Young people face unprecedented financial challenges: rising student debt, stiff competition for jobs, barriers to home ownership, dwindling state benefits and prospects of a longer working life. Today, students need financial knowledge and skills more than ever before, not just to build their own financial security, but to create the new generation of advisers that can help all citizens navigate the complex world of personal finance. Essential Personal Finance is a guide to all the key areas of personal finance: budgeting, managing debt, savings and investments, insurance, securing a home and laying the foundations for retirement. It also provides an introduction to some of the essential foundations of a modern undergraduate finance qualification, including: * The nature of financial institutions, markets and economic policy that shape the opportunities and decisions that individuals face. * The range of financial assets available to households, the risk-return trade-off, basics of portfolio construction and impact of tax. * The importance of the efficient market hypothesis and modern portfolio theory in shaping investment strat...