7 Personal Finance Courses to Help You Manage Your Money

1. Khan Academy's Personal Finance

For anyone in need of an overview of the most general personal finance terms, Khan Academy's Personal Finance course offers up the basics. Covered topics include saving and budgeting, investing, paychecks, housing, cars and more.

Khan Academy presents Personal Finance in a video blackboard format. If you enjoy the feeling of being back in a classroom (virtually), this is the course for you.

This self-paced course is sponsored by Bank of America Better Money Habits. It offers a solid foundation for personal finance newbies. The course is available on iOS and Android.

2. The Budget Mom's Budget Blueprint

If you're brand new to the budgeting game, The Budget Mom's Budget Blueprint Course will take you on a step-by-step journey to account for every dollar coming in and going out.

The Budget Mom is Kumiko Love, an accredited financial counselor who holds a finance degree. She shares her own story about budgeting her way out of credit card, student loan, medical and vehicle debt.

The course comes with a bunch of freebies to get you started on your budgeting journey. These include the course in downloadable e-book form, budget worksheets to follow along with the course sections and print-and-fold cash envelopes in fun colors.

3. Finance for Everyone: Smart Tools for Decision-Making From MichiganX via edX

This self-paced, comprehensive course from MichiganX gives you real-world financial tools, even if you're a true financial beginner. This course offers weekly learning modules from university instructors, mirroring a true college course.

Through tutorial videos, interactive learning exercises and an online discussion forum, learners will be given the tools to evaluate all their financial decisions—from buying a car to taking out student loans—with confidence.

The one downside of this course is that it requires a prerequisite of at least high school algebra, so it may be difficult if you're a bit rusty on that subject.

4. FINRA Smart Investing Courses

Investing can be intimidating for beginners. That's why the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) offers a series of six interactive courses about investing. These courses familiarize consumers with investment terminology as well as some of the best practices for making personal investments.

You'll learn investing basics and more through the following courses:

• Committed: Setting Investment Goals
• Getting to Know You: Defining Terms
• Relationship Ups and Downs: Risk and Return
• Worth Holding on To? Rate of Return
• Playing the Field: Diversification
• Your Main Squeeze: Fees and Commissions

The animated courses are gamified to ensure you interact with topics as you progress. Drag and drop investment risk assessments or point and click to create a diversified portfolio as you progress to become a smarter investor.

5. The Income Tax Course From H&R Block

Understanding tax rules can feel like one of the most difficult tasks in personal finance. But what if you could learn everything you needed to know about tax preparation basics and possibly get paid to help others with it? The Income Tax Course from H&R Block is meant to educate future tax preparers, but you can take it for personal tax preparation knowledge as well.

You'll spend a significant amount of time on this course, about 62 hours total, but work with trainers who are experts in the field. Receive one-on-one help from instructors for the real-life tax preparation exercises you're assigned.

Topics covered include:

• Tax filing
• Wages and income
• Deductions
• Credits
• Self-employment income
• Retirement contributions and distributions

On top of an H&R Block certification to start tax preparing, graduates of the course can also receive:

• Qualifying Education hours
• Three hours of credit from Western Governors University
• Three hours of credit from Southern New Hampshire University

6. Fannie Mae HomeView

As one of the biggest purchases you'll likely ever make, buying a home is a good subject in which to invest your time. The Fannie Mae HomeView course is a great starting point for hopeful buyers who want to know what they're getting into. Fannie Mae is the federal mortgage finance company that works to keep housing affordable, so you know they know what they're talking about when it comes to homebuying education.

Working your way through seven modules in three to four hours, you'll cover all the basics of the homebuying journey. The modules include:

• Knowing When You're Ready
• Saving for Homeownership
• Understanding the Mortgage Loan Process
• Shopping for a Home with a Real Estate Agent
• Making an Offer on a House
• Getting Ready to Close on Your Loan
• Welcome to Homeownership

Once you're done, test your knowledge with a 15-question quiz. The HomeView course also provides a certificate that can be used for mortgages with an education requirement.

7. Experian Credit Course

Get familiar with the basics of credit when you take the Experian Credit Course. Over 45 minutes you'll watch instructive videos and test your credit knowledge.

The Experian Credit Course is designed for the complete beginner to credit. Learn about topics like Why Your Credit Score Matters and How to Raise Your Credit Score. Course sections are taught through illustrated readings and videos and provide knowledge checks to make sure you're ready to move on.

You'll get recommendations to check your credit score and try out features like Experian Boost^®ø, which can raise your FICO^® Score^☉ .

Finance Is Personal

Your finances are personal. They represent hard work, goals and dreams. And you can learn how to handle them to your best advantage when you take these personal finance courses.

Want to Learn More About Credit?

To learn more about credit reports and scores, check out the Experian Credit Course. This free, interactive course will take you through what you need to know about your credit.

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