Financial Literacy for Young
(and Not-So-Young) Adults
Courses designed to help you become financially literate and live your best life.
Financial Literacy for Young
The following five face-to-face courses are designed to help folks become financially literate, allowing them to make better personal finance decisions. They will build your financial knowledge, capacity and capabilities, and help you live your best life by aligning your financial decisions with your goals and your dreams. It’s not really about “money”, it’s about living your life with (financial) intent in such a way that your decisions support the life you want to live.
While these courses are primarily targeted at young adults (high school, college, or recently graduated students), there is no age limit and everyone is welcome (and there is one course targeted specifically at public school employees). Each class meets for a total of twenty-four hours and class sizes are limited to five to ten students.
Just a few words about what this is and why I’m doing it. I am not a financial planner. I have taught students mathematics and computer science for over thirty years, but have no formal training in personal finance or investing, and no certifications. I am simply a lifelong learner, constantly curious, and have been interested in personal finance since working in a credit union during high school and college, and continued to be curious and learn more about finance during my career as a public school teacher. Over my years as a teacher, I discovered that not only did my students not know much about personal finance, but neither did my family, friends and colleagues (I often served as a resource for those folks).
Partially as a result of that experience, I see the necessity for classes such as these, so I wanted to do my part to try to help others become financially literate. These courses are designed to help make that happen. The goal is not to help you “get rich” (although there’s nothing wrong with that), but it’s to help you learn the knowledge and the skills necessary to live your financial life in such a way that you achieve your hopes and dreams. It’s about being intentional about your decisions. While it would be nice to make a little bit of money from this, that’s not really my expectation or my goal (breaking even would be nice, though :-). This is a passion project for me. I hope folks find it helpful.
Note: The first sessions of each of these courses are scheduled for during the day this summer. Since those dates/times will not work for everyone, I will be offering classes at various other times (evenings, weekends, etc.) in the future. Please click the “Sign up to be notified of future classes” button on whichever course(s) you are interested in. As part of completing that form, you will be asked what dates and times will work best for you so that I can schedule future classes on dates and times that work for the most number of people.
An eight-minute video that explains the importance of becoming financially literate - and why you might consider taking these classes.
Adulting 101: Financial Literacy for Teenagers and Young Adults
Designed for ages 15-24 (although there is no age restriction), this course will introduce the basic concepts of Personal Finance and will give participants the knowledge, skills and resources necessary to make good financial decisions and lead financially successful and fulfilling lives.
Cost $72
That’s $3 per hour. Aren’t you worth it? Future you will thank you.
Adulting 201: A Deeper Drive into Financial Literacy and Strategies for Teenagers and Young Adults
Designed for ages 15-24 (although there is no age restriction), this course will do a deeper dive into the concepts explored in Adulting 101, and also cover some more advanced topics. (While not required, it is recommended that students complete Adulting 101 before taking this course.)
Cost $72
That’s $3 per hour. Aren’t you worth it? Future you will thank you.
Financial Literacy for Recent Grads: Principles and Strategies for Living on Your Own
Designed for students who have recently graduated (or are about to graduate) from high school or college, this course will discuss the basic concepts of Personal Finance with an emphasis on managing your finances while living on your own for the first time. It will give participants the knowledge, skills and resources to make good financial decisions and lead financially successful and fulfilling lives.
Cost $72
That’s $3 per hour. Aren’t you worth it? Future you will thank you.
FIREd Up: Principles and Strategies for Achieving Financial Independence (FI) and (possibly) Retiring Early (RE)
Designed for ages 15-35 (although there is no age restriction), this course will explore both the philosophy behind and the techniques necessary to achieve Financial Independence (FI is defined as reaching a “work-optional” stage of life). It will also explore the possibilities around retiring earlier (RE) than most people typically anticipate and the realistic steps you can take to make this happen.
Cost $72
That’s $3 per hour. Aren’t you worth it? Future you will thank you.
Financial Literacy for Colorado Public School Educators: Optimizing Financial Decisions To Take Advantage of School District and PERA Benefits
Designed for anyone who works for a public school district in Colorado, this course will discuss the basic concepts of Personal Finance with an emphasis on optimizing those decisions based on the unique opportunities that working for a public school district in Colorado provide (particularly PERA). It will give participants the knowledge, skills and resources necessary to make the best financial decisions to build on and take advantage of their PERA benefits.
Cost $72
That’s $3 per hour. Aren’t you worth it? Future you will thank you.
The Book
TL;DR: Financial Literacy for Young (and Not-So-Young) Adults
In addition to these classes, some of you may be interested in the book TL;DR: Financial Literacy for Young (and Not-So-Young) Adults.
I say “book” because that’s what Amazon calls it, but it’s more like a really long blog post. I wrote it because finances and financial decisions are such a huge part of everyone’s life that they should take the time to thoroughly educate themselves. Since many folks won’t do that, this book is an attempt to quickly give them the basics and hopefully encourage them – and give them the confidence – to learn more.
It’s about 30 pages and should take less than an hour to read, so instead of TL;DR (Too Long; Didn’t Read) it will hopefully be JR;DR;KM (Just Right, Did Read, Know More). It’s available in both a Kindle and paperback version.
The great thing about the Kindle version is that if you have Kindle Unlimited, you can read it for free. And if you have Amazon Prime, you can also read it for free through the Kindle Lending Library.
There is also a webpage with further resources that accompanies the book that you might be interested in.
Location
10032 Blackbird Place
Highlands Ranch, CO 80130
Contact Me
Phone: (720) 863-4724
Email: Karl@FischLearning.com
These courses will be held at my house, primarily for two reasons. First, by not having to rent a space, I can keep the costs low. Second, because it’s in my home and I’m keeping class sizes small, it should feel much more informal and relaxing, and therefore be more comfortable and conducive to learning.
