How to Create a Personal Finance 101 Course

Here’s how a college educator turned a need into a rewarding life passion.

Ellen, a part-time teacher at a community college, realized that there were no courses on basic financial literacy. The more she looked into it, the more she wanted to fill the gap. Her first step was to figure out where to start. Luckily, a fellow professor from her college introduced her to the National Financial Educators Council, the NFEC.

She wanted to prepare people who were just about to strike out on their own, for the monetary decisions that life would soon force them to make. She would have the most impact on pre-adults from below average income households and wanted to start there. The NFEC offered a structure to guide her in creating personal finance 101.

To best prepare people for the financial decisions they would soon face, they needed to understand the basic skills and concepts of personal money management. Ultimately, Ellen wanted her students to think strategically about their money but if the 8-week summer course gave them only a taste of strategic thinking, she would know she did her job. The upper levels of understanding might offer the opportunity for continuing education. For now, she would stay focused on a personal finance 101 course.

Once Ellen understood her vision for the long-term and goals for the short-term, she needed to decide how to deliver the course. Since it would be offered thru the community college, it would have to be based on a set timeline with live classroom instruction 2 days per week. She would provide online resources to allow students to dive deeper into financial topics of particular interest to them. The resources would include numerous personal finance 101 pdf documents.

It was relatively easy to figure out what specific subjects to teach in Ellen’s personal finance 101 course. These young adults needed a strong foundation in the basics of personal money management, so the class would focus on debt, saving and budgeting. She also wanted to touch on financial psychology and thought the students would particularly enjoy that. The structure and support she was getting from the NFEC and from her community college allowed her to stay focused while also providing the flexibility to explore tangents as she and the students wished.

In Ellen’s mind, the curriculum needed practical lessons that encourage students to take real world action. It also had to meet formal educational standards. She wanted a flexible, modular design so she could steer the class according to the needs and interests of the students. It would also be great if the course offered information and resources on demand, so students could independently pursue any angle of personal finance that interested them the most.

Although Ellen was a part-time teacher, she was not comfortable enough with teaching personal finance to lead her first course on her own. The students deserved a more professional approach. The NFEC resources allowed her to find the perfect presenter with plenty of experience teaching a college-age audience. The teacher was also an NFEC Certified Financial Education Instructor (CFEI), which would increase the course’s credibility.

Ellen planned on getting her personal finance certification and she knew she would learn a lot watching a professional instructor teach her personal finance 101 course. The instructor would also offer Ellen the help she would need to tackle this new endeavor.

When all was said and done, a total of 33 students enrolled in personal finance 101 and 29 completed it successfully, just shy of 88%. All the graduates showed significant improvement at the end of the class. These are amazing results by any standard. Ellen compiled the data and created a report she would use to procure the support and finances she would need to expand the program.