5 Free Online Courses that Make You Personal Finance Savvy

Many of you will put your hands up and say that you don’t have a clue when it comes to your personal finances. It can be a complete shock when you check your credit score report. Luckily, there are a lot of free online personal finance courses out there that will make a world of difference and help youput things into perspective.

A free online personal finance course might well be just what you need. They are designed in such an easy-to-understand way that even the most confused can take the wealth of information onboard. They aren’t excessively long either, so it won’t take forever to complete them. What’s more, you can complete these at your own pace.

5 Free Courses

1. The first of these free online personal finance courses can be found at Alison.com. This course has seven interactive modules and covers everything from opening a bank account, planning to have children, investments and (importantly) preparing for your retirement. It’s very easy to say, when you’re young, that you have all the time in the world, but that retirement time can sneak up on you. Suddenly you’ll realize that, if you haven’t prepared adequately, your golden years could easily become a struggle and not quite the happy relaxing time that everyone looks forward to.
2. The University of Arizona offers a free online personal finance coursewhich has an estimated completion time of 15 hours, and which you can study at your own pace.  This worthy institution interestingly points out that during 2001 in the U.S., there were 1.1 million divorces, yet half again as many bankruptcies–an astonishing fact that’s enough to make anyone sit up and take note. This incredibly well-researched site lists interesting fact after fact and the modules vary from student loans, budgeting, investing, home-buying, cars and bankruptcy.
3. College in Colorado starts off by pointing out how human it is to blame other people for your finances, or even the events in your lives.  This course covers subjects from how your monetary resources affect your purchasing choices, determining a finance plan, and creating a budget. Of particular interest is the section on paying for college, and how investing in such an education might benefit you.
4. The University of California – Irvine offers an excellent course.This free online personal finance course is aimed at defining financial goals. There are drop down menus that provide 22 lessons which, when you select them, are presented in easily readable texts with numerous pages.
5. With an interesting audio introduction, Money Skill  offers a course aimed primarily at young adults, who leave their education without money management skills. Everyone knows that facing life without such skill is a recipe for disaster, and it’s good to see an organization so intent on helping the youth of today. Interactive, the 36 modules have both audio and written text, and are broken down into sections, such as: credit, income, expense, saving and investing, and insurance–there’s also a 36 question pre-test. While this site is indeed youth orientated, this free online personal finance course is applicable to just about anyone; including parents, teachers and employers and can be done either at home or in the classroom. Money Skill offers two versions of this course, one for high school and college age students and the other as a middle school course.

Check Your Credit Score and Report

The shock you may experience when you check your credit score and report may actually be a good thing. It makes you realize that you need some help handling your affairs, and it’s wonderful that there are such excellent courses out there that are free. Undertaking one of them will be one of the best things you might do, as it will not only help you resolve your current situation but will also help you to prepare for your retirement. 

Free online personal finance courses are benefiting thousands of people, not only in the U.S., but the world over. Attending just one of them will help ensure that you’re not one of the poor unfortunates who go through the painful experience of bankruptcy, but instead pull your finances together so that you can have an enjoyable and fulfilling life.

Amy Johnson is an active blogger who is fond of sharing interesting finance related articles to encourage people to manage and protect their finances.