Foreword

Personal finance has been attracting much more people’s interests, especially young people. Around the world, personal finance insights have gradually become popular, and the need for personal budgeting is also growing and expanding. In recent years, learning about this field as well as the need to manage personal finance in a scientific and effective way to adapt to the rapid development and integration of the Vietnamese economy has also been a clear trend.

Meanwhile, we are living and working in an increasingly uncertain environment of which the global pandemic Covid19- is a clear example. It has led to a dramatic loss of human life and a strong impact on all aspects of life – society, from health to economy. In Vietnam, we have witnessed a movement of laborers tried to leave the city to return to their home provinces because of loss of income and financial distress. Long-term social distancing has caused employees to face serious difficulties on personal finance: job loss, no income, exhausted emergency fund, no accumulated savings, no defensive insurance.

Therefore, the fact has proven that when life is more and more uncertain, individuals have to pay much more attention to the accumulation, control and provision of personal financial risks. In other words, managing personal finance that is already important will become even more essential.

The most common goal of personal finance is to maximize the satisfaction of needs – usually infinite – in the context of limited personal financial resources and always in the presence of risk. In order to achieve this goal, individuals must set their own specific goals, then make implementation plans and effectively control the budget through the following pillars: income, expenses, accumulation, emergency provision, investment, debt management and hedging.

Besides, the boom and spread of the industrial revolution 4.0, especially the fintech applications, have provided us many solutions and convenient tools to control spending, use in an economical manner, etc. However, since there are too many new products and services from many different suppliers, too much information that is difficult to verify, so many potential risks are unavoidable.

This fact requires us to be acquired with a minimum of basic and principled understanding of personal finance. While there have been many different documents on personal finance published in the recent time, especially from the Internet, limitations on the unsystematic and incomplete “learning method” still exist. From my point of view, in order that those who are not very knowledgeable or trained in finance can access personal financial effectively, it should be both basic and academic, easy to understand, easy to read, and vivid document so that readers can imagine how to apply it to life, especially in Vietnam.

From the above criteria, I highly appreciate the handbook Personal Finance - Consumer Finance for young people that you are in your hand meets this desire. With a practical approach through specific situations throughout the chapters, the author has vividly explained financial knowledge that is often considered to be dry. As a result, readers will easily understand the methods to plan cash inflow, cash outflow, set goals and make personal financial planning based on the use of debt instruments, investment opportunities as well as financial risk management skills for a financial well-being future.

I would like to introduce to you an interesting book on personal finance.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Khac Quoc Bao

Vice Rector, School of Technology and Design, University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City – UEH

Our dear friend,

Home Credit and the author team welcome you to the first step of the journey in realising “Now You Know” about finance!

“Finance” is often said to be a rather dry subject. However, mastering the skills of financial management is extremely important not only for business but also for our daily activities.

We are always concerned about how Home Credit can help you access the most complete and accurate financial knowledge. As a result, the idea of the “Now You Know” series of activities was born. “Now You Know - A Guide to Smart Money Management” is the first project in our series, with the collaboration between Home Credit and financial experts in Vietnam. The content of this book is also being transmitted by Home Credit through many other formats such as videos & photos on social networks, or gamified on the Home Credit App to cover personal finance knowledge in a way that is easier to understand and remembered by the general public.

We hope that with “Now You Know” series, you will be confident and ready to seize the opportunities ahead.

“Now You Know” Project Team - Home Credit Vietnam

Faced with an unpredictable future and societal and economic uncertainties, personal financial management is getting more and more attention:

HOW CAN YOU BALANCE YOUR SPENDING BUDGET SO YOU CAN ENJOY LIFE, HAVE AN EMERGENCY FUND, AND SAVE FOR THE FUTURE? ABOVE ALL, PERSONAL FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT IS ABOUT GROWING YOUR ASSETS BY CHOOSING THE RIGHT INVESTMENT CHANNEL AT THE RIGHT TIME.

With statistics showing that nearly 96% of the Vietnamese population don’t invest in the stock market and only nearly 70% access the bank service, we seem to have heard about personal financial management without fully understanding what it is. For a lot of people, this concept doesn’t seem relevant to their lives – they think personal financial management is only for the person with “having money to spare”. In fact, personal financial management is a need-to-do daily task for everyone regardless of high income or low income, only we may not realize it. We do it by calculating expenses, accumulating or saving for travel, buying a computer, a car or a house or finding the right place to get a consumer loan or a business loan. For many people, these decisions still often very instinctive. They are not interested in collecting information, estimating risks, choosing the optimal option in uncertain conditions with hedging. The basic knowledge of personal finance has not been paid enough attention and taught at the high school or even university level in Vietnam, while it being a skill everyone needs to know in developed countries. In the scope of this book, our team of authors hopes to provide you with basic instructions on personal finance and some of the most popular and relevant bits of knowledge about consumer finance as a start to your journey to develop your and your family's financial resources.

– Team of authors