Financial Bias

What is Financial Literacy?

PIggy Bank Financial literacy in simple terms is about your ability to manage the money that you earn. Most people work hard for the money they earn and therefore want it to last a long time so that they are able to live comfortably. Although living comfortably may mean different things to different people, everyone wants to take care of their basic needs as well as things that they want. So, how do you make sure that you are able to do this? You get money smart and learn about the strategies and discipline that people exercise to ensure their money lasts. What you learn will support you in saving, spending, and managing your money wisely. Some of the strategies that you will learn include:

Choosing a Good Career: It is important to choose a career that you will enjoy as well as one that is predicted to grow or maintain its necessity in the future. You do not want to choose a career that requires you to go to college only to get out and find it is obsolete or over saturated. This leads to not being able to find a job and not earning money. So always do your research.
Spending Wisely: When you acquire money, spend wisely by avoiding impulse buys. An impulse buy is when you go into a store for a specific item and come out with a bag full of items that you did not plan to purchase. Wise spending requires you to have a plan for your money and a plan for how you will use credit responsibly.
Saving: You will need a checking and savings account to ensure you have money to pay bills and yourself. Paying yourself first means that you will be diligent about putting away at least 10% of your earnings in a savings account for emergencies.
Budgeting: Creating a budget allows you to indicate everything you will earn and spend for the month. This procedure helps you to avoid overspending and impulse buys. This is generally calculated in a spreadsheet on a monthly basis to show what you actually spent so that you can make adjustments the following month.
Investing: When you invest your money you take a risk and put your money into stocks, bonds, or mutual funds in an attempt to earn a profit. This requires research to try to choose the best investment for your money to lower your risk.
Getting Insurance: Insurance in simple terms is protection against loss. Many people insure their homes, apartments, vehicles, life, and health. By acquiring an insurance policy, individuals are able to pay a monthly premium and lower their overall cost if there is a loss such as a car accident that destroys the car.
Having a Retirement Plan: Many people dream of retiring after they have worked for 30 or more years. The only way to do this is if you have saved enough money to maintain your lifestyle for the remainder of your life. Early in your career, you must invest in some type of retirement plan to allow your money to grow substantially enough to support you during your retirement years.

Spreadsheets

Throughout this course you will be required to organize and calculate many financial problems to complete your case studies and to solve some of your financial dilemmas. The best tool to use for organization and calculation is a spreadsheet. You can use Microsoft Excel or Google Spreadsheets (free resource). Microsoft Excel tutorials can be accessed from the More Resources section in the sidebar. Watch the videos below to learn the basics of using spreadsheets in Google. To access Google Spreadsheets and follow along with the videos follow the steps below:

Log in to your Gmail account.
Go to the top right corner of the screen next to your email address and click Apps
Choose Drive
On the right side of the screen, click the Create Button and choose Spreadsheet.

Spreadsheet Tutorials

Please watch both videos below to learn how to navigate and create your spreadsheets.

Spreadsheet Basics Tutorial
Spreadsheet Formulas and Graphs Tutorial

Spreadsheet Basics Tutorial

Spreadsheet Formulas and Graphs Tutorial

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