Life skills course

Personal finance

Take charge of your money, from budgeting and debt to investing and insurance, with tools that actually work.

6 parts22 lessonsAbout 7 minutes a lessonFirst 3 lessons free
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No card needed. The first three lessons stay free.

After this course you will be able to

  • Build a personal balance sheet and a working monthly budget.
  • Calculate the real cost of a loan and evaluate debt using a conditions-based frame.
  • Evaluate any investment product using risk, return, liquidity, and time horizon.
  • Decide which insurance types are relevant to your current life stage.
  • Use a connected set of five financial tools to make informed money decisions.

Myths this course clears up

High income automatically means good financial health
All debt is bad and should always be avoided
The best investment is whichever has the highest return
Past investment returns reliably predict future ones
Insurance is wasted money if you never make a claim
Saving only matters once you earn a large income

Lesson plan

6 parts, 22 lessons of about 7 minutes, with a short review at the end of each part.

PART 1 Understanding Money

  1. 1What Money Does FREE7 min
  2. 2Income, Wealth, and Net Worth FREE7 min
  3. 3Building Your Balance Sheet FREE7 min
  4. 4Recap: Understanding Money REVIEW9 min

PART 2 Managing Income and Spending

  1. 5Tracking Income and Sorting Spending 7 min
  2. 6Building a Monthly Budget 7 min
  3. 7Finding Hidden Spending and Guarding Your Gains 7 min
  4. 8Recap: Managing Income and Spending REVIEW9 min

PART 3 Handling Debt

  1. 9How Interest on Debt Works 7 min
  2. 10When Debt Helps and When It Hurts 7 min
  3. 11Spotting Risky Products and Making Repayment Decisions 7 min
  4. 12Recap: Handling Debt REVIEW9 min

PART 4 Saving and Investing

  1. 13How Compounding Grows Savings 7 min
  2. 14The Four Asset Classes and Risk-Return 7 min
  3. 15Past Returns and Spreading Risk 7 min
  4. 16Evaluating an Investment 7 min
  5. 17Recap: Saving and Investing REVIEW9 min

PART 5 Protecting With Insurance

  1. 18What Insurance Is and Why It Exists 7 min
  2. 19Decoding Insurance Terms 7 min
  3. 20Is This Insurance Relevant to Me Now? 7 min
  4. 21Recap: Protecting With Insurance REVIEW9 min

PART 6 Putting It All Together

  1. 22Recap: Personal Finance REVIEW7 min

A look inside

Read the first lesson

What Money Does

7 min

Priya kept 1,000 from her first job in a drawer, where it felt safe. Two years later she counted it, and every note was still there. But the weekly shop that used to cost 50 now cost 56. She could not work out what she had done wrong.

Money has two jobs. It is a medium of exchange: you can use it to buy things now. It is also a store of value: you can keep it and use it later.

Inflation: The gradual rise in prices over time. When prices rise, each unit of money buys less than before.

Inflation does not hurt the first job. You can still spend the money. It weakens the second job. The number you saved stays the same, but what it buys gets smaller each year.

An example

A student is saving for a laptop that costs 1,000 today. Inflation is 5% a year. In three years the same laptop may cost about 1,158. The student still has 1,000, but is now 158 short.

The common mistake is to compare today's savings with today's price. For a purchase that is years away, that comparison is wrong. Even a low yearly rise adds up over a decade.

A quick check

  • What does this money buy now?
  • What might it buy later?
  • Has the price of the thing I want moved too?

One rule to remember: When you hear a future amount, ask what it will buy then, not just now.

Check your understanding

A classmate says, "I saved 2,000, so I can buy the same phone next year." Inflation is 6%. What is the best response?

Try it yourself

A new graduate has 2,000 saved. A laptop costs 2,000 today. Prices rise about 6% a year. Option A: buy now. Option B: wait two years and add nothing to the 2,000. Option C: wait two years and save 100 a month on top. Which option leaves the graduate short?

This preview stays on this page. Continue in the app to save your work and get the refresher.

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Start Personal Finance.

The first three lessons are free. About 7 minutes each.

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