I appreciate that the answers to the problems are in the back of this book. The problems were pretty hard for me. Some problems seemed ambiguous though - like #3 on pg 122.

"A sum of $100 is placed into a fund at the beginning of every other year for eight years. If the fund balance at the end of eight years is $520, find the rate of simple interest earned by the fund."

Am I supposed to consider deposits to occur at years (1,3,5,7) or years (0,2,4,8)? It's frustrating, but I don't really mind because these issues might come up in real life.

The Kellison book has its advantages and disadvantages, but it depends on what your objective is. If you want to pass Actuarial exams use this book as a reference but don't bother with the excercises, use the Actek Manuals in past exams. It does an excelllent job at describing the Theory of Interest, Bonds but it really falls short on more advanced subject material such as Interest Rate Immunization, Brownian Motion/Stochastic Theory, derivatives and portfolio theory. Granted that these subjects might be beyond the scope of the text. But overall go out and buy it, I still haven't found a finance book that has completely fulfilled me but maybe that's because I'm too picky.

Kellison's book is an appraisal industry standard. and is highly recommended for use by others who want to know how interest rates are calculated. For students who need supplementary material, I would recommend a good mathematics of finance textbook such as the later editions by Cissell, et al. or Simpson, et al. both titled, amazingly, Mathematics of Finance. Another excellent book of a less academic nature is Carrington, The Book of Interest and Money. For those who would understand both the maths and the calculator keystrokes, try the best book ever written (opinionated, aren't I) on this subject: Greynolds, et al. Financial Analysis Using Calculators: Time Value of Money. This book was published in 1980 by McGraw-Hill, but hasn't been superceded, to my knowledge, by anything better. Also, a must read in connection with this subject is regulation Z of the Truth-in-Lending Act. Study these materials and you will never have the wool pulled over your eyes by your friendly local banker, real estate broker, car finance company, loan shark, or rent-to-own furniture dealer. In fact, you'll know much more than they do and will be able to catch their mistakes (and they make them).