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WellesleyX: Personal Finance, Part 1: Investing in Yourself

Learn how to incorporate financial considerations into your life decisions and become an effective consumer of financial information.
7 weeks
4–5 hours per week
Instructor-paced
Instructor-led on a course schedule
This course is archived

About this course

Skip About this course

Ready to take control of your finances? Whether you are saving for a house or retirement, struggling with your taxes, or wondering if you should invest in education/training, stocks or bonds, there are many questions when it comes to personal finances. There are many benefits, both long and short term, to learning the keys of financial planning and becoming a financially savvy consumer.

This course will teach you to think financially about investing in yourself and your future. We will discuss investments in education and training and show you how to use important economic tools to evaluate whether the investments you make are worth it financially. We will also show you how to make the most of your skills and abilities whether you work for yourself or someone else. This includes such things as evaluating salary and benefit packages and figuring out how to get health insurance coverage and save for retirement.

This portion of Personal Finance covers:

  • Human Capital Investment
  • Net Present Value (NPV)
  • Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
  • Parameterized Spreadsheet Analysis
  • Employment Contracts & Making the Most of Work Benefits
  • Developing a Business Plan
  • Paying for Health Insurance and Saving for Retirement When You Are Self-Employed

Join us today and take control of your personal finances!

At a glance

  • Institution: WellesleyX
  • Subject: Business & Management
  • Level: Introductory
  • Prerequisites:
    • basic familiarity with spreadsheets
    • ability to use the internet
    • basic numeracy (ability to use & understand formulas; ability to read graphs) 
  • Language: English
  • Video Transcript: English
  • Associated skills:Financial Planning, Personal Finance, Rate Of Return, Investments, Stocks (Finance)

What you'll learn

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  • How to apply basic economic and financial principles (net present value, internal rate of return, compounding) to personal financial decisions
  • How to model personal financial decisions using spreadsheets
  • How to critically evaluate financial information for bias and self dealing
  • How to analyze financial implications (costs and benefits) of most of your life decisions

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