The Best Free (or Cheap) Finance Courses for Beginners
Money is a taboo subject, and many of us have lived our entire educational careers without taking part in any serious money management lessons—no doubt to our own detriment. Many of us manage to buy houses, earn and save surprisingly large amounts of income, without understanding anything about our money at all. This may be one of the reasons why the average American only saved a measly $65,000 for retirement with an average debt of $90,460 .
Self-study in money matters is essential, but if you’re already struggling with money, you certainly don’t want to spend a lot of money on financial literacy courses. Fortunately, we also live in the golden age of free (or very cheap) online education. If you put in the effort and dedicate some time to it, you can learn the basics of personal finance fairly easily—and without spending too much of your dwindling money. Here are some of the best free or low cost finance courses for beginners.
Financial courses that cover the basics
If every time you use a credit card it’s like a fun game of “Will it go down?” and your preferred method of dealing with invoices is to put them unopened in a box labeled “Problems for me in the future.” You will need to master the basics before moving forward. Luckily, there are some great courses to help you achieve basic financial literacy:
- Personal Finance 101: Everything You Need to Know . This is a free course that is only three hours long, but by the end of it, you will have a basic understanding of just about everything related to personal finance, including credit scores, budgeting, debt, and savings. If you are an absolute beginner when it comes to money, this is a great place to start.
- Financial Basics Everyone Should Know . This is another course designed for beginners that covers all the basics. It costs $27 per month to join LinkedIn Learning, but you can start with a one-month free trial, so you can take this course for free if you cancel before the 30-day period is up. Money, personal finance and investments are a mystery to you? Here’s how to educate yourself.
Once you are familiar with these overarching topics, you can explore some more specific courses:
- Taxes: If you find taxes and the mysterious way they reduce your paycheck confusing, this free course from Khan Academy is a great primer.
- Budgeting . The foundation of healthy personal finance begins and ends with knowing how to budget and stick to it. Budgeting 101 from Credit.org is a good free overview of how to budget like an adult.
- Savings: If your personal finance vision is to constantly move credit card debt to new zero-interest cards, you need How to Save Money: Making Smart Financial Decisions by EdX. The course is free for auditing, but if you want a certificate you will need to cough up some money, but (pro tip) you don’t need a certificate.
- Debt Management: Debt is pretty much built into modern life in America, meaning that no matter what you do, you’re likely to have some debt to deal with. But there are good debts and bad debts, and managing them will change your life. Alison’s Introduction to Managing Your Personal Financial Debt is a free course to help you get out of debt, and getting out of debt is like a superpower in today’s world. Another good debt management course is Build Sustainable Wealth and Get Rid of Debt by LinkedIn Learning. Again, you need a membership to take the course, but if you can do it in a month, you can cancel making the course free.
Best Retirement Planning Courses
People are increasingly considering retirement – at least the classic concept of relaxation and financial security in old age – as a myth . The truth is, it shouldn’t be. The other truth is that no matter how old you are or how little you have saved, there is almost always time to put some sort of retirement plan in place. To do this, you need to understand how it all works. Purdue University offers a terrific primer with its free Planning for a Safe Retirement course, which takes you through the basics of retirement planning.
Another great resource is investment firms that are interested in inspiring you to invest in your retirement. Vanguard offers a series of free online courses , broken down by age group, so no matter where you are in life, you can get educated and start making plans instead of playing the lottery with increasing desperation.
If you need a little more structure, Udemy offers The Only Retirement Guide You’ll Ever Need , which takes a holistic approach to addressing all aspects of the financial reality of retirement. The course isn’t free, but it only costs $12, which almost any financial advisor would call a good deal.
Courses on the basics of investing
Sometimes it seems like everyone in the universe is investing, day trading and sipping champagne while their huge profits are rolling in. While not entirely true (especially in 2022), it’s true that a sober, prudent investment strategy can be a great way to go. to accumulate wealth and finance retirement, which goes beyond the basics covered in the courses above. But if you’re a financial newbie (or, like me, financially incompetent), investing seems ridiculously risky.
Part of the perceived risk is ignorance: the best way to lose money is to invest in something you don’t understand, and if you don’t have a financial background, that’s literally it . Several courses can fix this for you:
- ” Managing Your Personal Investments ” on LinkedIn Learning explains why investing your money isn’t just for retirement and doesn’t require huge risk or huge assets to get started. Again, there is a cost here, but only if the free trial expires.
- Fundamentals of Investing! Another $12 course from Udemy, this is a comprehensive introduction to the fundamentals of investing, demystifying the process, the risks associated with it, and general strategies.
- The Morningstar Investing Classroom , from investment advisory firm Morningstar, is a free in-depth dive into investing that covers a wide range of topics and is the perfect complement to the more basic courses above. It is still intended for the relative beginner but goes a little deeper into investment strategies and concepts.
Of course, you can’t talk about financial topics these days without mentioning cryptocurrencies. Despite the hype, cryptocurrency is probably not the best place for people new to personal financial knowledge, but that certainly didn’t stop anyone. If you think “buying the dip” describes your financial spirit animal, at least understand the basics before diving into them:
- Cryptocurrency Basics: Buy, Sell, Trade Crypto from Udemy is an entry-level course for $14. Start here if all you know about cryptocurrency is that there is one with a cute dog as a mascot. It won’t teach you top-secret get-rich-quick strategies (thank god), but it will help you get comfortable with the basics.
- RocketFuel Crypto Education by Robert Kiyosaki and Jeff Wang is for people who love money but have never seen a line of computer code and see crypto as an investment opportunity, not a path to freedom from tyranny or anything like that. This will give you a solid foundation in crypto that is a bit beyond the scope of Udemy’s course so you can start making rational decisions about it.
Financial literacy is a key component of adulthood and a key component of living without a lot of the anxiety, stress, and sleepless nights that come with insolvency and debt. These courses will cost you next to nothing but your time, but the rewards can be huge.