Are you interested in learning more about personal finance but unsure where to start? Getting in touch with High Level Wealth Management is a great starting point since we work with clients of all ages and levels of financial experience. When we meet for your free introductory appointment, we’ll spend some time assessing your financial knowledge and we adapt our approach to suit each client. We always try to provide financial education to our clients as we work through the creation of a financial plan, but what if you’re most interested in learning the basics in a more structured way and at your own pace? For this, we recommend that you enroll in the free McGill Personal Finance Essentials course:
The McGill Personal Finance Essentials course is an online offering from McGill University, developed in collaboration with RBC Future Launch and The Globe and Mail. Once registered, you’ll work through eight short modules at your own pace, covering the topics such as:
- Understanding Debt and Borrowing
- Your Money: Today and Tomorrow
- Strategic Budget Building
- The Art of Investing
- The Realities of Real Estate
- Behavioural Finance
Each module consists of one to three short videos (typically 5-10 minutes each) in which McGill faculty members introduce and explain key finance topics. The videos are very well-produced and the content is fairly basic, although there are one or two topics that might require the use of a calculator. After each module, you can test your learning with a 10-question quiz, with additional feedback provided after each question. Because the course is self-study, you can progress at your own pace: dedicate an afternoon to completing it in one sitting or work through the various modules in small 15 minute sessions.
While we don’t agree with absolutely everything presented in the course – the module on real estate lacks any meaningful discussion about the risks of purchasing an income property for example – overall it aligns closely with our wealth management philosophy and we think it will provide you with a great financial foundation.