Both/And Finance Course
Course Overview | Course Options and Pricing | Free Course Videos | Course Curriculum Details
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Course Overview
The purpose of this course is to help you strengthen your capacity to manage your personal finances - particularly your savings and investments - yourself.
Put another way, my goal is for you to “learn to fish” so that rather than feeling like you need to rely on financial professionals to “fish” for you, you can engage with your finances directly in the ways that work best for you.
The course includes monthly on-demand videos along with activities that you will complete between sessions. The activities are all designed to leave you with dynamic personal finance tools that you can keep and adjust in the future as needed.
The tools you build in the course will support you in developing your own answers to questions like:
- What is my current financial situation?
- How much money do I “need” to save for the future?
- What is my version of “enough”? And, what is my current status in relation to this?
- What does my current investment portfolio look like and what does that mean for me?
- What is an investment plan that aligns with my version of being a “responsible” investor?
- How will I implement and monitor my investment plan?
- How can I holistically use my resources to support a Just Transition?
This course can be a good fit for people who want to manage their investments themselves or for people who want to get more out of their work with other financial professionals by building their financial knowledge and confidence.
More about the Both/And Finance Course approach
I call this a "both/and" finance course because my starting assumption is that you care about both personal and collective thriving as you navigate your financial life. This simple idea, that people may choose to manage their finances with consideration of both personal and collective wellbeing, is fundamentally at odds with the underlying assumptions of most of finance, including most personal finance education.
By design, this course will focus more on tools to help you navigate our financial system personally, rather than broader ideas about how we can rethink and change that system collectively (I will continue to discuss that sort of thing in my free newsletter here). Still, this course is unique in the world of personal finance education because I am transparent about my both/and starting point and I give you resources to apply both/and thinking to your own finances if you choose.
For each topic we cover, I'll tell you what the recommendations would be from a traditional finance view, AND I'll also point out where I think these recommendations are constrained by assumptions that uphold values that you may not share. My intention is never to tell you what to do. Instead, I will share resources for how you can think about various topics in your financial life so that you can make your own well-informed decisions.
I recommend that this course be taken over 6 months. However, I designed the course to be flexible around your needs and calendar. The full 6-month course includes the following two 3-month modules, each with a distinct set of goals and deliverables:
Module #1 - Finance Foundations, 3 months
Module #1 Goals: Clarify your current financial situation, forecast your financial future, understand your current investments
Module #1 Deliverables: Completed dynamic tool that holistically reflects your current financial situation including how you are currently invested (Google Sheets format)
Module #2 - Investment Management, 3 months
Module #2 Goals: Understand the investing landscape, build knowledge to manage your own investments, create your investment strategy
Module #2 Deliverables: Completed personal investment policy statement that includes your investment management plan and holistic target portfolio (Google Docs format)
While these modules are intended to be done sequentially, you are welcome to pause your subscription to take a break between them. Or, you may choose to do only one of these modules, rather than both, if this is the better fit for you.
The monthly time commitment for the course ranges from 2-6 hours per month, broken down as follows: Approximately 1 hour of video content per month, 1-3 hours of work between classes, and a 1.5 hour monthly private meeting with me for those who choose the Course + Coaching option (explained below). You will also have access to an online discussion space and monthly group office hours.
Course Options and Pricing
There are two ways you can take this course: 1) Self-guided; 2) Course + Coaching Package.
Self-Guided Course
With this self-guided option, you can choose to engage with the course material at the level and pace that you prefer. As soon as you sign-up, you will have access to the course material (rolled out monthly starting in Jan 2024). This option does not include one-on-one support, but I will be available to answer general questions during monthly group office hours.
Each month, the course will include approximately 1 hour of video content, 1-3 hours of activities for you to complete, and 1 hour of live group office hours (recorded for those who can’t make it). You will also get access to an online discussion space with others who are taking the course.
I ask for a minimum 3-month commitment and I recommend a 6-month commitment.
Course + Coaching Package
This is a course and coaching combination offering. This is the service model that I believe will be the best value for many people.
We are all at different places in our understanding of both our personal finances and the wider landscape of finance. By having monthly one-on-one meetings with me while also working through the Both/And Finance Course content, you can be “met where you are” in your personal journey related to the course topics.
Through our monthly one-on-one meetings, we can spend extra time on the areas that are most important to you and I can answer your questions in the order of priority that you choose. Also, with this model, you can share your “homework” with me so that you get another set of eyes on the resources that you develop for yourself throughout the course. In this way, we work together to ensure you have the knowledge, confidence, and tools to engage with your finances in the ways that feel the most empowered and values-aligned to you.
Each month, you’ll get: the Both/And Finance course content plus 1.5 hours of one-on-one coaching with me, personalized review and feedback on your work, and separate group office hours for coaching clients only. You will also get access to an online discussion space with others who are taking the course.
If you want to take the course as a couple, we'll extend our sessions to 2 hours per month and I'll review both partners’ materials each month. I’m also happy to work with larger households, just reach out to me to discuss pricing and what might best fit your needs.
I ask for a minimum 3-month commitment and I recommend a 6-month commitment.
Free Course Videos
Most of my course content is behind a paywall because this is how I fund my livelihood (and how I support my other unpaid work for "the commons"). However, I will occasionally share some course videos for free. As I do, I will link to them here.
Check out my Course Prequel video series here:
Rebecca Blumenshine
Course Curriculum Details
Module #1) Finance Foundations:
Month 1 - Grounding
Exploring your actual and relative financial wealth.
Topics of the month:
- Money stories and wealth distribution facts
- What does financial responsibility mean to you?
- Building your financial balance sheet
Activities for the month:
- Money and wealth distribution stories reflection
- Create your personal financial responsibility statement
- Build your financial balance sheet
Month 2 - Forecasting
Understanding what your money math looks like so you can make informed decisions.
Topics of the month:
- Understanding your cash flows
- Looking ahead: goals, dreams, and what-ifs
- Building your first-draft forecast model
Activities for the month:
- Documenting your top goals, dreams, and what-ifs
- Cash flow review and forecast
- Enter info for a first draft of your forecast model
Month 3 - Understanding your current investments
Learning about your current investments and assessing their alignment with your goals.
Topics of the month:
- Investing Part 1 - asset classes, diversification, risk & return, retirement accounts
- Holistic portfolio thinking
- Understanding key info about your current investments
Activities for the month:
- Gather info about your current investments and populate it into a tracking tool
- Draw your version of your ideal holistic portfolio model
Module #2) Investment Management:
Month 4 - Investing for the future
Building your knowledge to manage your own investments if you choose to.
Topics of the month:
- Investing Part 2 - Other things you need to know to manage your own portfolio
- Community investing overview
Activities for the month:
- Identify personal parameters for your investment planning: liquidity needs, risk aptitude, level of involvement, etc
- Reflection on your investment goals, including personal and collective goals
Month 5 - Creating your investment strategy
Developing the policies that will guide your savings and investing approach.
Topics of the month:
- What is an investment policy statement and why is it useful
- Key decision points within an investment strategy and how these relate to your financial plan
Activities for the month:
- Draft your personal investment policy statement (using a template that helps guide you through it)
Month 6 - Developing your target portfolio and next steps
Determining your action plan to implement your investment strategy.
Topics of the month:
- How to develop and implement your holistic target portfolio
- Understanding how this integrates with your financial forecasts
Activities for the month:
- Determine your holistic target portfolio
- Clarify next steps to implement
Questions?
Are you still curious about whether this course is for you? Me too!
Email me at contact@bothandfinance.com or
schedule a chat with me here and we can explore this together.
I look forward to connecting with you!
Important legal note: Any work we do together will be structured as an educational or coaching engagement, NOT a financial advising engagement. Throughout this course and/or our coaching work, I will never give specific investment advice (this is very important because this would be illegal under the business model I’m using). Instead, I will provide educational information that empowers you to make your own informed decisions for yourself. Please note that while I will support you in building your knowledge about investing, I cannot guarantee that this course will be enough for you to be fully prepared to manage your own investments, depending on your situation. If you have questions about this, feel free to reach out to me for a chat.