The School of Living · everyday skills for a whole life
Personal Finance
Budgets, debt, savings, and taxes — the quiet arithmetic that decides how much of a paycheck stays yours.
Track a real month, choose a method, and build a budget you will still be using in March.
How interest works against you, what each kind of debt costs, and two proven orders for paying it down.
Syllabus · 4 units · ~12 hours
Unit I — How Interest Compounds Against You
APR, daily interest, and the cost of a minimum payment · Amortization: why early payments feel useless · Reading a loan statement line by line
Unit II — The Anatomy of Each Debt
Credit cards and revolving balances · Student loans: federal versus private, and repayment plans · Auto loans, medical debt, and payday traps
Unit III — Paying It Down
Avalanche versus snowball, and when each wins · Consolidation, refinancing, and hardship programs · Negotiating with creditors and finding legitimate counseling
Unit IV — Credit Repaired
What a credit report contains and how to read yours free · How scores are computed and rebuilt · Disputing errors and guarding against identity theft
Emergency funds, index funds, and retirement accounts — growing money slowly, on purpose, without a guru.
Syllabus · 5 units · ~16 hours
Unit I — The Emergency Fund
Why cash comes before investments · Sizing the fund to your actual risks · Where to keep it so it earns without locking up
Unit II — Compound Growth
The arithmetic of compounding over decades · Time in the market versus timing the market · Fees: how one percent quietly takes a quarter
Unit III — What to Buy
Stocks, bonds, and funds defined without jargon · Index funds and why they beat most professionals · Diversification and honest risk tolerance
Unit IV — Retirement Accounts
401(k)s, IRAs, and the Roth question · Employer matches: the only free money · Target-date funds and a three-fund portfolio
Unit V — Staying the Course
Market drops and the behavior gap · Rebalancing on a calendar, not a feeling · Fads, tips, and how to ignore them
How brackets, withholding, and deductions actually work — enough to file a simple return yourself.
Syllabus · 3 units · ~10 hours
Unit I — How the System Works
Marginal brackets: why a raise never costs you money · Effective rate versus top rate · Withholding and the W-4: pay-as-you-go
Unit II — Lowering the Bill Legally
Standard deduction versus itemizing · Credits versus deductions: which is worth more · Retirement contributions and other above-the-line moves
Unit III — Filing
Gathering documents: W-2s, 1099s, and receipts · Walking through a simple return, box by box · Free filing options, refunds, and what to keep for seven years
What pooled risk buys you, which policies matter, and how to read a deductible before you need it.
Syllabus · 3 units · ~8 hours
Unit I — The Idea of Insurance
Pooled risk: many premiums, few claims · Premiums, deductibles, copays, and out-of-pocket maximums · Insure catastrophes, not inconveniences
Unit II — Health Insurance
Reading a plan summary: networks, formularies, referrals · Choosing among employer plans and marketplace tiers · HSAs and FSAs: taxes meet medicine
Unit III — Property and Life
Auto coverage: liability, collision, comprehensive · Renters and homeowners policies, and what floods require · Term life, disability, and the policies to skip