Transcript

Martin Upton

Hello, and welcome to Managing my money. I'm Martin Upton, Director of the True Potential Centre for the Public Understanding of Finance based at The Open University Business School.

Before working for The Open University, I spent twelve years as Treasurer to Nationwide Building Society. I'll be your guide for this course.

Ask yourself, how does the type of person you are affect the decisions you make? Are you your own worst enemy when it comes to money? Do you know where you can put your savings to get the best return? Do you need to worry about interest rates or inflation? Do you know how decisions made by the government and the Bank of England affect you?

Regardless of how much you may already know, whether you're a student or a young family, starting your first job or planning your retirement, living on benefits or banking your bonus, you'll learn how to make the most of your money.

Through the next eight weeks, you'll see how the big news stories about the economy, taxation and interest rates affect your household accounts. You'll learn how behavioural traits and social pressures affect your financial decisions.

And you'll learn life-long practical skills using UK data and real-life examples, although the issues covered are pretty well universal wherever you live.

As you work through the course, packed with high-quality audio and video, you'll find easy-to-use tools, expert discussions and bags of practical guidance. You'll become equipped with the skills to create your own personal action plan

With real incomes falling, record low returns on savings, and people facing the prospect of working ever longer to get a decent pension, there's never been a more important time to take control of your personal finances.

At the end of each week, you'll have the chance to gauge how much you've learned in a test. Your score from these weekly tests will be added to the results of a longer test you'll take in the final week. By the end of the course, not only will you have picked up some fantastic knowledge, but you'll also have developed skills that will be really useful for further studies in finance.

We have a group of experts who'll respond to and moderate discussions. Please join in and share ideas - you can post comments on anything in the course along the way

So, Week 1. Let's start by looking at how you can structure your financial planning. We look at a model that can be applied routinely when making financial decisions. We'll also start to explore a theme that we'll return to throughout the course - how financial resources and needs change through the course of our lives. Enjoy the journey.