Top 4 Investment Courses for Students

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Investment is a word of the extremes. On one hand, we call expanses like a couple of beers or buying a new car an ‘investment’ while on the other hand being afraid to really invest into ourselves, a small business, or the stock market. Well, you found your way here, so you are most likely to change that in the upcoming months. First, I’ll give you a definition of ‘investment’, then you have to understand your needs and last but not least you’ll get our top five investment courses for students.

What’s an investment?

The Oxford Dictionary states investing is “to buy property, shares in a company, etc. in the hope of making a profit”. Investing can be anything – the two main differences to buying are:

-          Your goal is to make a profit

-          An investment generates a positive cashflow

If you buy a flat to live in, it’s a liability – you generate cashflows away from you: to your bank (interest), the government (taxes), maintenance, etc. If you buy a flat to rent out you are generating a cash flow towards you which pays off taxes, interest, and repairs – what’s left is your profit.

Investing is not only reallocating money but also resources and time. It takes planning and commitment. Time is your most valuable resource, we achieve what we focus our time on. It’s a good investment to cut the tasks slowing us down. In my case, these are minor ungraded essays. Source them out using writingservices for college students, to focus on graded papers and research. Every choice can be an investment.

I want to invest but where do I start?

Before you start you should invest some time in understanding your needs, goals, and the present. That will save you from frustration and wasting your money to help you I prepared a couple of questions to guide you:

-          How much do you know? Are you a beginner or already an expert?

-          Which asset classes are you interested in?

-          How risk-averse are you?

-          Do I want to invest actively or passively?

-          How much spare money do you have?

As a student, most likely the last question will influence your decision. Not only if you choose a paid course or free alternative, but also which courses will be currently interesting. A good option for little money is ETFs (exchange-traded funds) or CFDs (contracts for difference), so you might want to look out for these topics. Independent if you already know ETFs and Co I can only recommend Investing for Dummies. The book gives an excellent overview, especially if you don’t know where you’re going.

Our top 5 investment courses for you!

Are you ready to learn investment? Perfect! These five courses will help you to gain insight into investing. You not only learn the basics from what a broker does to how a share split influences your stock but get a better understanding of the economics around you and how to react to it.

Financial Markets | Yale University via Coursera (free)

Students and universities belong together. ‘Financial Markets’ is an ideal beginner course by Robert Schiller, who not only lectures at Yale but was awarded a Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. The course focuses also on the impact of investments, banking, and the insurance industry on our society. It’s our top pick.

Beginners Investing Course | Stock Market Investing101 (free)

This basic course is currently accessible without charge. It’s well-structured into ten chapters ranging from basics like explaining financial instruments like bonds to answering the question of why the stock market goes up and down.

Stock Market from Scratch for Complete Beginners | Udemy

This course teaches you not only the jargon, the financial instruments, and how to choose your broker. It will give you the confidence to try out your newly gained knowledge and invest.

Investing Basics for Millennials | Skillshare (free)

You’re young and want to pioneer the stock market – this is your course. With its 16 minutes, it’s probably the fastest investment course you’ll find online.