If I Had a Million Dollars. Before tackling any curriculum in a personal finance course, I wrote a financial strategy saying I would use my million dollars to further my education. This would create a doorway to make more money in life because I understand that a million dollars is not enough to last me a lifetime. My goal now is still very similar to what it was at the beginning of the quarter. However, I now have a much better understanding of how I intend to manage my money in the near future to prepare for the rest of my life. In the first chapter I determined my SMART goals. Smart goals seem to be the starting point of any financial situation. In building SMART goals, you determine a specific goal, the reality of how to achieve it, and when. I now have a much better understanding of what my real goals are. My smart 6th quarter co-op goal is to save about 20% of my income to put towards the next quarter, so I waste so much money on little things. The spending analysis I completed in Chapter 3 helped me understand that I was spending too much on WANTS rather than needs. It's actually pretty upsetting when I think back to all the things I spent money on that I thought were justifiable at that point, but really aren't. Once we started calculating opportunity costs, I was really shocked because I realized that taking a sick day to go out with friends didn't just mean missing a day of work, but also spending money while I was out! Another goal I have set for myself is to prepare for retirement. In chapters 12-15 we covered investments. I've always been interested in stocks and bonds, but never knew how to apply them to real life. Playing the market game has helped me become more familiar with how to quickly read… middle of paper… be aware of situations that may arise and even make sure I have an umbrella policy to protect myself from those strange incidents that usually they would not be covered. Over the last 11 weeks or so, I've gotten answers to more questions than I can even think of. I have always wondered about things like how the stock market works, how to invest for my future, the steps to take to purchase something like a house or vehicle, and many other things. Now that we've covered all of this information in class and also made projects to connect it to our daily lives, I have a much better understanding of how to become financially stable. Now I can't wait to actually apply all this useful advice to my life. Now, if someone actually gave me a million dollars, or if I won the lottery, I would have a very strategic plan to make the most of it.