Fundamentals of Personal Financial Planning

[spotty_dog]

I mentioned this in the Coursera thread but I'm sure not everyone is reading that. But I wanted to say that I have watched the first week of video lectures and I think a lot of people will find it useful. I would have liked it a few years ago when I knew I needed to know about saving and investing and insurance but didn't know where to start learning. It starts from absolute zero and participants range from 19 year olds hoping to break their credit card habits to 30-something widows taking charge of family finances to near retirees hoping they are on the right track. After this first basic week supposedly you can pick and choose what to follow with separate modules for estate planning/saving for college/getting out of debt/investing to grow your retirement savings, etc. Totally free and very little time invested (25 minutes this week including lectures and quiz). Might be worth a peek!

[ides]

Thanks! I have read a book or two on personal finance but I think this could be worth while.

[peggyfromwastate]

Cool!!

[spotty_dog]

I made it sound crazy basic but I am looking forward to the exercises when I get home to my records, and some participants are finance students hoping for advanced advice...I think it will have something for everyone.

[Pollyanna]

I just signed up yesterday! Thanks for the heads up!!!

[MissCrabette]

That sounds really interesting, but I'm worried about the assignments. I want to take the class for my enjoyment and not have to worry about my assignments being up to the instructor's standards. I just want to be a fly on the wall. Participation scares me. I have issues, obviously.

I'm also crazy busy with work and other classes, so I'd probably wash out of the class anyway.

[Pollyanna]

I just completed week one in less than an hour including the quiz and the net worth calculations (that time includes making breakfast for a variety of kiddos and other interruptions). I'm sure other weeks may take longer but so far it is completely doable. I will note that I was irritated that 5% was taken off quiz 1 because I turned it in late. So now I've gone from a 100% to a 95% in a class that doesn't matter at all, but it still sticks in my craw. I think this indicates my need to find ways to channel my competitive nature...

I've also signed up for Guitar (sooo excited!) and "The Camera Never Lies". Those courses start in March and April respectively. I'm also considering Organic Chem just because I think it may be more fun now than it was when I was an undergrad taking it in the summer.

[spotty_dog]

Nothing ventured nothing gained! You can do the whole course and not the assignments...guess what, the only loss will be a lack of a non-credit-conferring certificate. There are 90,000 participants, the instructor will never ever see anything you do. Seriously.

[poky]

Nothing ventured nothing gained! You can do the whole course and not the assignments...guess what, the only loss will be a lack of a non-credit-conferring certificate. There are 90,000 participants, the instructor will never ever see anything you do. Seriously.

Are there actual assignments, or just the videos and quiz(es)? I may well have missed something; that guy is WORDY in his emails!

[spotty_dog]

LOL, agreed. There is mention of peer assignments later but so far it is just the graded quiz and the suggestion to do the worksheets for yourself.

[alison]

Oh wow, Alison. That looks great! You should be very proud of yourselves. I tell you, there's no bigger high than being able to see progress in some sort of visual. I love love love being able to sock $ into savings--the more $ the higher the high.

[spotty_dog]

Ack, I just realized why the chart I used was screwy and kept calibrating the "assets" section to be 50% of the total...I tried to fix it but couldn't un-attach the figure so I deleted my post.

This one actually shows the relative figures (but I deleted the absolute ones. ). Again, this is after we closed on the house in February 2009, got the first post-training paycheck in August 2009. I like that I can see that the year we took a big chunk out of the mortgage was the year we added less to the other accounts...but it mostly came out in the wash. Yes, saving is the best high, LOL!

chart2.jpg

[alison]

Very nice. . Especially the green bar.

[spotty_dog]

The point where the green bar matched the red -- meaning not only could we discharge all our debts with our assets, but we'd have some left over at the end if we'd really done it -- was a great day! Not that we could really sell our retirement funds to pay off the mortgage, but it was a theoretical line we crossed and it was good.

[alison]

That would be a great feeling for sure. It'll take us some time to get to a caught up feeling.