This course develops the financial mathematics required for the analysis of financial and insurance transactions. Topics covered include: mathematics of compound interest; valuation of cash flows of simple insurance contracts; analysis and valuation of annuities, bonds, loans and other securities; yield curves and immunisation; introduction to stochastic interest rate models and actuarial applications.

The approach adopted in this course is one of assisted self-study. While reading this subsection, please refer to the detailed course schedule.

Course materials are broadly organised in 7 categories. They consist of:

• Overview videos/ videos on common mistakes for each module
• Lecture recordings (available after each in-person lecture)
• Fully annotated lecture slides (available after each in-person lecture)
• Prescribed/reference books
• Exercises with solutions
• Selected past quizzes and exams for advanced exercises
• Downloadable "R tutorials" (platform for students to use R to solve problems)

A student is required to achieve 50% to pass the course.

The required textbooks for the course are:

• Broverman, S.A. (2015/2017), Mathematics of Investment and Credit, 6th/7th Edition, ACTEX Publications. [A solutions manual is available for purchase. The 5th Edition is still largely similar to the 6th and 7th Editions, so it is possible to learn with the 5th Edition as well. However, the 4th, 3rd and 2nd Editions are not recommended.]
• Sherris, M. (1996), Money and Capital Markets, Pricing, Yields and Analysis, 2nd Edition, Allen & Unwin.

Additional (optional) readings are:

• Daniel, J. W. and Vaaler, L. J. F. (2007), Mathematical Interest Theory, Pearson, Prentice Hall. [A book similar to Brovermans, useful as a second reference if a second, different explanation is necessary. It also has the advantage of discussing the use of modern calculators and explaining how to use them.]
• Boyle, P.P., Cox, S.H., Dufresne, D., Gerber, H.U., Mueller, H.H., Pedersen, H.W., Pliska, S.R., Sherris, M., Shiu, E.S., Tan, K.S. (2001) Financial Economics: With Applications to Investments, Insurance and Pensions, Harry H. Panjer Ed., The Actuarial Foundation, Schaumburg, Illinois. [An advanced textbook, perhaps a bit too advanced for the level of the course.]
• Gerber, H.U. (1997), Life Insurance Mathematics, Springer-Verlag, 3rd Edition. [The absolute classic in Life Insurance Mathematics. Useful as an extremely concise optional reading. A new edition is not likely to appear in a near future.]
• Bowers, N.L. Gerber, H.U., Hickman, J.C., Jones, D.A. and Nesbitt, C.J. (1997), Actuarial Mathematics, Society of Actuaries, 2nd Edition. [Another classic useful reference; a new edition is not likely to appear in a near future.]

All these books are available from the library, some of them with copies in the reserve.

For closed book exams, students will only be allowed to bring into the examinations for the Actuarial courses in the Bachelor of Actuarial programme the text "Formulae and Tables for Actuarial Examinations". This text must not be annotated. All students in the actuarial courses should purchase a copy of this text if they wish to use this in the final examinations for this course. The text is available from the UNSW Bookshop or the UK Institute of Actuaries.

The course Moodle website is available from the UNSW TELT platform.

To access the Moodle online support site for students, follow the links from that website to UNSW Moodle Support/Support for Students. Additional technical support can be obtained from [email protected] (02 9385 1333).

All course contents will be available from the course website. It is essential that you visit the site regularly (at least once in two days) to see any announcements posted there by the course coordinator, as it will be assumed that they are known to you within a reasonable time.

Feedback is regularly sought from students and continual improvements are made based on this feedback. At the end of this course, you will be asked to complete the myExperience survey, which provides a key source of student evaluative feedback. Your input into this quality enhancement process is extremely valuable in assisting us to meet the needs of our students and provide an effective and enriching learning experience. The results of all surveys are carefully considered and do lead to action towards enhancing educational quality.

Each course in actuarial studies at UNSW is reviewed each session by the course co-ordinator using student evaluative feedback from myExperience. Student feedback is taken seriously, and continual improvements are made to the course based on such feedback. Significant changes to the course are communicated to students taking the course. Your input into improving future offerings of the course is highly valued.

Some of the additional developments have been effected in recent years include:

• Replacement of an invigilated mid-term exam by two formative online quizzes;
• Corrections of typos in the exercises and improvement of the solutions;
• Enhancement of Excel lab materials;
• Removal of the module on life contingencies;
• Preparation of online videos to give student an overview (pre-module) on each module and some explanations on common mistakes/misconception (post-module);
• Development of "R tutorials" for students to learn to use R to solve practical problems related to the course.
• Reduction of assessment weight on the final exam.

We repeat that we take students’ feedback extremely seriously and we count on your cooperation when seeking feedback that will help us identify the strengths and weaknesses of the course contents and learning and teaching strategies. We guarantee that the process is entirely anonymous and that your feedback will not have any impact on your final results.