@ Mrs Potato Head - I totally agree lots of people wouldn't know the formulas unless they took financial classes at some point, but he majored in business & took business finance (where you do nothing but financial math). When I took that class we were allowed a Texas Instruments BA II calculator, but no computers. The BA II would sort of work like the formula in Excel, but you still had to know the formula to make sure you put everything into the calculator correctly. A few people had laptops they brought to class, but the professors always said if we could do it by hand, then we knew it. Of course, I have to look up the formulas from time to time, but I can still work them by hand once I've refreshed my memory. Professors must be getting more lenient about the use of technology in the classroom. I went through packages of pencils each semester working stuff by hand!

_________________
"Thou shalt keep thy religion to thyself." - George Carlin

Don't burn your tongue on another man's soup - Old Italian saying

CF - OK, if he took Business Finance, that's scary. Then again, I've worked with people with Degrees who couldn't figure out basic stuff. I've been thinking of going and getting a Degree myself, but apparently I have to retake Maths (and American Maths at that) and its scary... Isn't Trigonometry a kind of dinosaur?

I've always struggled with Maths... Took me 3 goes to pass my Maths O Level (UK exam we take at 16, pretty important). Asking my Dad for help didn't work; he'd try to show my how to work the Slide Rule (he was a Civil Engineer). My final attempt at Maths O Level was the first year they allowed calculators in exams (1984).

Math sucks. Waiting for my dad to get home at 8 so i can go get groceries and run around. Sadly the car isn't done yet and it's been broken for a week today. With my folks gone i couldn't get it to the garage and he wanted it yesterday when his work load was low since it's a brakes issues. barely slept today, hopefully can get some before i have to do anything.

I think your program of study determines what math you need. I didn't have any geometry or trigonometry in college because those were for math majors and physics or engineering students. I had algebra and calculus mostly sine I took financial math and statistics courses. I think if someone majored in something like history or music, he or she might only need a math like college algebra 101. Some schools have a math for liberal arts and social sciences. It is probably just algebra of some type.

_________________
"Thou shalt keep thy religion to thyself." - George Carlin

Don't burn your tongue on another man's soup - Old Italian saying

Christine -- call your insurance agent and tell them you want a homeowners insurance binder for your new house. Most lenders (I know the VA isn't "most lenders", but still. . . ) will accept that as proof of insurance. You might have to come up with a few bucks, but it should solve the problem.

CFinNY -- there have to be 1001 excel templates that will solve for a compound interest rate. I'm sure they are Googleable

_________________
WWTLD --- What Would Tyrion Lannister Do?

Cramps suck

_________________
"Children are the future...today belongs to ME!" Lindsay Naegle ('The Simpsons')

i'm hoping to get a power nap in soon before my friend gets off work at 430 as i'm dragging ass.

My newsfeed is full of religious soapbox bullshit about Chick-Fil-A and yet no one's talking about the Olympics - a place where countries of all ethnic, social, political, religious and financial backgrounds come to fall under one banner and the spirit of competition. My faith in humanity (as if I ever had it) just keeps plunging.

_________________

Just bought my awesome Samsung S3 with a freakin 4.8" screen and 8 MP camera.. it's gonna be perfect for my trip in October! So excited!

Family. Mom just had her 60th birthday and was seriously bummed because no one there did anything big for her. Dad, brother, and brother's wife (all living together in a rather small house) swear they didn't do anything because she asked them to not make a big deal. Everyone trying to drag me in a bit. Seriously - mom, if you wanted something then say it. Dad and brother - you've lived with her long enough to know she wanted something. You're idiots. I'm just glad I'm many, many miles away and remembered to send a big box of gifts (gathered over the year - fortunately she's fun and relatively cheap to shop for) in time. Unfortunately that makes me the "good child" at the moment and she wants us to spend long hours on the phone and maybe another visit this summer. Thank heavens I have a thesis to work on. I love my family in small doses. Very, very small doses.

In a related note - anyone have any tips about getting a reduction on a cell phone bill for breaking contract? My brother, who, for reasons that take a long story to explain, was on my plan. Parents paid for it, but it still went under my name. Recently he decided to assert a tiny measure of personal financial independence and got his own contract with another provider. Without telling anyone until it was done. Surprise of all surprises, my plan levies a fee for breaking contract. Parents don't want to pay because it's a "bs fine" and think I can get out of it. I think it's perfectly fair and right there in black and white. They don't want to discourage his small show of independence. I don't want to pay it myself since the only thing I did wrong was allow him on the plan a decade ago. So ... any advice? Besides to be more careful ... that's a ship that's long sailed.