FREE or Low Cost Personal Finance Programs That Teach Money Management, Budgeting and Investing

Need help navigating the maze of personal finance?

Here’s my current running list of courses to check out.

Free, Self-paced, Basic Finance Courses

Courses I’ve personally taken and recommend:

Rebel Finance School: Taught by financially independent Brits who are spunky and charismatic. Their goal is just to help others!

More options:

Finance for Everyone: Smart Tools for Decision-Making: 6 week, self paced course through the University of Michigan
McGill Personal Finance Essentials: 8 week, self-paced course taught by university professors
The University tof Illinois—Urbana-Champaign’s Financial Planning for Young Adults: 3 week, self paced, beginner course
Khan Academy’s personal finance classes: nonprofit course covers a range of subjects

I’ve also attended the following low cost course:

Personal Finance Club offers two courses for $100 that cover either basic personal finance or investing. You can also select a package deal for $150. These courses have digestible bite-sized bits I would highly recommend for anyone new to finance, but especially a recent high school graduate. (Graduation gift, anyone? This may not be the sexist, but definitely dispels some of the foggy finance mysteries I struggled with comprehending as a new college-bound kid!) You can also follow them for free on Facebook or Instagram for handy memes such as the one below.

Breaking Finance Habits

Courses with a focus on mindset and behaviors:

Udemy.com’s Personal Finance 101: a beginner course with videos that covers practical life advice from navigating credit card debt to relationships
Duke University’s Behavioral Finance Course: combat personal bias through a 3-week, self-paced course
Work Smarter, Not Harder: Time Management for Personal & Professional Productivity: helps you achieve your finance goals faster

Retirement Planning Basics

Purdue University’s Planning for a Secure Retirement: 10 self-paced modules with handy calculators
Planning for Risk, Retirement and Investment: 4 week, self-paced course through Indiana University

Managing Debt

Alison.com’s Introduction to Managing Your Personal Finance Debts: all about debt including negotiation skills

Investing for Retirement

Investing and Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE):

Millennial Revolution Investment Workshop: Investing 101, through a free, self paced course. Contains a “how to” on investing, including how to open an account at Vanguard, what to buy, and how often. This info is based through a lens of financial independence, geared towards retiring early!
Marginal Revolution University’s Money Skills: a course by two university professors with a focus on investing and real estate (check out more of what they do through videos and their blog)

Female Communities

For all the ladies in search of a female tribe:

Savvy Ladies: Free beginner classes from a non profit
Invest for Better: Become a part of a community of financially savvy ladies for a $100 annual free. Gain access to financial advisors and online classes with support!

While I personally have only used a few of these when striving to learn a specific subject matter (mostly due to limited time availability raising a toddler), I look forward to chipping away at more soon! So please leave me a message on if you took a course and tell me how it went!

From Fermenting To Finance