Best Financial Education Courses

 

Comparing the best personal finance courses

Closer look into the best courses on personal finance

1. Khan Academy’s Personal Finance

Description: Khan Academy has become one of the most recognizable names in the educational space and for good reason. The courses offered by this brand provide insightful knowledge into a number of topics and their personal finance course is no exception.

As one of the best courses on personal finance available, this course will cover topics including:

• Saving and budgeting

• Interest and debt

• Investments and retirement

• Income and benefits

• Housing

• Car expenses

• Taxes

• Paying for college

• Cybersecurity

The entire course is self-guided and allows a person to go at their own pace, making it great for those who like to take the time to review different topics.

Duration: 12 hours of video content

Cost: Free

Pros:

• Multiple different topics covered under one single course

• The course is completely free of charge

• Long overall length means adequate time is spent on each subject

Cons:

• Many of the learning pages link out to other learning sites, which can be confusing for readers
• No teachers available to assist with questions related to the topics

2. Udemy’s Personal Finance 101: Everything You Need to Know

Description: Udemy may be a lesser known brand as compared to Khan Academy, but that doesn’t mean their Personal Finance 101 course is worse. Serving as a quick three-hour course that covers the basics of personal finance, a person can learn a lot from this course. There is absolutely no prior financial knowledge or experience required in order to complete the course, and no external software is required either. As an added bonus, Udemy does not require those taking the course to have any knowledge of mathematics or statistics. The topics covered include:

• Developing a financial foundation

• The basics of bank accounts

• The basics of credit cards

• The basics of taxes

• The basics of loans

• Everything to know about debt management

• How to finance your education

• The basics of investing

• The basics of car shopping

Duration: 3 hours of video content

Cost: Free

Pros:

• The Udemy personal finance course is completely free of charge

• The topics covered within the course are highly applicable to the average person’s life

Cons:

• Few topics covering ongoing financial management
• The course is relatively short compared to others on this list

3. FINRA Smart Investing Courses

Description: Rather than focusing on specific personal finance skills that relate to everyday life, this best online personal finance course by FINRA focuses on investing. There are six sub-courses a person can consider taking including: Setting Investment Goals, Defining Terms, Risk and Return, Rate of Return, Diversification, and Fees and Expenses. The average person should, at some point in their life, dive into the world of investing, and these FINRA Smart Investing Courses aim to make that happen.

Duration: Variable

Cost: Free

Pros:

• Investing focuses classes help participants grow their wealth over time

• The course is completely free to take

• FINRA is an accredited and registered financial protection organization

Cons:

• The courses only focus on investments and no other areas of personal finance
• The topics covered arguably require some financial background to properly comprehend

4. Duke University Behavioral Finance Course

Description: Most people have heard of the accredited Duke University at some point in their life, but did you know they offered financial education courses online and completely free of charge? Their behavioral finance course focuses on the thousands of decisions a person makes in a given day and how the biases of those decisions can impact a person’s financial standpoint. This is a self-guided course, but the material is laid out by Emma Rasiel who is the accredited Professor of the Practice of Economics for the University.

Duration: 5 hours self-guided

Cost: Free

Pros:

• Free personal finance course offered by a top University in the nation

• Mid-length course helps to ensure participants can stay engaged without needing to take too many breaks

Cons:

• The topics covered in this course require some level of financial background
• The topics covered focus more on economics and social studies as opposed to pure personal finance

5. Ramsey Solutions’ Ramsey+ Financial Peace University

Description: While all of the above are the best free online personal finance courses, the Ramsey Solutions’ Ramsey+ Financial Peace University is a unique paid for option to consider. Covering the broad topic of how to pay off debt fast and start saving money for the future, this course aims to help a person stop living paycheck-to-paycheck. The promise is that a person can pay off their debt without two years, but that in just three months a person can start feeling significantly better about their money.

Duration: Variable

Cost: $79.99

Pros:

• Over 10 million people have completed the course as of this point in time

• Ramsey Solutions’ Ramsey + offers a wide range of courses and a community of like-minded individuals looking to improve their financial position

Cons:

• The course is not free and costs $79.99

6. The Income Tax Course from H&R Block

Description: H&R Block is known around the country for helping people with their taxes, but did you know that they also offer material to help the everyday American understand these taxes? The Income Tax Course from H&R Block is targeted towards future tax preparers, but anybody can learn something new from this course. Trainers in the field assist during the process to answer any questions that may arise, but the course is mainly self-guided and has real-life tax preparation exercises. The topics covered include:

• Tax filing

• Wages and income

• Deductions

• Self-employment income

• Credits

• Retirement contributions and distributions

Duration: 62 hours

Cost: Free, $99-$142 for additional materials

Pros:

• Assistance from professionals in the field who can help answer any questions that may arise

• Free for those who don’t purchase additional materials

• Long course that has plenty of content to absorb over what will likely be multiple weeks

Cons:

• Tax topics can be quite dry, and the course may take a while to get through
• The course can be expensive if a person purchases all the bells and whistles with it

Who should take a personal finance course?

Nobody in the world is above taking a personal finance course, as there are a number of nuances to personal finance that can make it difficult to understand. On top of this, there are always new tips and tricks to learn when it comes to managing personal finances, which a personal finance course can outline.

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