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Money Basics: Budgeting, Credit, Saving and Investing from Zero

personal financebudgetingcredit and debtinvesting basics10 lessons · Adult learner (beginner) — also suitable for teens with a first job; no prior finance knowledge assumed

Unit 1

Where Your Money Actually Goes

Fixed Costs, Variable Costs, and a Money-In / Money-Out Budget

17:23You can sort a month's spending into fixed and variable costs and lay it out as a budget showing money in, money out, and money left over, including what percent is left.

Closing a $200 Gap When Money Out Beats Money In

08:55You can find the size of a monthly shortfall and argue which categories to cut first, using the fixed/variable idea to pick the fastest cuts that hurt least.

Unit 2

Your Paycheck: Gross Pay, Deductions and Take-Home Pay

From $18 an Hour to What Actually Lands in Your Account

10:11You will read a pay stub line by line and work out take-home pay from an hourly rate or a yearly salary by subtracting income tax, payroll tax, insurance and retirement deductions from gross pay.

Unit 3

Credit Scores and What a Credit Card Really Charges

What a Credit Score Is Counting

07:29You can explain the five things a credit score measures and predict whether an action like paying on time, missing a payment, maxing out a card or closing an old card pushes the score up, down or nowhere.

The $40 That Never Goes Away: Card Interest Month by Month

10:04You can turn an APR into a monthly rate, work out one month's interest on a balance, split a payment into interest and balance paid off, and show why a minimum payment can leave the debt standing still.

Unit 4

Debt: Which One to Kill First

Ranking Debts by the Interest They Cost Each Month

09:54You will calculate one month's interest on each debt you owe, rank them from most to least expensive, and defend which one your extra payment should attack first.

Unit 5

Emergency Funds and Saving on Autopilot

Three Months of Essentials: Sizing and Filling Your Safety Net

10:06You will add up essential monthly spending, multiply it by three to set an emergency fund target, and divide that target by an automatic monthly transfer to find the exact month the fund fills up.

Unit 6

Investing Basics: Compound Growth, Index Funds and Risk

Growth on Top of Growth: $1,000 at 10% and the Rule of 72

10:11You will calculate the value of money year by year when growth is left in, split the final total into original money plus growth, and use the rule of 72 to estimate how long money takes to double.

One Company or Five Hundred: Spreading Risk and Why Time Changes a 30% Drop

07:05You will explain how holding a broad basket of many companies behaves differently from holding one, and justify why the same 30% fall means something different to someone needing the money in 12 months than in 30 years.

Unit 7

Your One-Page Money Plan

One Page, Four Steps: Turning $600 of Spare Money into a Plan

10:53You will lay out a complete one-page money plan — spare cash, starter cushion, high-interest debt, full emergency fund and long-term saving — with the month-by-month numbers behind each step and three sentences defending why the steps come in that order.