In my post about trying to define what a nerd and geek is, I mention how much I enjoy taking general interest courses. What can I say, I love learning. Although I have taken courses where I have learned things, but I didn’t really enjoy what I was learning. I think it makes a world of a difference if you like the subject material. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree, but I’ll be honest, I didn’t really like what I learned or tried to learn and am not really using my degree at my current job.
I have taken a couple of baking courses which I enjoyed, because I do enjoy baking. I have taken several online courses that were more science related for work, which unfortunately, did not enjoy.
The latest course I am taking is an Investing for Beginners course, offered by a university in a neighbouring city. It runs once a week, for a couple of hours in the evening and is a b*tch to get to due to rush hour traffic and construction on the highway. Biking or public transit is not really an option if I want to make it to the class on time. The course cost me just over $400. Well it actually costs me a bit more since I have to pay $7.00 every time for parking (which is actually really cheap, considering how much it normally costs for green P parking in the big city).
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Mind you, I have wanted to take this course for quite some time, but have never been able to rearrange my evening schedule in the past.
While I have been investing for quite some time now, (about 6 years now), I would still consider myself a beginner, or just slightly above a beginner’s level. I started out with GICs (guaranteed investment certificates) and bonds, then to mutual funds and on to dividend stocks. I’ll be honest, I don’t watch my stock portfolio as much as I should, but I know I’m doing pretty well because while I haven’t contributed any money to it lately, the amount of money has increased.
I know there are a ton of great investing websites such as Investopedia and some great pf blogs that give great investing advice such as Frugal Rules, Money Smart Guides, Young and Thrifty and Liquid Independence. Save Spend Splurge has a great bunch of investing posts known as the Investing Series. So it’s quite obvious one can gain a lot of knowledge about investing from the internet, both from professionals and people who are really into investing. We read about their reviews, experiences and advice on investing methods and products.
Some of you may be thinking, aside from the internet as a great resource, there are also many investing books out there written by the experts.
So why would I pay several hundred dollars for a general interest course?
I’ve only been to two classes so far, but I enjoyed the change of scenery. Being back on campus, wandering around trying to find my class, I felt it was fun. I like printing out the course notes ahead of time and skimming through the material. It helps that the lecturer is a great presenter, is very thorough in answering questions and great at explaining things in a simple way that everyone would understand. She also provides us with great resources such as books and websites to check out. Best part is, that there’s NO TESTS, ASSIGNMENTS, OR EXAM!
It doesn’t get any geekier than this now, does it?
The demographic of the class ranges from seniors to middle-aged to youngish adults like myself to university students. It seems there’s an almost equal number of males and females in the class. To me, it shows that a variety of people want to learn more about investing and that anyone can and SHOULD learn about investing.
As I had mentioned in one of my posts in Suburban Finance, personal finance courses are not offered to students at the moment. Unless your parents encourage you at an early age to start investing, you may not get into investing until your young adult years, like the majority of us. We obviously still have some time compared to people who are more close to approaching retirement, but think how much better off we could be if we had started in our teens.
It is interesting hearing peoples’ stories and backgrounds with investing. The lecturer also welcomes questions via email, which she’ll often discuss during class. I don’t feel intimidated in the class at all and enjoy being back in the classroom after being out of it for so many years.
Have you taken a course on personal finance and/or investing? Would you take this type of course? Why or why not?
Between our undergrad degrees and my wife’s grad degree, I can’t stomach paying for any more formal classes! Haha, that’s not to say I don’t think it was worth it. I’m making probably 3x as much as I would be if I hadn’t gone to school, and she’ll be in that range, if not higher (4x or 5x perhaps). But besides the fact that I spent so much on school already I also learn much better when I can self-direct my study. Finally, I just don’t feel like I have time to go to a class “for fun.” If I was going to study I would probably study for the CMA exam, which I haven’t pursued yet.
The other courses I have taken were paid for by work and were definitely not fun. They were relevant to my field, but were a lot of work with assignments and reading plus an exam in the end. I didn’t enjoy them too much and they would not give me a salary increase, so I decided not to bother with them anymore. I guess I feel after taking those courses, I’m ready for a fun course. However, not sure if everyone would consider an investing course fun. Lol.
That sounds fun. I haven’t been back to school in eight years. I’ve thought about going back for my masters but it is too expensive and I don’t need it at the moment.
I have never taken an investment class, but I’ve read a few books about the subject. I bet the classes are a lot better though because there’s a teacher explaining things instead of me trying to figure out what P/G ratios are.
Enjoy your class.
I, too, have thought about going back for a Master’s, but the thing is, I’m not even sure what I would do my Master’s in. Sometimes here and there I have thought about going back for an MBA. Although my current line of work has absolutely nothing to do with an MBA and there is no requirement for it.
I went back to school to finish my masters but I have a few classes left. I would love to go back, but right now the finances just aren’t where they need to be. I do love learning!
Me too!! 🙂
I love learning too, and I think it is great that you enjoy learning new things. I like to read about all different subjects from history to science to finance. I really believe learning new things exercises your brain and keeps it firing on all cylinders.
I also believe that as well. I believe it’s especially important as we get older to exercise our brain. Everyone knows that’s important to exercise the body, but we shouldn’t forget about exercising the brain! I’m pretty sure I’ll be taking a lot of general interest courses when I’m retired.
I haven’t taken an actual course, but my employer has a pension plan through Sun Life, and they offer webinars every once and a while about investing, asset allocation, tax planning, yada yada yada. I generally sign up for them just to hear it from another “professional” perspective versus all the stuff that I hear in the PF community.
I think I have started to impress my father because he asked me something PF related, I answered it with exact numbers, and his response was “you’re in the wrong field, my dear”. My response? “Eff, I know!” (side note, he’s a CA who wanted me to become an accountant when I was younger).
Perhaps you could look into a career dealing with personal finance or finances? Or were you trying to stay away from that?
I am actually trying to bridge that gap as we speak. To make a lateral move to more of the business side of science rather than the research side. Fingers crossed 🙂
Investing in ourselves is never a bad idea, even if it costs a little upfront. What I’ve found is that investing in my education and personal growth has opened up several avenues that didn’t exist when I worked full time for someone else.
Good post and very useful topic to discuss.
While my investing course is more for just general interest, I am hoping to take continuing education courses in the future that will create more opportunities.
Any education is worthwhile in the long run! The more we learn and grow, the more opportunities will open up for us to make money and create wealth.
MTB,
Investing in yourself and your financial future is a wise decision. Whether you do it formally as you are by taking courses or through informal means such as reading investment classics, this will pay huge dividends for you over your lifetime.
I took the Canadian Securities Course a few years back and found it incredibly useful (albeit pricey). I also worked at one of the Big Five banks for a period of time. Both of these were great resources in teaching me the mechanics of how the system operates and how banking generally functions.
Beyond that, I’ve read countless investment classics, Internet blogs, and used all of them to formulate my own methodology as to how to succeed as an investor. For what it’s worth, my TFSA is beating the S&P 500 to date.
I’ve learned that dividend growth companies are one of the best methods for achieving real longterm wealth. There’s nothing like a solid track record of dividend growth with a reasonable payout ratio.
Here’s to hoping you continue enjoying your course and sharing what you learn with the rest of us!
– Ryan from GRB
I am really enjoying that course so far and am learning A LOT. With more knowledge under my belt, I feel more confident in being a DIY investor. My instructor had mentioned the CSC in class. I would certainly look into taking the version for investors in the future. It is rather pricey though, but then again, it’s not much more than what I paid for the beginner’s course.
I am planning to write a post or two on what I learned from taking the course. Stay tuned!