10 Great Resources for Financial Education on the Web

1. MIT OpenCourseWare (mit.edu)

• Real Estate Finance and Investment
• Behavioral Economics and Finance
• Finance Theory II
• Entrepreneurial Finance
• The Law of Corporate Finance and Financial Markets

These free courses from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are comprised mostly of detailed PDF lecture notes that include visual aids, such as full-color graphs and tables. Some courses also include text-based assignments, unit quizzes and exams.

2. The Institute for Economic Development - UT-San Antonio (iedtexas.org)

• Assessing Financial Needs
• Balance Sheet Tutorial
• Cash Budget Tutorial
• Cash Flow Tutorial

These courses are designed to develop knowledge of basic financial topics, particularly those that relate to small business management. The courses are delivered in the form of playful animations with narration and music. Extensive text selections are also included. Students must register by providing an e-mail address, but the courses are free.

3. Stanford University iTunes (stanford.edu)

• Finance

The Stanford iTunes Finance course consists of five audio lectures, each approximately one hour long, that cover such subjects as microfinancing, financial management and fundraising diversity. The software to run iTunes is available for free online.

4. Open University (open.ac.uk)

• Equity Finance
• Investment Risk

The UK's Open University finance courses are mostly text-based classes that include quiz questions with hidden answers and extensive lecture notes. Subjects covered include financial liquidity, income variability and event risk. Best of all, some courses even sneak in an occasional funny cartoon.

5. Utah State University (usu.edu)

• Family Finance

This free financial planning tutorial includes PDF notes and a variety of assignments designed to increase students' awareness of their own income, expense and budgeting habits. Sample assignments include tracking all income and expenses for one month. The most important element of this course, however, is its wide selection of helpful links to outside resources for info about finances.

6. University of California-Irvine (uci.edu)

• Fundamentals of Personal Financial Planning

This financial training class is designed for people who don't have the resources to get professional financial planning advice, but are interested in increasing their financial savvy. The comprehensive course includes subjects like risk management, wealth accumulation and estate planning.

7. Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey (rutgers.edu)

• Investing for Your Future

This 11-part tutorial is the product of a collaboration between Rutgers and five other land-grant universities and includes expert answers to frequently-asked financial questions and an extensive selection of self-assessment tools. More a collection of resources than an actual class, this is an excellent starting place for new learners.

8. University of Illinois Extension (uiuc.edu)

• Financial Risk Tutorial
• Retirement Information Tutorial

This free online financial resource includes text-based notes and interactive, multiple-choice quizzes that test students' knowledge of terms and finance know-how. The retirement tutorial includes a video and several contest-winning advertisements exhorting viewers to begin saving now for retirement.

9. Purdue University (purdue.edu)

• Planning for a Secure Retirement

This free online finance course includes a series of ten modules that feature self-profiling tests, self-assessments and practical insight into the mechanics of preparing for those golden years. Each text-based module is broken up into several divisions.

10. The Financial Management Training Center (exinfm.com)

• Evaluating Financial Performance
• Financial Planning and Forecasting
• Creating Value through Financial Management

This privately-managed site run by a certified public accountant in the Washington, D.C., area offers online, PDF and Microsoft Word versions of all courses, which relay highly detailed yet basic info for laypersons. The classes are mostly text-based...but, for non-English speakers, they offer Babel Fish translations into eight different languages.