Gain the skills to manage personal finances, including budgets, debts, investments, property purchases, pensions and insurance.

81,290 enrolled on this course

Piggy banks of different sizes on a lawn, representing personal finances
  • Duration

    8 weeks
  • Weekly study

    3 hours

Get your personal finances in order with practical guidance and advice

With real incomes falling and personal debt at a record high, it’s vital to improve your personal finance skills.

This online course starts by giving you practical guidance on compiling a budget and using it to make good decisions about your spending.

You’ll explore debts and investments, and how mortgages are used to finance home ownership. The critical issue of pension planning is explained, with guidance on different products.

The course concludes by examining different types of insurance. It offers practical advice on how to make rational decisions about which insurance products to buy.

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Skip to 0 minutes and 11 seconds My name’s Martin Upton. I’m director of the Open University’s True Potential Centre for the Public Understanding of Finance. And this eight-week course provides a step-by-step practical guide to managing your money. Before I joined the Open University, I was treasurer to the world’s largest building society. So I hope my experience to understanding of finances can help you when it comes to managing your money. The journey starts by putting together the basic building blocks of financial planning, using real-life facts and figures. We look at everything from planning a pension to taking out a loan. And we also look at the bad habits that can lead to poor money management, and the things you can do to avoid them.

Skip to 0 minutes and 53 seconds We need to better understand what products exist, how they work, what they mean for us, and then taking the right steps to choose a match, maybe to products and the actions that we take to our own individual circumstances. There are some great videos, and audio quizzes, and discussions, and practical online tools. And all of these will allow you to assess your own financial position. The course will provide a financial workout for anyone who wants to take charge of their financial future, regardless of age or level of confidence. It’s important to get to know lenders. There are banks and building societies, but also many others. And they’re all different.

Skip to 1 minute and 31 seconds Finishing the course will give you the confidence to deal effectively with the firms that offer financial products, from credit cards to pensions. You’ll be better placed to make your own decisions when shopping in the financial supermarket.

What topics will you cover?

  • Week 1: Financial planning and the life-course
  • Week 2: Income, taxation and benefits
  • Week 3: Expenditure and budgeting
  • Week 4: Debt and borrowing
  • Week 5: Savings and investments
  • Week 6: Housing and the household balance sheet
  • Week 7: Pensions
  • Week 8: Insurance

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Report to understand how to undertake financial planning, including drawing up a budget and a household balance sheet.
  • Compare and understand loans and mortgages and other debt products and their cost.
  • Explain the core categories of personal investments, their characteristics and the returns they provide to investors.
  • Describe pension products and how to undertake pension planning.
  • Summarise insurance products and how they are priced.

Who is the course for?

This course is intended for those with an interest in developing their personal financial skills to make good decisions when managing their finances and buying financial products. The course does not require any previous experience of studying this subject.

Who will you learn with?

I am Director of the True Potential Centre for the Public Understanding of Finance (PUFin) at the OU Business School. Previously I was Treasurer of Nationwide Building Society.

Who developed the course?

The Open University

As the UK’s largest university, The Open University (OU) supports thousands of students to achieve their goals and ambitions via supported distance learning, helping to fit learning around professional and personal life commitments.

  • Established

    1969
  • Location

    Milton Keynes, UK
  • World ranking

    Top 510Source: Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2020

Endorsers and supporters

supported by

True Potential logo

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
  • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

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