Ah, money. They say it makes the world go around. They're wrong, of course. Money has
nothing to do with why the planets spin. But it is a pretty major necessity in just about
every modern society. You need money to buy food, new clothes, and a home where you can eat your
food and change your clothes. If you want to do anything fun outside your home, you might
need to buy a car, not to mention fuel. One of the places you might drive your car is your workplace,
not to spend money but to earn more. Even if you decide to stay home and do something fun,
that still costs money. Toys, games, TV, you name it. It all costs money.
Earn money, spend money, earn money, spend money. When you put it like that,
it sounds pretty simple, but it can actually get very complicated very quickly, and it's all too
easy to make a mistake and end up with no money for food, or clothes, or a house, or a car, or
games. And that's exactly why financial literacy is so important. Financial literacy is the
understanding and ability to manage your money and make smart financial decisions. So in this course,
we're going to teach you how to make the best choices with your money and how to recover in
case you do make a mistake. In this video, we're going to start with a brief outline of all the
different units in this course, and then I'll walk you through the structure of our lessons,
including what you'll be responsible for completing. Let's get into it!
Like I said, money can get complicated. So this course will be split up into various
units, each of which focusing on a different aspect of planning and managing your finances.
First, before we could get into all the complicated parts of money, we need to learn about
the basics, like what makes money money? And what kind of institutions deal with money directly?
Then we're going to learn all about budgeting, one of the most important strategies for keeping
track of your money. As we go through all these different units, we'll keep going back and adding
more and more bits to your budget until it's as detailed and comprehensive as possible. Next,
we're going to learn about the most common way of making money, working. At a job. Where you work.
I know, it's not the most exciting topic in the world, but you're going to need to make
some money before you have the money to spend. And when you do get a job,
you'll start having to do taxes. So we're going to take a second and learn all about those,
and we're going to teach you something that not many people were taught how to do.
How to actually do your own taxes. You are going to be one of the lucky few. Once you have a job
and are dutifully paying your taxes, you're going to want to know where to save your extra money,
or maybe where to invest in so you can make more money without having to work for it.
Now saving and investing is great and all, but sometimes it's just not enough,
and that's where credit and loans come into play. These are systems in which you can borrow
money from people in order to pay for things that you don't have the money for yet. And why might
you need to borrow money, you ask? To make a big purchase, of course. Whether it's a car, a house,
or even a college education, it's important to understand the massive price tags on these things,
and what your options are for paying them. Now with all these financial goals and payments,
it could be easy to make a mistake or get taken advantage of. That's why we're also going to be
talking about the financial protections that are in place to keep you from going broke when
an accident happens. And finally, we're going to take a look at everything you've learned,
as well as your original budget, so that you can not only keep track of your finances today,
but also plan ahead for a successful future. Units in this course will generally follow
the same structure. Each lesson will include a lesson video and some practice questions.
Every few lessons you'll find a wrap up with a reference guide, some more practice questions,
and an assessment so that you can test what you retained from those previous lessons.
Feel free to use the reference guide to help you or jog your memory as you take the assessment.
Finally, some units include a project or two. These are awesome opportunities to prove how much
you've learned and to get a start on your future success before you've even finished this course.
Look, I get it. This seems like a lot of things to learn about, but this is
also something that a lot of people don't get any education on, and then they wish they did
after something's already gone wrong. In fact, one survey found that people will get more stressed
trying to pick a retirement plan than they do at a dentist appointment. That's saying
something. By learning about financial literacy now and practicing these skills
before you become an independent adult, you'll be setting yourself up for a life of success
and much less stress about money, not about dentist appointments.