Where Does All My Money Go?

Learn how to make conscious decisions about spending and saving so you can take full control of your financial future. This course will teach you the principles of investing, debt elimination, and retirement planning.

6 Weeks / 24 Course Hrs

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Offered in partnership with your preferred school

Sierra College Community Education

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Learning method

Instructor-Moderated

$125

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Starting April 16 | May 14

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Details + Objectives

Course code: wdm

Ever get frustrated that you never seem to get ahead? Are you and your family constantly arguing about money? Do you ever wonder where your money went last month? Do you have trouble saving money? Want to work on paying down your debt, but don't know where to find the money? This course will teach you the very basics of how to get control of your finances rather than letting them control you. It is the help you need before learning about investing, debt elimination, retirement or college planning. There aren't many places that you can go to learn these principles, so take advantage of this opportunity to learn online.

Start to make conscious decisions about spending and saving. Find out where your money goes. Make your own informed choices about where you want it to go. Learn how to fund your dreams and how to save money for everything from emergencies to vacations. If you have ever felt lost about where to start working on your finances, this course is for you. You can't afford not to take this course and change your habits. This course is an investment in your future and you will save the cost of the course many times over by applying what you learn.

What you will learn

Learn the reasons you should plan ahead for your lifestyle
Identify where you are and where you want to go
Learn how to set up a record keeping system
Understand how to balance a checkbook
Discover how to deal with debt
Draft a spending and bill paying plan
Learn the envelope system
Discover how to deal with temptations that get you off track
Explore saving and investing

How you will benefit

Take control of your finances by learning to pay down debt, live within your means, and even start saving
Gain better relationships with your family and friends once you're not as stressed about money
Learn how to fund your dreams and how to save money for everything from emergencies to vacations

How the course is taught

Instructor-Moderated online course
6 Weeks access
24 course hours

Outline

Why know where all your money goes? This lesson will inspire you to take this course and find out the answer! This lesson will talk about why someone would want to set up a Spending Plan. It will discuss the difference between the Planning Mindset and the "I Want It Now" Mindset, as well as the ways that either mindset affects your everyday life. You'll look at lifestyles and how people usually choose them subconsciously. Then, you'll find out how to examine yours, and whether you want to make any changes. The lesson will also discuss The Black Hole of Monthly Payments: what it is, how it works, and why you'll want to learn how to avoid it. This lesson is the foundation of all of the ones that follow, because it will get you excited to learn why to get control of your own money.

In this lesson, you'll begin the work of tracking your money by learning how to create a Net Worth Statement. You'll look at how your personality affects your attitude towards money, and how to manage money in marriage and relationships. Then, you'll learn about why you should set some goals for yourself and work on writing your own financial Wish List.

This lesson begins with a discussion about the importance of your checkbook. It will discuss various banking topics like ATM transactions and debit cards and how to choose the right bank account. Then, you'll delve into how to create a Mail Station and a Bill Paying Station as a place to organize yourself for paying your bills. The lesson will also cover how to keep all of your paperwork—from what to save to how to create a filing system.

This lesson is the backbone of good money management. You'll learn how to balance your checkbook and how this task affects all of your money issues. You'll also take a look at keeping track of your credit card statements.

In this lesson, you'll examine that enemy to financial freedom: debt. You'll look at how to know if you're in debt trouble and compile your own personal debt list. The lesson will also discuss tax debt and explain the best ways to pay debt off in general. Finally, you'll work on prioritizing your debt so that you know what to pay off first.

In this lesson, you'll look at your spending habits and where you've been spending your money. You'll create a list of expense categories, and then create a Historical Costs Worksheet to examine where your money has been going. The lesson will also discuss how to keep a cash log to track where your cash gets spent. Very few people know the answer to this! But you will after completing this lesson and its assignments.

In this lesson, you'll learn to change the way you manage your money, which begins with drafting your first Spending Plan. The lesson will discuss how a Spending Plan works, and you'll look at how to create one using your Historical Costs Worksheet as a base. Then, you'll compare your figures with standard guideline percentages to see where your Spending Plan might be off.

Now it's time to set up some detail about how to work your Spending Plan. You'll start by learning how to create a Bill Paying Plan. This will show you what bills to pay when. The lesson will also discuss getting an allowance and how this will help you manage your spending.

In this lesson, you'll go to the heart of how to really use your Spending Plan with the Envelope System. You'll examine what it is, how it works, and why it's superior to other methods of budgeting. All of the other lessons build up to this one.

In this lesson, you'll look at the guts of the Envelope System and examine it in detail. This is the nitty-gritty, how-to lesson that pulls together everything you've done so far.

This lesson will discuss common temptations to overspending, including your personal spending weaknesses, keeping up with the Joneses, housing and transportation issues, and teaching kids about money. If you're not careful, these things can pull you off track.

In this last lesson, you'll look at why and how to save, and how to best use your savings account. You'll explore stocks, bonds, mutual funds, retirement accounts, and saving for college. You'll also review your Wish List now that you've learned how to better handle your money. At the end of this lesson and this course, you'll be able to confidently answer the question "Where Does All My Money Go?" and experience the freedom that comes from not worrying about money any more!

Instructors & Support

Matt Crabtree

Matt Crabtree, CFP ®, earned his Bachelor of Science in Business, Information Systems Management, in 1999, a mini MBA certificate from The School of Management at Yale University in 2004, a certificate in Financial Planning from Pepperdine University's Graziadio School of Business in 2012 and has received the financial industry's most rigorous and prestigious professional designation of Certified Financial Planner ™. After many years in project management, office management, and business sales, Matt began training individuals and organizations in areas of business finance, leadership development, successful negotiations, sales management, and customer service excellence. Matt has trained individuals and various units within the U.S. Department of Defense, as well as corporate organizations including IBM (technology), Accuray (healthcare-technology), and Gen-Probe (molecular diagnostics). Matt's natural aptitude for explaining his material in an easy-to-understand and enjoyable manner allows each student to gain insights into areas that are often considered challenging.

Instructor Interaction: The instructor looks forward to interacting with learners in the online moderated discussion area to share their expertise and answer any questions you may have on the course content.

Requirements

Prerequisites:

There are no prerequisites to take this course.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

This course can be taken on either a PC, Mac, or Chromebook.

Software Requirements:

PC: Windows 8 or later.
Mac: macOS 10.6 or later.
Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

FAQ

A new session of each course begins each month. Please refer to the session start dates for scheduling.

Once a course session starts, two lessons will be released each week for the 6 week duration of your course. You will have access to all previously released lessons until the course ends. You will interact with the instructor through the online discussion area. There are no live sessions or online meetings with the instructor.

The interactive discussion area for each lesson automatically closes two weeks after each lesson is released, so you're encouraged to complete each lesson within two weeks of its release. However, you will have access to all lessons from the time they are released until the course ends.

Students enrolled in a six-week online class benefit from a one-time, 10-day extension for each course. No further extensions can be provided beyond these 10 days.

Reviews

I feel this course gave a lot of examples, ideas and support for those of us who are interested in getting our finances in order. The instructor had a great sense of humor that came across as encouraging and understanding. I really appreciated that! Thank you for this opportunity. Now I have got to put it in action!

I thoroughly enjoyed this course. I'm positive that the lessons and assignments will enable me to make a major difference in my financial picture over a period of time. I would be interested in any other courses taught by this instructor. She did an outstanding job.

Thank you for helping me get our money in order. When we retire in 4 months this will really help to keep on track with our money. Thank you again.

Thank you for offering this course, I have really enjoyed figuring out where my money goes. The hardest part was keeping track of every purchase right down to my coffee. I am able to do it with ease now and that feels great. Designating a day once a week really is the way for me. The course has been wonderful and anyone who is brave enough to take it will benefit immediately and substantially in the long run. Cheers and thanks again!

I really enjoyed this course and learned quite a bit. I feel better about my finances and my ability to keep up with them. I have always lived paycheck to paycheck - or as said in the course, living on last months money. I now know how to allocate my funds and keep myself from spending what I really don't have. I'm excited about my financial future! Thank you!

Susan, I can't thank you enough for this wonderful course. The lessons were practical, organized, and very well-presented. The techniques and tips you offered will go a long way in assisting me to get a better handle on my financial situation. I have taken a number of online courses through ed2go. Your course was, by far, the very best of all. I would highly recommend it to anyone. Thank you so very much!

It's very rare to find a course on money basics like this one. It's an excellent topic and appropriate for every one who needs to manage money. I appreciated hearing how the instructor grew up and learned to manage her money through family experience first. Susan possesses excellent knowledge on getting a grip on money management and an ability to explain lucidly the process of managing one's own money.

My husband and I just finished the assignments and you wouldn't believe how much this has already helped. We both understand now what each others wants and needs are...and how to handle them and compromise...Thank you so much for the great advice!

All I can say is, W-O-W. This class was great and you were an exceptional teacher. I wish I had had this course in high school. No, better yet, in junior high. This course has provided me with such a relief of stress. I now know what to do, how to do it, and when. Being able to direct my money is so much easier than chasing after it because I can't remember where I spent it. Once again, thank you.

The emergency fund and your clarification of that fund helped me get over the hurdleof making a budget. I am sure that is a wall for many people. I had started the automatic savings before I started the class because I wanted to know that we had some money if we needed it. What a feeling to know that we will be okay if something goes wrong, that my husband can't fix. Just last week my middle boy broke his hand - three trips to the hospital, two sets of x-rays , and an orange cast later everything is okay because I had that little bit socked away.

Thank you for helping me get our money in order. When we retire in 4 months this will really help to keep on track with our money. Thank you again.

Where Does All My Money Go?

Sierra College Community Education