“A part of all you earn is yours to keep; This is a classic quote from George Clason’s classic popular book, “The Richest Man in Babylon,” which reasonates and emphasizes the need for financial literacy. If you want to make better decisions about your money and resources.
You must understand the intersection of financial literacy, financial concepts, and financial planning to build on your current wealth and ensure long-term stability.
Making the right decisions about your money cannot be easy if you don’t know your options. Wealth has many components, and money is just one part of it.
These online/offline financial literacy courses can help you learn the basics, tackle a difficult financial goal, or improve your money management and wealth-building skills.
This writing will highlight the Popular Financial Literacy Courses available in 2024.
Table of contents
About Financial Literacy
Financial literacy is the ability to understand and properly apply financial management skills such as debt management, understanding the value of money, and effective planning.
These free online financial education courses will provide you with all the skills and knowledge you need to make informed and effective decisions with your financial resources.
Financial literacy helps you see your entire financial picture clearly to make the best decisions about your financial goals.
Whether you are pursuing a career in finance or want to advance yourself, the courses on offer will provide you with the knowledge and expertise to improve your financial future.
Your financial decisions today for yourself or your business will affect your future wealth.
Make sure your financial resources have the best chance of success. From spending habits and personal financial literacy to an overall understanding of corporate financial health, a large part of your future success depends on fundamental knowledge. Build those skills and set yourself up for success.
Why learn about Financial Literacy?
We cannot underestimate the importance of financial literacy. Financial decisions cannot be made in a vacuum. Resource and money management requires understanding the economic landscape and preparing for future events.
If you want stability, you need a solid foundation in financial literacy. That doesn’t mean you necessarily have to go to school for years, but the more you understand the different aspects of financial literacy, the better prepared you’ll be to make those big decisions that affect your business and your personal life good.
What to consider when looking for a Financial Literacy Course?
A quick online search will yield hundreds, even thousands, of financial literacy course options. Some offer sound counsel, and others don’t quite live up to the hype. Here’s what to look for when narrowing down your top choices.
1. Supplemental Resources
Most online financial literacy courses offer instruction in the form of video lectures. But the best courses also include complimentary resources like reading material, quizzes, and case studies to help you apply your newfound knowledge.
2. Self-paced
There is so much to know about financial literacy that you will need a course that allows you to work at your own pace and fully grasp the material.
Self-paced courses mean you don’t have to rush through lectures, reading, and assignments (without fully understanding them) to meet a deadline.
3. Affordable
If money is tight, don’t overspend on a financial education course. Look for free or affordable options to get the ball rolling.
Once you’re a little more stable, consider courses with a higher price tag. Remember that the enrollment fee should be comparable to similar online offerings even for paid courses.
Are Finance Literacy Courses really worth it?
Financial literacy is about saving, spending, investing, and protecting your money properly so you can live your goal of living well.
Sadly, it isn’t taught in school, and managing your money can be difficult. We are often forced to learn financial literacy through trial and error, and it’s too easy to make mistakes that can have lifelong consequences. Mastering money management requires knowledge, skills, and the right mindset.
You can find dozens of financial skills to learn the basic money management principles. However, if you are one of those people who learn best through guided classes and have the opportunity to put what you have learned into practice, a financial literacy course may be a better option.
The best financial literacy courses offer the opportunity to learn from experts who will take you one-by-one through the crucial elements of financial literacy, putting your knowledge to the test along the way.
Want to be rich as a student? Check out the Personal Finance Habits: 11 Things Students Must Do To Be Rich
What are the Financial Literacy Courses?
While many good financial literacy courses charge little or nothing, finding one that is worth your time is important. Let’s dive into the list to find the best financial literacy courses.
1. edX’s Finances for Everyone
For a free course, edX’s Finance for All is as comprehensive a course as it gets. However, what sets the course apart is its collegiate course structure, which advances students with quality instruction and resources while providing them with a unique learning experience.
The course also includes tutorial videos that are similar to on-campus discussion groups. There is an online discussion forum where students can post and review questions and share comments with teaching assistants and other students.
In general, the course is designed for beginners with an emphasis on improving financial literacy. It begins with an in-depth study of the time value of money as a basis for understanding and appreciating the many uses of finance to analyze our personal choices.
Length: NA
2. Udemy’s the Core Four of Personal Finance
Let’s get back to basics with this course that focuses on managing your debt, reducing your expenses, financing a home, retirement, and everything in between.
Length: 18 lectures/ 1 hour
3. Udemy’s Financial literacy 101
For a roundup of all finance-related topics, try this beginner’s course that explains everything from loans to taxes to various topics like going to college, buying a house, or getting married.
Length: 53 lectures/ 3 hours)
4. Coursera’s Personal and Family Financial Planning
Developed by the University of Florida, this is for people of all ages, at any point in their careers. In addition to the basics, it covers investing, risk management, and creating your own personal financial plan.
Note: Free without certification
Length: 9 weeks
5. edX’s Personal Finance Planning
As the description states, “Have you seen a movie where successful Wall Street characters dropped some cool-sounding financial jargon and you smiled and nodded without knowing what you were saying?”
This course is for anyone who has just said “yes” enthusiastically.
Length: 5 weeks (3–4 hours per week)
6. edX’s Finance for Everyone: Smart Tools for Decision-Making
Taught by the University of Michigan, this course explores the “Beauty and Power of Finance.” It covers how to make wise decisions when considering your financial situation, both as a professional and as an individual.
Length: 6 weeks/ 5-6 hours per week
7. Alison’s Financial Literacy
More than just knowing what to do with your money, understanding what it is, how it works, and what it means for your personal and professional life.
This interactive course will help you set up your accounts, and budget, and work with taxes and government benefits.
Length: 6-10 hours
8. Alison’s Introduction to Managing Your Personal Finance Debts
If debt is your biggest concern, this course is for you. You’ll learn how to create a debt table, how to contact credit card companies, how to prioritize your debt and more that will get you into that happy “debt-free” zone.
Length: 1 hour
9. Alison’s Introduction to Simple and Compound Interest
Would you like someone to walk you through the concepts of simple and compound interest in an easy-to-understand way? You’ll love this course, which focuses on what these concepts mean for your loans.
Length: 1-2 hours
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10. Skillshare’s My Financial Mountain: Understanding Your Path to a Solid Financial Foundation
Whatever your situation, this course will take you on a realistic and effective path to financial stability in just seven steps.
Length: 13 videos/ 24 minutes
11. Personal Finance by Missouri State University on iTunes
Personal finance tips for on the go? Download this course to your iPhone now and take the knowledge wherever your money takes you.
Length: 8 videos
12. Khan Academy’s Personal Taxes
Confused why your paycheck feels so low when you see it? Here’s your guide to state taxes and how to calculate your take-home salary.
Length: 10 lectures
13. Khan Academy on Housing
If you’re ever planning to rent or buy a home, you might want a refresher on the key aspects of mortgages, insurance, and real estate.
Length: 19 lectures
14. Khan Academy’s Investment Vehicles, Insurance, and Retirement
To make sure you’ve covered all of those financial literacy topics, here are the top takeaways you need to know about insurance, investment, and retirement.
Length: 26 lectures
Also, see How can I become a Financial Consultant? Cost, Licenses, Salary, Schools
15. Ramsey Solutions’ Ramsey+
Ramsey+ is more than just a premium course; it’s also a huge community of like-minded people willing to support one another, making it our pick as the best financial literacy course for a support system.
It is an expanded version of his Financial Peace University that adds extensive resources in addition to the online courses. A Ramsey+ membership costs $129 per year and includes several useful mobile-friendly apps.
However, the real value of Ramsey+ is the added motivation you get from community support to stick with your plan.
16. Managing Personal Cash and Credit
This course prepares you to select the right financial institution for your specific situation, evaluate cash management products, and use credit wisely.
The Managing Personal Cash & Credit course is designed for individuals who want to build financial literacy, one of the most pressing needs Americans face today.
17. Khan Academy
Khan Academy has an excellent reputation for providing quality online education services, which is why we voted them the best free financial literacy course. The financial literacy course was largely developed and taught by Sal Kahn, who has a finance background.
The course is based on video lectures, short readings, interactive quizzes, and comment threads. There are nine courses covering the essentials.
The learning website tracks your progress as you work your way through the course, including time spent watching videos, reading texts, and your quiz results.
18. Behavioral Finance Course, Duke University
The five-hour course examines common mistakes people make when making financial decisions and how to avoid them. It helps you discover your own biases, which leads to poor decision-making.
Duke University has put its academic weight into the development of its Behavioral Finance course, making it our pick as one of the best financial literacy courses for learning behavioral finance.
It is also offered for free as an online course through Coursera.org, a learning platform that curates courses taught by university professors worldwide. While the course is free, you can pay a fee for course certification.
19. Finance for Everyone: Smart Tools for Decision-Making
This introductory finance course is a gateway into the world of finance and explores multiple applications to your everyday life.
Beginning with the time value of money, the course will help you develop a thorough understanding of the many applications of finance.
Using real-life examples, the course will enable you to understand and analyze many personal and professional decisions that we face every day.
You will understand stocks and bonds, learn how to use scarce resources to create value, and use smart tools for everyday decisions.
20. Finance Essentials
This business and management course will prepare you to study finance in an MBA program and to study business administration in general.
As a fully online course, you can work anywhere, anytime: at home, at work, in a library, a coffee shop, or even while traveling (with the appropriate network access).
This course uses a ‘facilitated learning model. To help you get the best learning outcomes from this module, Imperial College Business School offers access to an expert online tutor who will guide you through the study materials and related activities.
Get certified as a financial manager. See the 20 Best Financial Management Certificate Programs In US
FAQs
Financial literacy classes teach students the basics of money management: budgeting, saving, debt, investing, giving, and more. That knowledge lays a foundation for students to build strong money habits early on and avoid many of the mistakes that lead to lifelong money struggles.
Subscribe to financial newsletters. For free financial news in your inbox, try subscribing to financial newsletters from trusted sources.
Listen to financial podcasts.
Read personal finance books
Use social media.
Start keeping a budget.
Talk to a financial professional.
Financial literacy has five key components: earning, spending, saving and investing, borrowing, and protecting.
There are multiple ways you can learn about finance, including online courses, in-person classes, reading financial publications, self-teaching from finance books, and joining a network of financial professionals.
Conclusion
Financial literacy is personal. Everyone has unique needs, specific learning styles, and specific things they want to get out of financial literacy.
However, our writing contains at least one course with a comprehensive curriculum covering the essential elements of financial literacy in an easy-to-use format and is taught by an experienced instructor.
References
- https://www.edx.org/learn/financial-literacy
- https://www.investopedia.com/best-personal-finance-classes
- https://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/family-finance/articles/worthwhile-online-personal-finance-courses
- https://www.themuse.com/advice/manage-your-personal-finances
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