Finance becomes a heck of a lot easier when we know how to use our financial calculator. This is a walkthrough of how to use the Queen's University recommended finance calculator (SHARP EL-738XT).

Understanding Financial Variables

Before diving into the calculator itself, let's break down the key financial variables you'll frequently use:

• N: Represents the total number of payments or periods. For instance, if you're considering a 5-year loan with monthly payments, N would be 5 x 12 = 60.

• I/Y: Stands for the interest rate per year. 

• PV: The present value, or the initial amount of money. In investment scenarios, this could be the initial investment. In loan scenarios, it's the loan amount.

• PMT: This denotes the payment amount per period. For annuities or loans, it represents the regular payment amount.

• FV: Future Value. If you're thinking about how much an investment will be worth in the future, this is the number you're after.

• P/Y: Payments per year. For monthly...

The Statement of Cash Flows is an important financial tool for assessing the health of a company. 

Are you able to actually pay your bills?

Is enough money coming in to get through the year?

Can you buy that new piece of equipment?

There are three components to a Statement of Cash Flows:

1. Cash from Operating Activities. This can be calculated using the indirect or the direct method. This section analyzes cash flow relating to revenue and expenses. 

2. Cash from Investing Activities. This section looks at the cash into the company and leaving the company for long-term assets. Basically this section is the purchase or sale of property, plant or equipment. 

3. Cash from Financing Activities. This section looks at the cash flow of the repayment or issuing of long-term liabilities like loans and bonds. It also looks at the cash out for paying for dividends.  

Check out the video for a walkthrough of the Statement of Cash Flows, the indirect method...

Numbers are powerful. In my Management Statistics course and my General Data Management class, I always emphasize that we are not just learning statistics. We are learning how to turn data into information and information into good decision-making. 

An election is the perfect time to put this premise to the test, especially in the era of strategic voting.

I live in the riding of Renfrew- Nipissing -Pembroke. To demonstrate to my summer students that collecting good data is the real challenge and the key to good decision-making, we ran a poll. A week later we all regretted this decision but here we are with a deeper understanding of polling vs projections and how to make use of our first-year university statistics.

When looking at riding specific projections, such as 338Canada, it is important to understand the method behind them. These are projections based on national polling and historic voting patterns. They do not account for microtrends and they are not the result of...

For the past month I have been working with incoming and returning commerce students who are concerned about the transition back to in-person learning. The questions range from what skills are they missing from the past year to what to wear to class and how to take notes when there isn’t a recording to refer back to (don’t worry there probably will be). These are genuine questions. The last 18 months have been hard and there is a deep fear of not being prepared for what comes next. 

It is not the fears that concern me. Every year students and parents alike are worried about not being prepared. My concern is the hope everyone seems to have. Almost every student or parent I talk to has assumed that in-person learning will resolve the issues Zoom University has been plagued with. 

Over the last year and half, students everywhere have felt lost and let down by their educational experiences. Issues like uncertainty about what they should be focusing their...