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Personal Finance (College Prep)

Dolla dolla bills.

  • Course Length: 6 weeks
  • Course Type: Basic
  • Category:
    • Business and Career Preparation
    • Life Skills
    • College Prep

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Dollars. Benjamins. Moolah. Cash money. Dough. Greenbacks. Smackers. Big bucks. Bread. Gravy. Loot. Bling bling. Stacks on stacks. Cabbage. Chicken feed.

Whatever you call your legal tender, we want to help you make it rain.

This course on Personal Finance will walk you through the process of not going broke. We'll start with the basics like budgeting and saving, and work our way up until we're wearing our Big Boy Armani suit pants and talking about things like mortgages and investing.

So whether you're confused about credit, tricked by taxes, or just deathly terrified of ending up homeless, this course is the right place to start.

Unit Breakdown

1 Personal Finance (College Prep) - Financial Responsibility, Savings, and Home Economics

This unit starts off the course with a fundamental that everyone should be familiar with: financial responsibility. We'll talk about how to budget, how to distinguish between needs and wants, how to identify your goals and values, and how to plan and save your money. 

2 Personal Finance (College Prep) - Credit

Credit cards. Pretty much everyone and their Great Aunt Stella has one, but how do they actually work? In this unit, we'll explore everything from interest to identify theft to how to choose the right card for you. 

3 Personal Finance (College Prep) - Insurance

Ah, insurance. Often confusing, sometimes controversial, but always necessary. In this unit, we'll take a look at a whole bunch of kinds of insurance plans that are out there—from the basics like car insurance and health insurance, to more niche options like GAP insurance and yes, even pet insurance. You can never have too much coverage. 

4 Personal Finance (College Prep) - Taxes

You've heard something like this before: "There are only two things certain in life: death and taxes." (Thanks, Ben Franklin.) In this unit, we'll dig into all the different types of taxes you're sure to encounter (plus some kinds of taxes you might not encounter but should still totally know about) and how they all work.

5 Personal Finance (College Prep) - Investing

No matter how hard you work or how good of a job you have, there are only so many hours in a day that you can earn money. So besides winning the lottery, how else can you rake in the dough? Investing. (Seriously. It's not just for billionaire hedge fund managers.) In this unit, we're going to invest our time in the business of investing. We'll explore stocks and bonds, pros and cons of various types of investments, risks associated with investing, and more.  

6 Personal Finance (College Prep) - Mortgages

Are you a homeowner? Do you want to own your own home someday? If your answer was "yes," or at least a lukewarm "maybe," then you're going to want to listen up. In this unit, we'll take a look at how mortgages work, what types of mortgages are out there, what factors go into choosing a mortgage, and what role the government plays in all that jazz.

7 Personal Finance (College Prep) - Careers, Income, and Retirement

After all this talk about how to save and invest and spend money, you'll probably be left wondering...well, how to get it in the first place. (And how to get enough of it that you can stop working for it.) In this final unit, we're going to consider the value of income vs. career enjoyment, the pros and cons of part-time vs. full-time jobs, different types of employee benefits, and retirement plan options that can set you up for a relaxing life on the beach. Fingers crossed.