Most students have no idea why they have to study mathematics. <\/p>\n
One of the most important topics is financial mathematics. Many adults allow themselves to be ripped off by banks because they have no idea how financial mathematics works.<\/p>\n
I gave a workshop recently on using Excel for accountancy (internal rate of return, efficient frontier, that kind of thing). It was interesting to prepare it. I emphasised the concept of annuities - it is something that many people only think about when they are approaching retirement. But this is way too late.<\/p>\n
Simply, you buy an annuity from a bank for a large sum of money and the bank pays the money back, plus interest, over a long period of time. So for example, currently in Australia you can buy an annuity for $100,000 and the bank will pay you $7,881 per year for 20 years. Then the money is gone.<\/p>\n
So if you retire at 60 and live for another 25 years (this is very likely), make sure you have saved plenty...<\/p>\n
Update:<\/strong> I now have a chapter in Interactive Mathematics called \"Money Math\". Section 6. Superannuation<\/a> is about annuities.<\/p>\n