To achieve your goal of leading a successful life, personal finance is all about managing your money through prudent saving, spending, investing, and insurance. However, managing your money may be challenging because personal finance is seldom taught in schools. We are often compelled to learn personal finance the hard way, and it’s much too simple to make errors that might last a lifetime. It requires the correct attitude, abilities, and expertise to become an expert money manager. Personal Finance Courses can help you with that.
Numerous best-selling writers have written personal finance books that may help you understand the foundational ideas of money management. However, a personal finance course could be a better choice if you’re the kind of person who learns best when given the chance to practice what you study under guidance.
The top personal finance courses provide you with the chance to study under knowledgeable instructors who will step-by-step walk you through the essential components of personal finance while also assessing your understanding. Finding a personal finance course that is well worth your time is crucial, even though many excellent ones cost little or nothing at all.
Top Personal Finance Courses
1. Finances for Everyone: Smart Tools for Decision Making
It’s extensive, jam-packed with educational materials, self-paced, created and taught by a university, and it costs nothing. For this reason, the greatest all-around personal finance course that we found is Finances for Everyone: Smart Tools for Decision Making from edX.
The most thorough course available for free is edX’s Finances for Everyone. However, its college course format sets it apart, offering students a distinctive learning experience along with top-notch coaching and tools to keep them going ahead.
Gautam Kaul, a finance professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, is the instructor for edX’s one of the Personal Finance Courses. The course lasts for six weeks, with five to six hours each week, and consists of weekly learning sequences made up of brief films that include interactive learning tasks so that students can put what they’ve learned into practice.
Additionally, the course contains training films that resemble discussion groups held on campus. Students may pose questions, evaluate them, and react with other students and teaching assistants in an online discussion forum.
- Provided by: edX.
- Price: Free (Audit Track), $59 (Verified Track).
2. Life Skills Personal Finance
Similar to Finance for Everyone, this course is designed for the average customer. It covers financial circumstances for everyone—individuals, families, college students, debtors, and investors. Ten modules total, each with textual and video material, make up the course. Financial Literacy, the free companion course to Personal Finance, advances this knowledge via graded examinations and interactive exercises.
Expect to learn about budgeting, interest, credit and loan debt, purchasing vs. leasing, renting vs. buying, how to pay for education, and taxation. Students may also expect to learn about investing and saving tactics. There is no possibility of getting a certificate of completion, even though this course is easily accessible and entirely free.
- Provided by: Khan Academy.
- Price: Free.
3. Ramsey+
It might be difficult for some individuals to change their behaviour, but doing so is essential to managing your finances. Our pick for one of the Best Personal Finance Courses with a support system is Ramsey+ since it’s not only an excellent course but also a large community of individuals who have similar values and are eager to help one another.
Ramsey+ is home to a sizable community of Dave Ramsey’s students who come to learn and help one another in addition to providing top-notch educational courses and tools.
There’s no one more well-known than Ramsey for individuals who like to study under real experts. In addition to being the presenter of a nationally syndicated radio talk program with millions of listeners, he has written many best-selling books on personal finance.
His Financial Peace University has taught thousands of individuals who want to take charge of their money, and it has financial counselors all around the nation. In addition to offering online classes, Ramsey+ offers a more comprehensive version of Financial Peace University. A $129 annual subscription with Ramsey+ gets you access to several helpful, mobile-friendly applications.
- Provided by: Ramsey Solution.
- Price: $57.50.
4. Behavioral Finance
There are no Personal Finance Courses like Duke’s Behavioral Finance course. Students who want to know the rationale behind their financial choices should take this course. It’s a fantastic option for anyone trying to improve their financial decision-making or for those advising others on money management. Pupils may anticipate learning about the psychology behind bad financial, buying, and investing decisions.
There is a quiz after each of the three courses. Students may access all of the course materials for free. It does not, however, come with a completion certificate. You will have to pay the $49 optional upgrade price for that.
- Provider: Duke University.
- Price: Free, $49 for the certificate.
5. Personal & Family Financial Planning from the University of Florida
Coursera is an online education portal that provides courses in several subjects, such as graphic design and cyber security. It’s intended to assist you in learning new skills and launching a career in industries with high demand. You may go through more than 1,600 courses that are provided in collaboration with more than 200 global institutions and businesses.
If you want to master personal financial skills, another excellent course to check out is Coursera’s Personal & Family Financial Planning. Similar to edX, Coursera is a well-known learning platform where courses are offered by prestigious institutions.
Among them is the University of Florida, which is providing this course on personal and family financial planning. It is taught by Michael S. Gutter, an associate professor there and a former Ohio State University student. Although the course is free, you may buy a certificate after you’re done.
There are eight courses overall, plus one bonus module and the contents are identical to those offered by Coursera. They consist of texts, videos, and quizzes. Understanding personal finances, financial statements, tools, and budgets are among the modules covered. Other topics include handling income taxes, establishing and preserving excellent credit, controlling risk, investing principles, using mutual funds, and creating a personalized action plan.
- Provided by: Coursera.
- Price: $983.33.
6. Introduction to Personal Financial Planning
Designed with the average student in mind, this course is excellent for people who want to deepen their knowledge of personal finance and financial planning. Aside from the fundamentals of financial planning, students should anticipate learning about budgeting, record keeping, the Time Value of Money (TVM), tax planning, and wealth development.
Despite being self-paced, the course is planned to last four weeks, with one module for each week. Written and video materials will be included in every unit. Similar to other edX courses, there is no charge for course materials; however, there are additional fees for graded assignments, tests, and the completion certificate. Those add-ons will set you back $199 for this course.
- Provided by: Indiana University.
- Price: Free, $199 for certificate.
7. Personal Finance for Self-Reliance
This course is produced by BYU, a religious university owned and run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), as part of a wider Self-Reliance Services program. That being said, for those who are interested in financial education based on religion, this may be an excellent course. Expect to learn about budgeting, emergency preparedness, investing for the future, getting out of debt, and personal and family finances.
If you exclude the introduction chapter, there are 12 chapters in this course. Articles are included in every chapter, and all except the last include video material. Additionally, a fascinating 218-page handbook with extra information, links, and interactive exercises is available for free download. While they won’t get a certificate of completion, students are urged to become involved in their communities and participate in cohort-style learning.
- Provided by: Brigham Young University.
- Price: Free.
8. Personal Finance Online Course
Suze’s personal finance education is intended for people of all ages, including families. After taking a close look at their financial status, students will proceed to a carefully planned set of classes. She will walk you through investing, debt repayment, retirement savings, and saving for major purchases like a vehicle or house. You’ll also get knowledge on life, house, and school debt repayment.
Along with unrestricted access to this one of the Best Personal Finance Courses, you’ll also get access to a private online community that’s excellent for asking questions and getting help. For students looking for inexpensive, practical guidance and a well-defined set of stages, this course is a great option.
- Provider: Suze Orman.
- Price: $54.
9. Broward College Personal Finance
The goal of the online course Mastering Personal Financial Planning is to provide you with the information and abilities required for long-term, successful personal financial planning. This extensive course covers a wide range of subjects, including boosting credit ratings, making wise investment selections, and creating clear financial objectives and retirement plans.
Budgeting, prudent borrowing and investment, insurance selection, retirement planning, tax planning, and significant purchases are some of the important subjects addressed. You will learn the fundamentals of home accounting, recordkeeping standards, and more in this course.
By the conclusion of the course, you’ll have finished your retirement savings plan, gained the ability to make wise investment selections, and improved your money management skills for a more stable financial future.
- Provided by: Broward College.
- Price: $135.
Final Verdict
Personal money is indeed private. Everybody has different requirements, unique learning preferences, and specific goals they want to achieve from a personal finance course. Search for a course that, at least, has a thorough curriculum, covers the fundamentals of personal finance in an approachable manner, and is taught by a qualified teacher.
For instance, some individuals need more inspiration and drive to follow through on a strategy. Here’s where Dave Ramsey’s Ramsey+ subscription and course come in handy. There’s not just an excellent course but also a sizable community of both current and past students to lean on.
Duke University’s Behavioral Finance program offers an in-depth look at the psychology of personal finance and how it might assist overcome common biases that result in suboptimal decision-making. You can’t go wrong with edX’s Finances for Everyone: Smart Tools for Decision Making if you’re looking for Personal Finance Courses that have it all, including a thorough curriculum, professional teaching, and free money management tools.
FAQ
Q: What are famous personal finance books?
A: Many books on personal finance are available, such as:
- Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.
- Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker.
- The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke by Suze Orman.
- Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey.
- The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko.
- The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace Wattle.
- Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin.
- Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter.
Q: To what extent is personal finance important?
A: This question gets right to the heart of what it means to live a safe and happy life. Without personal financial abilities, individuals often work their whole lives as wage slaves, are perpetually in debt, and are never able to catch up or advance in life. For this reason, financial literacy is crucial.
Q: What are the potential future benefits of personal finance?
A: The Value of Individual Finances. To preserve the majority of your money for the future, you must possess sound financial understanding. Making wise selections and discerning between the best and worst financial advice may be made possible by having a solid understanding of finance.