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Course: Financial Literacy > Unit 1
Lesson 1: Intro to Financial LiteracyWelcome to Financial Literacy!
UPDATE: Our Financial Literacy course now has new units on loans, insurance, investments, and more to supplement the initial two units from December 2022! We're continuously growing and improving, so stay tuned for even more content.
This course is a work-in-progress. More units coming soon.
Welcome to Financial Literacy!
This course is designed to help you better understand the financial world around you. The objectives of this course are to help you:
- understand basic financial concepts
- develop good budgeting habits
- know how to invest your money wisely
- feel confident in making informed financial decisions
No matter your age or background, there is always more to learn when it comes to money. This course will introduce you to a variety of topics, from budgeting to investing, and everything in between.
One of the most important things to keep in mind while taking this course is that you don't need any special skills to be financially savvy. While some concepts may seem complicated at first, you'll find that they are all based on a few key principles. We'll make sure to break down each topic in a way that is easy to understand, even if you're starting from scratch.
In addition to the articles and videos in this course, we've included a number of exercises for you to complete. These are designed to help you apply the concepts you've learned to your own life. While it's important to try to follow the suggestions as closely as possible, remember that any effort you make to improve your financial literacy is a success. By putting your knowledge into practice, you'll be able to build a stronger foundation for a financially sound future.
So, what are you waiting for? Dive in and get started on your journey to financial literacy today!
Want to join the conversation?
- abt to dive into da topic(69 votes)
- Dive deep, swim around, poke your fingers into things you don't know, and learn a lot. Enjoy the pool!(43 votes)
- How can I start investing as a 17 year old?
Also how can I start to build good credit when in college?(9 votes)- So long as the fund in which you are investing doesn't have a "minimum age" restriction, you can begin investing now. BUT (and this is a big BUT), if you don't have an emergency fund already built up, you may be jumping the gun. Saving enough into that fund to make you secure in case a tree falls on you is vital. "Invested money" is difficult to access in ties of emergency. Follow all of the lessons in this course and you'll be better able to decide on when to begin investing, and how to build good credit while you are in college.(9 votes)
- On a scale of 1 to 10 how hard is this course?(5 votes)
- This course comes in at about a 6. It's easier, though, if you spend time after each lesson reading some of the questions that learners have asked in the past, and some of the answers they have received.(13 votes)
- hello, I'm in 16 years old and I'm about to take a financial Literacy course at my high school. Any advice?(7 votes)
- Yes, complete the Khan Academy Financial Literacy Coursework in advance, and your schoolwork will seem much easier afterward.(5 votes)
- How can we save money while needing to spend it too?(6 votes)
- That is what budgeting is about. You'll learn a lot about planning for using your resources in the lessons on budgeting. I look forward to helping you with the questions that you post in those lessons.(7 votes)
- how much will we learn in one quarter(5 votes)
- This course is self-paced. You are not bound to a calendar. You learn as much as you care to at the pace you set for yourself.(8 votes)
- I like taking this course because I think this helps me in the real world. Does it really help you save your money?(5 votes)
- The course won't help you save your money. You have to save your money yourself. The course, however, will help you understand money and finances in ways that will make you less ignorant about it, and then you will be better equipped to reach financial goals.(8 votes)
- I absolutely do not want to waste any money on college, I want to make the money I spent back as soon as possible. I want a degree then can not only help with starting a small business, but that can also get me higher paying jobs in other fields. I'm thinking about a associate's degree in business. But I don't even really know what that means.(6 votes)
- It sounds like you need to perform more research and collect more data about the business you want to start; every business must earn money in some way, most businesses earn money from some service, or from a product; you will require figuring out what you want to offer to earn the money.
Additionally, I would suggest investigating Business Management Degrees if you are planning to start your own business, all your classmates in that class are going to be aspiring business owners, planning to open a variety of businesses; giving you the opportunity to ask them what their plans are to help them increase profit margin without alienating their customers; because a good reputation will earn you more money per unit of time than a bad reputation.
Now for the bad news, that means you will need to attend college. College is not all bad, you just need to know exactly what you want to learn, and you need to be prepared to rack your brain for weeks to comprehend the lesson; most of the lessons are easy to solve, but understanding why is way more valuable than understanding how.(4 votes)
- where is the best place to invest?(3 votes)
- Yourself, with the second-best place being infrastructure.(7 votes)
- I am having trouble with budgeting and saving money. I have student loan payments and want to move into my apartment.(3 votes)
- Sounds like you are in the right place to learn these skills; most modern financial advisors suggest the 50/30/20 plan, where:
• 50% of your budget goes towards necessities (paying off debt, rent, food, maintenance, utilities, etc.)
• 30% of your budget goes towards rewarding yourself with things you want (restaurant meals, movies, saving up for large purchases like a vehicle, or a down payment on a residence, etc.)
• 20% of your budget goes towards your retirement fund (Savings account, Military Blended Retirement Savings Plan, 401K, a well Managed Stock Portfolio, etc.)
If you stick to this plan, you will find your quality of life will increase exponentially, especially once you get your “Nest Egg” saved up to cover 6-months to 1-year of expenses; remember to budget enough in your nest egg to cover the cost of anything breaking (car repairs being a prime example of Murphy's Law). At the very least, your Nest Egg should endure a few months of difficulty, allowing you to get yourself established once again to return to becoming a productive member of the workforce, hopefully irrelevant from your age.(2 votes)