How Can I Teach Myself Personal Finance?

I didn’t really understand how money worked until I started training as a financial coach. My then-husband and I had substantial debt and no idea how to pay it off.

My openness to learning personal finance in group and individual settings helped me set goals and create a plan to achieve them. Understanding how money works, creating a spending plan that fits my goals and lifestyle, and paying myself first have helped me plan for my future.

You can teach yourself personal finance without working in the industry. The following resources can help.

Follow a Personal Finance Blog

A personal finance blog educates on spending plans, mortgages, insurance, emergency funds, wills, investments, and related topics. If there’s a topic you’d like to learn about, feel free to message me. I can create content to answer your questions.

Listen to Podcasts

You can listen to personal finance podcasts while going about your day. Popular podcasts include:

• The Money with Katie Show

• So Money with Farnoosh Torabi

• Brown Ambition

• HerMoney with Jean Chatzky

• Investor Talk

• Her Dinero Matters

• Women in Finance

• The Alpha Females Invest

Watch YouTube

YouTube lets you watch, learn, and take notes on personal finance content. Popular channels include:

Money Tips & Wealth Hacks with Vivian Tu

• Financially Sassy Woman

• Budget Girl

• Women Time and Money

Engage with Books

Libraries, bookstores, secondhand stores, and online platforms offer books, e-books, and audiobooks on personal finance. Popular titles include:

• Clever Girl Finance: Ditch Debt, Save Money and Build Real Wealth by Bola Sokunbi

• Personal Finance for Women: 101 Must-Know Financial Literacy Tips to Get Rid of Debt, Repair Your Credit, and Create Financial Independence by Dlina J. Depina

• Rich Girl Nation: Taking Charge of Our Financial Futures by Katie Gatti Tassin

• The Money School: 12 Simple Lessons to Master Financial Markets and Investing by Nicole Lapin

Take an Online Course

Free or low-cost financial education courses are available through online learning platforms such as Coursera, edX, and Udemy. Look for courses for individuals without a finance background.

Work with a Financial Professional

A licensed financial professional can teach you about creating a spending plan, paying off debt, investing, and related personal finance topics. There is a company with licensed financial coaches who offer complimentary, customized, confidential financial plans to help individuals and families become properly protected, debt-free, and financially independent with no out-of-pocket costs. The coaches get paid by the company when they place individuals and families in programs to help them reach their financial goals. Feel free to message me for more information.