General Course Descriptions for Terms: real estate
732 - Real Estate Transactions I
771 - Sel. Topics Estate Planning: Financial Planning & Asset Management
This is a class about asset management. We will discuss the history of the stock, bond, real estate, and commodities markets in detail. We will pull back the veil on alternative investments and learn how hedge funds work. We will discuss the costs and benefits of private equity, venture capital, and angel investing. Long before Thanksgiving break, you will be able to dazzle friends and family with your knowledge of Modern Portfolio Theory and the relative merits of active versus passive investing. Second, this is a class about financial planning. Attorneys often become their clients’ single most trusted - and only unbiased - source of answers about their finances. You need to understand debt, insurance, retirement plans, mutual funds, annuities, and taxes so that you can help your clients make decisions that are entirely in their own best interest. What’s the difference between a Roth IRA and a SPIA? How do I figure out what kind of life insurance to buy? How are capital gains taxed in a GST? By Thanksgiving, you will know. Third, this is a class about money. Yes, money… ducats, scratch, lucre, macks, bills, bones, bread, bucks, chips, clams, coin, dough, frogskins, greenbacks, gold, gravy, loot, lucre, milk, moola, pesos, roll, salary, silver, shillings, shrapnel, treasure, wad, wage, wealth, wherewithal… Call it what you will, but we’re going to talk about it. In the financial world: Who makes what? How did they make it? How is it taxed? And did they earn it? If you find this repulsive, we apologize in advance. But wait until you start the optional readings on Wall Street culture from Tom Wolfe and Michael Lewis to be really appalled. To understand the motivations of market players, you need to understand how investment managers and financial advisors are compensated. Period. (Incidentally, this is NOT an area of particular interest to us. It’s just so “in your face” in the financial world that it’s impossible to ignore.)