Do you have clear financial goals? Do you know if you have enough money to buy a car or house, if you can afford to take a cut in pay in order to go back to school, if you will have enough money to retire?

Do you know how much tax you will be expected to pay this year and next, or what you might be able to do right now that will lower your tax long into the future? Do you have enough insurance? Have you developed a household budget and are you sticking to it?

Will your assets be passed to your chosen heirs when you die? Do you know how your creditors judge you and do you know how to change your credit report to reduce your expenses and increase your financial security?

Are you confident you can choose stocks and mutual funds wisely and do you know how to decide how much money you should allocate to these types of investments? Do you know how to keep good financial records and do you know which types of records you should keep and for how long?

If your answer to any of these questions is "No," you need this course. This course will prepare you for a lifetime of worthwhile personal financial planning. The tools you will learn are useful, realistic, and easy to work into your regular routine. They will help you gain control over the financial impact of the choices you make.

You'll learn to create and use a budget, borrow and invest wisely, make intelligent decisions about insurance, and plan for your financial future. You'll develop a retirement savings plan, and you'll be better prepared to make large purchases and plan for taxes. You'll learn the essentials of household bookkeeping, record-keeping requirements, and much, much more.

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Recommended Courses:

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Where Does All My Money Go?

Syllabus:

All courses run for six weeks, with a two-week grace period at the end. Two lessons are released each week for the six-week duration of the course. You do not have to be present when the lesson is released, but you must complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.

A new section of each course starts on the second or third Wednesday of each month. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to space the start date for each course at least two months apart.

Week One

Wednesday - Lesson 01

Throughout this course, you'll learn how to use basic financial planning tools that you can work into your everyday routine. In this first lesson, you'll examine your personal finances as they are today, set some basic financial goals, learn how to keep track of your finances, and gain some knowledge of record-keeping requirements. You'll learn how to assess your current financial position. The information you compile during this lesson, and the methods you use to retain and store that information, can set the tone of your financial record-keeping for the rest of your life.

Friday - Lesson 02

If you think about your cash flow in terms of how to best control the money that comes in and goes out of your life, you may discover that you have many opportunities to improve your financial situation. In this lesson, you'll learn how you can control certain aspects of your income collection and disbursement through daily financial events. We'll talk about methods for increasing the amount of money at your disposal, saving money when paying your bills, and reducing your tax burden. You'll learn many ways to save money with your day-to-day financial activities.

Week Two

Wednesday - Lesson 03

Don't be discouraged if your credit history is marred. Despite what you might think, you can establish good credit, control your credit rating so it remains positive, and repair a bad credit rating. Today, you'll learn how to read your credit history, correct errors in your credit reports, and improve your credit so that you're a good risk to potential lenders. Find out what creditors look at when they judge your credit, and how you can check your own credit rating for free.

Friday - Lesson 04

Whether you intend to borrow money for a long term (as you might with a mortgage on a house), a medium term (such as a loan for a car or a college education), or a short term (such as using a credit card to pay for a dinner at a restaurant or your weekly groceries), there are factors about borrowing that you should consider. In this lesson, you'll get the tools to make informed decisions about borrowing. You'll learn about the concept of points or loan origination fees, as well as what loan-related items you can negotiate. Discover the concept of compound interest, and understand that the interest rate you see on advertised loans is not always the interest rate you pay. You'll also learn about where you can go to borrow money and how you can use the Internet to find out more about borrowing. Finally, you'll find out how borrowing money can actually benefit you when tax time comes.

Week Three

Wednesday - Lesson 05

In the most popular lesson of the course, you'll learn how you can create a workable budget and, more importantly, how you can make it stick. A budget is not difficult to make, and it's not difficult to follow. In fact, people who use budgets find they can talk about their finances and their financial goals more comfortably because they have a thorough knowledge of what they can actually achieve. A budget is like a playbook for the future. Today, you'll learn how to create a budget that's flexible enough to meet the changes you encounter in life, and durable enough to help you achieve a lifetime of financial goals.

Friday - Lesson 06

In this lesson, you'll learn about the different types of mutual funds, criteria for choosing a fund, how much to invest, the importance of timing your investments, when to sell, and the tax effects of your investment. You'll find out the advantages to investing in mutual funds, including diversification, the opportunity to take advantage of a fund manager and a research team's expertise, the small minimum investment required to enter a fund, and the ease with which you can make regular investments. We'll also talk about what you need to watch out for when investing in mutual funds.

Week Four

Wednesday - Lesson 07

Today, you'll learn how to choose a broker and stocks to purchase, and we'll look at how the Internet has changed the nature of stock trading. You'll find out why it's so important to follow the performance of your stocks after you purchase them, and you'll discover how to tell when it's time to sell a stock. In addition, we'll talk about the tax effects of selling stock and how you can control the amount of tax you pay on stock transactions. You'll learn how to read the stock reports in the newspaper and understand what the information on financial statements represents.

Friday - Lesson 08

If you want to invest, there are several different types of opportunities available to you. In this lesson, you'll explore some of the places beyond stocks and mutual funds where you can invest your money, including interest-bearing accounts, bonds, commodities, precious metals, and collectibles. You'll discover that you can begin investing with a very small amount of money, and you'll find out how to familiarize yourself with different types of investments before putting your money at risk.

Week Five

Wednesday - Lesson 09

Today, you'll get acquainted with the many types of insurance and how the purchase of insurance should fit into your overall financial plan. We'll discuss life, health, automobile, and property insurance. Your needs for insurance change throughout your life, so you'll learn how and when to reassess your insurance coverage. I'll give you some tips on dealing with insurance agents and shopping around for the best value and the best coverage. You'll also learn how to save money on existing insurance policies.

Friday - Lesson 10

Retirement might seem like it's a long way off, but it's never too early to start thinking about it. In this lesson, you'll get familiar with the various types of retirement funds available to employees, business owners, and individuals; and you'll learn about putting money into retirement funds, overseeing the investments in those funds, and when and how to take money out of your funds. You'll also find out how the Social Security system works, and we'll discuss the tax effects of retirement contributions and distributions.

Week Six

Wednesday - Lesson 11

There are certain occasions in life that require a major cash outlay. Events like weddings, purchasing a house or a car, or going to college require planning and saving. In this lesson, I'll give you tips for estimating the costs of major purchases, as well as techniques for saving and borrowing to finance these expenses. You'll also see what tax benefits are available when you incur these large expenses. You'll learn about some of the different options for parents and students who are planning on, or are already attending, college. And you'll discover what factors to consider when deciding whether to purchase or lease a vehicle.

Friday - Lesson 12

In the final lesson of the course, you'll learn about estate planning and some of the basic rules that will guide you in making important decisions. We'll talk about the legal fees associated with the preparation of a will, and you'll get some pointers for choosing the right lawyer for the job. In addition, you'll get an introduction to inheritance and estate taxes, trusts, and other means of protecting your assets, as well as information about the duties of an executor for your estate.

This course includes a knowledgeable and caring instructor who will guide you through your lessons, facilitate discussions, and answer your questions. The instructor for this course will be Gail Perry.

Gail Perry is a CPA and holds a degree in journalism and English from Indiana University. She studied accounting at Illinois State University and is a former tax accountant with Big Four firm Deloitte. She has been teaching for more than 20 years and is the author of over 20 books, including Quicken All-in-one Desk Reference for Dummies, Using QuickBooks, TurboTax: The Official Guide, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Doing Your Income Taxes, and Surviving Financial Downsizing: A Practical Guide to Living Well on Less Income. She is a financial journalist and has written hundreds of articles for newspapers, magazines, and Internet news sites.

Requirements:

Internet access, e-mail, and the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Web browser.

Student Reviews:

"A great basic course on financial planning!"

"Excellent course! Especially for those, like me, who have just joined the workforce and need help getting on the right track with their finances."

"Excellent course. The ability to complete lessons and quizzes in my own time was extremely valuable and gave me more of an opportunity to find time to focus on the content."

"Gail -- Just a quick thank you for the great course. This is exactly what I was looking for to get the basics on a variety of financial issues. It also gives me the resources to look into future financial goals (saving for children’s education, retirement, etc). Thanks for the easy-to-follow information!"

"Gail Perry did an excellent job. I am a busy Mom and she gave me in-depth information on managing our family finances. Thank You Gail."

"Gail Perry was a wonderful instructor and presented material in a short, succinct format. The information presented was and is very helpful and my choice for taking this class may well be one of the most beneficial choices I've ever made. There is much information to process on your own, but at the end of the class I felt able to review the lessons and use the information to make much better financial decisions."

"Gail, thanks for your advice. I am learning a lot more in this course than I expected."

"Good course and I learned a lot. The supplemental material at the end of the lessons was helpful. I felt I had a good understanding of the material after completing all the lessons."

"Great class! It was a lot if information to absorb. I could have spent the entire course on budgeting, and then another 6 weeks on retirement!"

"Great class! Just what I needed as an introduction to skillfully handling my personal finances sucessfully."

"Great class! The links were very helpful, which I plan on revisiting at a slower pace. This course really opened my eyes and gave me some direction."

"Great course to take, either as a refresher or novice in finances."

"Great instructor. She covered everything very well and I was able to understand more than I thought I would."

"I believe the content of the course was very good."

"I cannot express enough with my comment how much I enjoyed this course or how much valuable information it involves. I would like all my friends to take it and have their teenage kids read over this valuable information. I strongly believe that this course is easy enough to understand and should be taught in High Schools. Very interesting, very easy to understand, and great information. Thank you so much."

"I enjoyed the class & would like to see a second Personal Finance Planning class."

"I enjoyed the course and learned many new things I did not know before."

"I enjoyed the course, the instructor explained things so they were easily understood."

"I feel this course was extremely informative and was a great start in laying the foundation for my financial future."

"I found the tax deductions helpful and plan on using them this year. I feel this class is helping me to organize and get my act together. Thank you."

"I learned a lot from your course and I now feel that I have the knowledge to start working toward saving for my future. Thank you!"

"I learned so much from taking the Personal Finance course and feel more confident now about managing my personal finances. Thank you Gail! Kudos to you."

"I'm really glad I took this course. It gave me so much insight on my personal financial planning. There are so many things to do in financial planning and this course gave me a roadmap where to start. There are so many things to learn, understand and apply not just for myself but also for my family."

"In general, a very helpful course. Thanks! I am so much more informed than I was at the beginning."

"I really enjoyed taking this course and would definitely recommend this instructor and the course to others."

"I really got a lot out of this course. Thanks!"

"I think this is a class that should be required especially for students just entering college as a way to help them understand their finances better at an early age."

"I thought the course material was great."

"I thought this course was good, especially for the low course fee! I learned a lot."

"I very much enjoyed taking this course online. I could take my time, and not feel pressured. I learned a great deal from the information provided to me. Thank you."

"I very much enjoyed this class (my first online class). I liked the teacher and felt that she was knowledgeable and responsive."

"I was initially afraid of both the subject and of the computer....and I knew I had to face both my fears! I found the course to be basic and thorough, and the computer became very useful and helpful."

"I will use some of the information from this course in teaching this fall, as well in my personal life. Thanks I enjoyed taking the course on the computer."

"Now, I have a better idea how to do a personal budget, and what do i need to do to improve my finances."

"Thanks for helping me understand some things that I was in the fog about!!!"

"Thank You, I have enjoyed learning more on how to take control of my family's finances, how to look forward to the future and have a greater understanding on how things work."

"Thank You, I look forward to a less stressful financial future."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! Awesome course, excellent teacher and her knowledge was incredible! I loved having the opportunity to finally be taught the right way to control my personal finances. Learning the things mom and dad never knew about. I will highly recommend this course to my friends. Thank you again."

"The content of this course was very good."

"The course is filled with great ideas that can be implemented easily. I feel that I have learned a great deal of information that will come in handy now and later."

"The course overall was very good. I gained a much better understanding of my financial challenges and gained some skills to deal with them."

"The course was excellent. It enabled me to enhance my knowledge of personal finance. Thank you."

"The material was well prepared. I generally liked the writing style. The exercises were excellent and thought-provoking and forced me to examine areas of my personal finances that I was unaware of or had been procrastinating about. This was my first experience with online learning and I am very impressed. Keep up the good work."

"This class has been a really big help to me. I will try to apply all the lessons and tips that I have learned. This class really could change your life!"

"This class was very informative. The information will help me make some wonderful changes in my financial life."

"This course definitely taught me things I wish I would have known years before now."

"This course has definitely been helpful to me. Thanks for all the good information that you gave in the course and I know that I'll be using it more in the future!"

"This course was so helpful in getting me to think about different aspects of personal finance. Previously, I didn't make any decisions because I didn't understand it and didn't know where to start. The first chapter put me at ease, that this isn't something that comes natural and needs to be learned. I will definitely read/research more, take some other courses and follow suggestions I learned in this course."

"This course was very good, and I learned a lot-even things I wasn't expecting to learn. I feel like now I have a good foundation and beginnings of personal finance, and am excited to continue learning. I now also have some good websites and places to study to learn more. Thank you very much."

"This course was very helpful to me and I will refer back to my information many times. Thanks for much needed help."

"This had been my first course since I came to the United States in 1976. At the beginning I worried I wouldn't be able to understand all the terms. Ms Gail Perry is a very great instructor and I enjoyed following her lessons from week to week. Many thanks to Ms. Perry, I learned quite a bit. Even that my final exam was only a "B", I was satisfied. Thanks again."

"This is the first time I have taken an on-line course...Mrs.Perry made it very easy to understand."

"This was a wonderful course. I have numerous family members that work in personal finance, and when I showed them all that I had learned, they were very impressed! It is a very complete course."

"This was very practical and helpful! Thank you!"

"Very good course!"

"very helpful in giving me a general knowledge of many financial issues."

"Very informative class. Loved the links to the websites that offered even more information."

"Very much enjoyed the class. The class had some very useful information. Ms Perry is well prepared and very informative. Thanks."

"Well done. What a GREAT course!! Thank You!"