Examines financial decisions people must make in their personal lives. Covers personal taxation, housing and mortgages, consumer credit, insurance (including life, health, property and casualty), and retirement and estate planning. Also reviews the common financial investments made by individuals, including stocks, bonds, money market instruments and mutual funds. This class involves extensive use of the internet for access to information. (Students in the Finance Program may use this course only as a free elective, not as a course creditable towards the Finance Program.)

This course provides a survey of financial analytics applications in contexts such as investment analysis, portfolio construction, risk management, and security valuation. Students are introduced to financial models used in these applications and their implementation using popular languages such as R, Matlab, and Python, and packages such as Quantlib. A variety of data sources are used: financial websites such as www.finance.yahoo.com, government sites such as www.sec.gov, finance research databases such as WRDS, and especially Bloomberg terminals. Students will complete projects using real-world data and make effective use of visualization methods in reporting results. There are no pre or co-requisites; however, instructor permission is required – student aptitude for quantitative work will be assessed; waived for students enrolled in quantitative programs such as the MS-Computational Finance which have pre-requisites in the areas of calculus, linear algebra, and programming.

Students will learn the criteria that owners and investors follow in developing hotel concepts and locating them in key markets where they will succeed. Students will also learn the steps in site selection, working with the trades in the design and construction phase, and turning the operation over to management. This course will provide the knowledge necessary to make key decisions regarding new construction, renovation, restoration, lease or ownership as well as the acquisition, repurposing, and disposition of assets. Students will also learn about the maintenance and upkeep of hospitality real estate.

This course introduces students to the application of data analytical methods and software in the analysis and management of hospitality operations. The hospitality industry is among the most data-intensive industries and this course prepares students to identify, collect, and analyze data in support of organizational decision-making. Students will learn the application of data analytics in improving industry revenues, optimizing and managing marketing programs, and in human capital management.