it should be engrained in engineers to ask about equity options and how much percentage of the company they own and the associated risk. A story like this https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21358531 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21358531 could be a case study.
- dang 7y agoA thread from 2017: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15786703 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15786703
- GoodJokes 7y agoEw. Personal Finance has become a term that basically means "I have too much money what do I do" on this forum. How is this even considered a computer science class? This is what people pay Stanford for.
- neonate 7y agoIt seems to me a bad sign for computer science that this is part of the curriculum. It shows what the degree is really about, and when a field becomes about that, it is decadent.
- Bostonian 7y agoStanford costs about $275K for 4 years. Of course students and their parents spending this kind of money care a lot about the financial payoff.
- neonate 7y agoAbsolutely, but that confirms the point.
- dannykwells 7y agoThe sticker price of Stanford is not what it actually costs most students. Stanford is a zero loan school. Students do not graduate with debt. And also, then, why is this class not for everyone?