Finance for Everyone: Smart Tools for Decision-Making (edX)

You will be able to value the impact of different choices available to you: from renting or buying, evaluating car, home and student loans, or deciding whether to go to college versus pursuing a new idea to simply understanding how the financial world works.

Starting with time value of money, the course will help you develop a full appreciation for the many applications of finance. Using real world examples, the course will enable you to understand and analyze many personal and professional decisions we confront on a daily basis. You will understand stocks and bonds, learn to allocate scarce resources in a value-add way, and adopt smart tools for making every day decisions.
Finance is simultaneously a way of thinking and a set of tools. Finance is everywhere. There are no prerequisites for this course except for a sense of curiosity and a positive attitude. However, a comfort level with algebra and numbers and an understanding of accounting (the language of business) will clearly help. We will, however, try to cover everything starting with fundamentals and highlight when there is a need to do some further work in specific subjects.

What you'll learn:

• Why finance is everywhere and how it affects all of us
• An understanding of the financial world, and an appreciation for the beauty and power of finance
• Gain the fundamental knowledge, skills, and tools of finance and the ability to apply them everywhere, in personal and professional situations
• Different frameworks for decision-making
• Acquire skills in using different decision-making tools, and learn to make sound personal and professional financial decisions
• The concept of Time Value of Money (TVM) and apply related tools and frameworks to everyday decisions