Personal Financial Planning: Build, Protect & Grow Your Wealth

About this course

Who this course is for

What you'll learn

• Define measurable short-, medium- and long-term financial goals.
• Build a monthly spending plan from actual income and expenses.
• Size an emergency reserve and prioritize debt repayment.
• Identify major personal risks and common protection options.
• Connect saving and investing choices to goals and time horizons.
• Assemble and maintain a written personal financial plan.

Course details

Level

beginner

Prerequisites

No prior financial training required. Basic arithmetic and access to personal account statements are helpful.

What's included

• 12 lessons
• Progress tracking
• Certificate of completion

Curriculum

1. 01

   Lesson 1: Setting Measurable Financial Goals

   Turn financial priorities into measurable, affordable goals. Calculate savings gaps, compare deadlines with cash flow and practice making trade-offs that keep a written plan realistic.

   12m
2. 02

   Lesson 2: Measuring Net Worth and Cash Flow

   Distinguish net worth, cash flow and liquidity. Build a household balance sheet, provision for irregular bills and avoid double-counting transfers or credit-card activity.

   12m
3. 03

   Lesson 3: Building a Personal Spending Plan

   Create an evidence-based spending plan that balances income, bills, reserves and goals. Work through payment timing, variable income and specific adjustments when spending exceeds the plan.

   12m
4. 04

   Lesson 4: Emergency Funds and Cash Reserves

   Size and fund a realistic emergency reserve, distinguish it from predictable-bill savings and evaluate accessible cash accounts using verified deposit-insurance rules.

   12m
5. 05

   Lesson 5: Prioritizing and Reducing Debt

   Inventory debt, compare avalanche and snowball repayment and evaluate consolidation by total cost and risk. Practice choosing an affordable extra payment without neglecting minimums or essentials.

   12m
6. 06

   Lesson 6: Making Major Purchase Decisions

   Evaluate major purchases using full cost, cash-flow impact and alternatives rather than payment alone. Compare fictional financing offers and identify contract risks before committing.

   12m
7. 07

   Lesson 7: Identifying Personal Financial Risks

   Identify household financial exposures and choose risk responses. Build a risk register, calculate an income-interruption gap and distinguish reserves, insurance and information-security controls.

   12m
8. 08

   Lesson 8: Insurance Basics for Individuals and Families

   Interpret premiums, deductibles, limits and exclusions. Relate insurance types to household risks and compare policies using coverage terms, retained loss and affordability.

   12m
9. 09

   Lesson 9: Estate and Document Organization Essentials

   Organize estate and incapacity documents securely, coordinate beneficiary records and recognize the limits of legal authority. Practice identifying conflicts that require qualified local review.

   12m
10. 10

    Lesson 10: Saving and Investing Toward Goals

    Match savings and investments to goals, time horizons and loss capacity. Work compound-growth and loss-recovery examples and evaluate diversification, fees and rebalancing without assuming guaranteed returns.

    12m
11. 11

    Lesson 11: Tax-Aware Personal Financial Habits

    Build secure tax records, review federal withholding and distinguish IRA eligibility, deductions and combined contribution limits. Apply verified 2026 figures without inventing personal tax advice.

    12m
12. 12

    Lesson 12: Reviewing and Updating Your Financial Plan

    Combine goals, cash flow, reserves, debt and risk reviews into a maintainable written plan. Complete a practical capstone and revise allocations when income or obligations change.

    12m