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Dance-Off Party

12 Dec

These are my amazing students! As part of our Business Negotiations class, I asked them to prepare a group dance. They had to work together and we voted on who had the best dance. There were some GREAT ideas here, and I was really proud of them. Make sure you watch the last dance!

 

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English Adjectives are Funny!

9 Oct

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My Students Precisely

21 Sep

Life in China ~ Chinglish Travel

5 Aug

Airport = Airplane Station

(Comes from the fact that we have Subway Stations and Train Stations, so naturally it is a Airplane Station 😛 )

Understanding Compound Interest

14 Jun

As always, this lesson is not intended to be professional advice. This is simply lesson material for ESL students in a Managerial Economics and Corporate Finance class. Posted here for their use or for helping other students.

Corporate Value (值)

Financial officers and Managers are extremely responsible for the monetary (货币) goings-on in their companies. As we said before, the Wealth Maximization Rule means that Financial and Corporate Managers are required to maximize (最大化) the profits (收益) for their investors (投资者). 

However, maximizing profits requires in-depth (深入)planning and micro-managing (微观) your funds today while considering (考虑) future profits as well.

There are two types of Value (值) that you should be aware of in Finance and Economics.

The first is called Present Value (现值) and is the value today of something that will increase in value in the future. ExampleWhen we loan someone $1,000 at 10% interest, we know that our $1,000 loan will increase in value in the future. Present Value = PV.

The second is called Future Value (未来价值) and is the value that the item will have in the future. Future Value = FV.

Interest (利)

I’ll make another post later discussing the many ways to use Present and Future value in your company, but today I just wanted to talk about using them to calculate (计算) “Compound Interest” (复利).  

Usually, when we loan money to someone or invest (投资) our money in something, we do so on the condition that we receive back more money than we put in.  Our corporation is not a charity (慈善机构), we don’t loan you things for free!  The original money we invest is called the Principal (本息).  The extra money we get on top is called the Interest (利).  

Example ~ Company A (a large global corporation) invests $100,000 in a small new business called Company B.  Company B has 10 years to pay it back. But Company A doesn’t do this for free ~ they want to maximize their profits too. That means they have to make some money on this contract (合同).  So they ask Company B to pay an additional 7% per year.   

$100,000 = Principal
7% = Interest

COMPOUND INTEREST (复利)

Problem! ~ 7% of what?  
Answer! ~ It depends:)   It depends on how Company A decides to count it.

There are two separate mathematical formulas (数学公式) you can use to figure out the Interest.  

The first one is called Simple Interest (单利) and I’ve already looked at it before.

The second method is called Compound Interest (复利). Compound Interest says that each payment period, Company B is going to pay an additional 7% of the currently owed principal! Lenders and Investors really like compound interest a lot better than simple interest.  

For example: I borrow $1000 due in two years.  My interest rate is 10%.  

If I use Simple Interest:  Year 1, I owe $1000 + 10% interest = $1100.  Year 2, I owe $1100 + (10% of $1000) = $1200. 🙂 

If I use Compound Interest: Year 1, I owe $1000 + 10% interest = $1100.  Year 2, I owe $1100 + (10% of $1100) = $1210

The formula for Compound Interest is:

I = Interest
P = Present Value
R = Interest Rate
T = Number of Years Involved
N = Number of Times a Year

Example 

Company A (a large global corporation) invests $100,000 in a small new business called Company B.  Company B has 10 years to pay it back. The interest rate is 7% compounded  bi-annually.   What is the Total Interest (利) you will pay over 10 Years?

Calculating FUTURE VALUE and PRESENT VALUE using COMPOUND INTEREST

The total interest is of course important to both Company A and Company B, there are two other important numbers that the financial managers of Company A want to know–the Present Value of their money and the Future Value of their money.  

Future Value

FV = Future Value (how much money you will make in total)
PV = Present Value

R = Interest Rate
T = Number of years involved
N = Times per Year

Using our example above with Company A & B, the Future Value is calculated like this:

That means Company A will make a total of $286,968.46 if they invest their $100,000 in Company B now. Over 10 years, their $100,000 will change into $386,968.46.:) We like this plan!

Present Value

Sometimes, for example with bonds (债券), we know the Future Value (how much money will be paid to us in the end). But we don’t know how much money has to be invested (Present Value) to get that future result.  So Present Value is calculated by the formula: 

PV = Present Value 
FV = Future Value

R = Interest Rate
T = Number of years involved
N = Number of Times per Year

Example: Mary Jane knows that in 4 years, she needs to have a total of $150,000 to pay her college tuition. She has an interest-generating account that gives her a 4% compound interest rate bi-annually on everything she puts in. How much money should she invest today (Present Value) in order to have $150,000 in 4 years?

That means that Mary Jane needs to put $101,336.67 in her bank account now in order to get $150,000 in the future. 

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KEY TERMS TO REMEMBER

  1. Value (值)
  2. Present Value (现值)
  3. Future Value (未来价值)
  4. Interest (利)
  5. Simple Interest (单利)
  6. Compound Interest (复利)
  7. Principal (本息)
  8. Monthly (每月一次)
  9. Weekly (每周)
  10. Annually (每年)
  11. Bi-Annually (一年两次)
  12. Quarterly (季刊)

FORMULAS TO REMEMBER

Compound Interest

Future Value

Present Value

Smart Elephant

14 Jun

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😁 My student kept mixing up element and elephant today. “The first elephant says you must obey universal laws . . . ” “The second elephant means do not take advantage .. . ” Sounded like one of those “what does my dream mean” conversations :p

Exam Day!

19 Apr

Had our first major Mid-Term exam yesterday (your today). Then we took our online computer exams – Three classes of students in 6 hours (+ another 2 hour class I taught). Busy Day!

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Life in China ~ a Party v. the Party

10 Apr

LMAO!

I was asking my students on our WeChat group (like a Group Chat) if they had class Monday night so we can schedule our exams.

D quickly replied “No, I have a party class.” 0_0

Party class?  Say what!?!  And I wasn’t invited?  How rude!

The group erupted with 63+ Chinese-language messages in a matter of minutes as  the class leader started with “What the HE** is a party class.” Another “ooh, class on how to dance.” “Let’s Party!” “Can I come?” “Do you get to drink?” Lots and lots of laughing pictures and emoticons.

At the same time a whole line of students with”I don’t think the teacher will understand.” “Oh, that’s a bad translation.” “The teacher is going to think you want to go party.” “This is very bad.” “You shouldn’t say that. You cannot trust translation my dear.” “Don’t you know to stop and check every three words?  D replies again–“Oh, no! Now I think the teacher will misunderstand me!” (Horror Face).

At which point, the whole group started posting a series of Chinese phrases that have really bad English translations.  Like “My father-in-law isn’t coming” which translates as “The father-in-law will not be coming to my bed.” It was bad 😛 

My response: “Is that a class party? Party during class? Class about how to party?” This sounds fun and now I’m sad I wasn’t invited to the party lesson! 😦 😦 😦 ”  LOL

Finally, one of them came back with a screen capture of the definition and translation in the Chinese-English dictionary of “Communist Party”–“It’s this one teacher, not a “party class” it’s THE Party class.”  Ah! Makes Much More Sense. . . . And a much better reason for not being able to make the Exam on time! 😛

 

Economics ~ Introduction to Managerial Economics

24 Mar

Hello-our internet sucks, so I’m posting this for some of my students 🙂 You’re welcome to enjoy it too!

What is Managerial Economics?

  • Economics (经济学)= The study of how resources (资源) are created (创造), gathered (搜集,聚集), traded (营业), and divided (分离,划分).
    • Resources = Anything you use to help the company work. Examples: time, money, land, tools, labor, raw materials.
      • Natural Resources (自然资源) = Resources created by nature. Examples: wood, water, air, rocks/stones, flowers, natural chemicals
      • Man-Made Resources (人造资源) = Resources created by humans by either combining (mixing together) or changing natural resources into something new. Examples: jewelry, paint, fabric, steel, hammers.
      • Limited Resources (限制性资源) = Resources either no longer being created or only created in small amounts. Meaning the supply is not enough.Examples: Gold, Diamonds, Water in a desert.
      • Unlimited Resources (无限制性资源) = Where there is a large amount of the resource or it is created fast enough to replace any that is lost. Supply is enough.Examples: Water, Air.
      • Raw Materials (原材料) = The resources that are put into the product. Example: If we make a computer, raw materials would include wires, plastic, metal, paint, springs, etc.
      • Market-Supplied Resources (市场提供的资源) = Resources owned by someone outside of the company. Examples = Taxes, Utilities, Rent, Raw Materials, Wages
      • Owner-Supplied Resources (业主提供的资源) = Resources owned by the company’s owners.
  • Manager (经纪, 经理) = A person who is obligated to ensure the company (or department) is effectively organized and controlled.
  • Managerial Economics (管理经济学) = The study of the best method for managers to create, gather, trade, and divide the company’s resources.

Goal of Effective Managers 

  • Wealth or Profit (收益) Maximization Rule = #1 Goal of Effective Managers is to make the owner’s the most profit (as long as they do so ethically and legally)

How to Maximize Profits (收益)?

  • Profit = Revenue – Cost
  • Two ways to Maximize Profit:
    • Make the Highest Revenue
    • Pay the Lowest Costs

What are Revenue, Cost, and Profits?

  • Revenue (收入) = Total Income or Money the Company makes from its work.
  • Cost (成本)  = The losses or sacrifices the company makes in exchange for getting and using resources in its work. 
    • Opportunity Costs (机会成本) = The company’s costs created because it lost some opportunity. 
      • Opportunity Cost of using Market-Supplied Resources = $$ Spent paying for those resources (you lose the opportunity to spend the money on something else)
      • Opportunity Cost of using Owner-Supplied Resources = $$, time, effort lost that the owner would have had if they spent their resources on something else.
    • 2 Types of Opportunity Costs
      • Explicit Costs (明确的成本) = Any money the company pays owners of Market-Supplied Resources
      • Implicit Costs (隐性成本) = Anything the Owner loses by giving the company Owner-Supplied Resources
    • Total Economic Cost = Explicit Costs + Implicit Costs 
  • Profit (收益)  = Everything the company gets to keep from the Revenue after it pays its costs!
    • Present Profit v. Future Profit
      • Present Profit = What we are keeping right now. (Most Important)
      • Expected Future Profit = What we think we’ll get in the future (Companies with higher expected future profits have more value. While companies with a possibility of low future profits will have a lower value)
    • Profit is Counted in Two Ways
      • Example: Joshua has a company (Company A) that just made $150,000 in Revenue. The company spends $9,000 on Taxes and Utilities, $3,000 on Wages, and $5,000 on Raw Materials. Joshua gave the company the building but would have made $2,000 if he used it as a school instead. He also lost $5,000 on his original investment. 
      • Economic Profit (经济利润) = Revenue – Total Economic Cost
        • What is Company A’s Economic Profit?
      • Accounting Profit (会计利润) = Revenue – Explicit Costs.
        • What is Company A’s Accounting Profit?
      • In Managerial Economics, we usually mean Accounting Profit when we say “Profit”

More to come later 🙂

Life in China ~ Bring It (Managerial Econ Style)

22 Mar

😛 I am teaching a class of students whose English is particularly bad, but I had them last semester too and we have been moving along. It takes translating every couple of words (money, war, economy, market, cash, coin, card) to communicate, but we were happy with our steady if slow pace 🙂 

Then Today, I had two new students join the class from Int’l Trade 1 (the best students, include one who has excellent English). At the beginning, I asked the students to translate one of the words as usual. Normally it takes us a bit to look it up and figure out a Chinglish version. Now, immediately the new boy spits out verbatim the precise 3 sentence long definition from the textbook by memory. 0_0 It was the funniest thing. The entire class stopped, turned and stared at him. One girl threw up her hands, another started groaning. The entire group almost in unison went “ooooohhhhhh” and one actually WHIMPERED. LOL. He jerked back and looked around. After that he figured out pretty quick the others weren’t at that level. 🙂 Seriously, we’re working at “this is called demand” level and he’s off on QD = a + bP + cT + . . . . level. Boom. . . mic dropped, bar raised.

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