Personal Finance, Canadian Edition, 6th edition

Published by Pearson Canada (March 4, 2024) © 2025
  • Jeff Madura
  • Hardeep Singh Gill

Title overview

For courses in Personal Finance.

When will you be able to buy a home? Can you afford a new car or a vacation? How can you pay off your credit card balance? What should you invest in? The answers to these questions are tied directly to how you, as a student, manage your finances. Managing your finances wisely will bring a sense of security and freedom that you can enjoy for years to come. Very few courses you will take throughout your post-secondary career will have the potential to profoundly shape your future like a personal finance course. Taking this course is your first step on the path toward a stable financial future.

With Personal Finance as your guide, you will master key concepts that will aid you in managing and increasing your personal wealth. The aim of this textbook is to equip you with knowledge and decision making tools to help you make sound financial decisions.

Hallmark features of this title

  • Financial Planning Problems. At the end of each chapter, Financial Planning Problems require students to demonstrate knowledge of mathematically based concepts to perform computations in order to make well-informed personal finance decisions.
  • Challenge Questions. Multi-step financial planning problems called Challenge Questions require deeper analysis, inviting students to apply knowledge and demonstrate chapter material comprehension.
  • Ethical Dilemmas. End-of-chapter ethical scenarios focus on topics of student interest to engage the reader. Designed to help students apply ethical principles to financial situations and problems, these real-life ethical situations are presented along with critical thinking questions.
  • Psychology of Personal Finance. Personal finance behaviour is influenced by psychology. For example, some spending decisions are made on impulse due to the desire for immediate satisfaction. Throughout the text, we discuss how financial planning decisions are affected by psychology. At the end of every chapter, there is also an accompanying section that tests students' understanding of how psychological forces influence personal finance decisions.

New to this Edition

  • Revised Chapter 3–Planning with Personal Financial Statements. With the increased pace of our digital life, this chapter attempts to simplify the budgeting process by demonstrating how students can estimate how much they have available for purchases after taking into consideration their fixed expenses and their short-, medium-, and long-term savings goals. This method of budgeting provides you with peace of mind knowing that you can make purchases without having to sacrifice your current priorities and future goals.
  • Chapter 5. In this chapter, the discussion on chequing accounts has been updated and expanded to reflect the change in the use of technology as a primary means of banking for many individuals. An expanded discussion on the growth of digital banks is used to further emphasize how banking has expanded into more online platforms..
  • Chapter 6. This chapter now includes a section on the definition and mechanics of how a billing period works. The calculation of the finance charge on credit cards has been simplified so that students will be able to focus their attention on the main billing method used by credit card companies - the average daily balance method..

Key features

Important Digital Assets in MyLab Finance

  • Personal Finance Videos. We have videos on personal finance tied to the key concepts of the sixth Canadian edition of Personal Finance. These videos are available in the MyLab Finance and can be assigned through the Multimedia Library of the MyLab. Another new feature is the Media Share functionality in the MyLab: For the first time, instructors can upload and/or create video, add questions, and assign points through Video Quizzing. 
  • Build Your Own Financial Plan. Personal Finance's structure mirrors a comprehensive financial plan. In each chapter, students learn the skills they need to build their own financial plan. The Build Your Own Financial Plan exercises are an integrated series of problems and worksheets that present a portion of a financial plan based on the concepts presented in each chapter. The exercises and associated worksheets are available on MyLab Finance. At the end of the course, students will have completed a financial plan that they can continue to implement beyond the school term.
  • Financial Planning Online Exercises. Financial Planning Online Exercises available on MyLab Finance show students how to obtain, critically evaluate, and use internet-based resources in making personal finance decisions.
  • Build a Financial Plan for the Sampson Family. Sharon and Dave Sampson are the parents of two children, but they have made few plans regarding their financial future. They are eager to start saving toward a new car, their children's post-secondary education, and their retirement. Students apply chapter concepts to counsel the Sampsons. The Sampsons - A Continuing Case and accompanying worksheets are provided on MyLab Finance;
  • Build a Financial Plan for Brad Zelinski. Brad has expensive tastes - as evidenced by his soaring credit card balance - and he needs assistance in gaining control over his finances. The case materials and worksheets for Brad Zelinski - A Continuing Case are also available on MyLab Finance.
  • Dynamic Study Modules. Using a highly personalized, algorithmically driven process, Dynamic Study Modules continuously assess student performance and provide additional practice in the areas where they struggle the most. Each Dynamic Study Module, accessed by computer, smartphone or tablet, promotes fast learning and long-term retention. 
  • Learning Catalytics. Learning Catalytics allows students to use any web-enabled device to participate in-class. Instructors can access a library of prebuilt questions or construct questions on their own to keep students engaged in the lecture. Learning Catalytics can be assigned to students synchronously or asynchronously and used for individual or group work. It can also place students in discussion groups based on their responses and location, regardless of class size.

Table of contents

  1. Overview of a Financial Plan
  2. Applying Time Value Concepts
  3. Planning with Personal Financial Statements
  4. Using Tax Concepts for Planning
  5. Banking Services and Managing Your Money
  6. Assessing, Managing, and Securing Your Credit
  7. Purchasing and Financing a Home
  8. Auto and Homeowner's Insurance
  9. Health and Life Insurance
  10. Investing Fundamentals
  11. Investing in Stocks
  12. Investing in Bonds
  13. Investing in Mutual Funds
  14. Retirement Savings Planning
  15. Retirement Income Planning
  16. Estate Planning

Author bios

Dr. Jeff Madura is presently Emeritus Professor of Finance at Florida Atlantic University. He has written several successful finance texts, including International Financial Management (in its 13th edition), and Financial Markets and Institutions (in its 12th edition). He has more than 200 articles on financial topics published in academic journals, including Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis; Journal of Banking and Finance; Journal of Money, Credit and Banking; Financial Management; Journal of Financial Research; Journal of Financial Services Research; and Financial Review. Dr. Madura has received multiple awards for excellence in teaching and research. He has also served as a consultant for financial services firms. He has served as a director for the Southern Finance Association and Eastern Finance Association, and he is also former president of the Southern Finance Association.

Hardeep Gill is presently an instructor in the JR Shaw School of Business at NAIT. Since 1995, he has been professionally involved in various aspects of the financial services industry and instructing. He has developed numerous courses on topics related to finance and financial services. In addition to numerous other professional designation programs, Hardeep has completed the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation program and he is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder. He has been nominated for Instructional Excellence Awards and is continually trying to improve personal finance pedagogy, most recently with the application of software.

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