{"id":1323,"date":"2015-06-14T20:06:09","date_gmt":"2015-06-15T01:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.holypotato.net\/?p=1323"},"modified":"2015-06-14T22:32:49","modified_gmt":"2015-06-15T03:32:49","slug":"the-bad-idea-that-wouldnt-die","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.holypotato.net\/?p=1323","title":{"rendered":"The Bad Idea That Wouldn’t Die"},"content":{"rendered":"

I keep thinking that there are a lot of people who really want or need a course on personal finance and investing, and there aren’t many resources for it. There are books of course, but some people just aren’t book learners, or prefer a course for one reason or another. There are some good continuing education courses offered through UofT and a few other universities across the country, but for most people who don’t live close to campus they’re out of luck. So I’ve thought about putting together a full online course on the matter, and while few people think it’s needed, when I actually asked<\/a> who would sign up for such a beast the response was under-whelming. <\/p>\n

A full course would be something like 12-16 hours of lectures and discussions, which would take hundreds of hours to prepare, practice, and coordinate. It’s madness to put in that kind of work before knowing for sure that there’s actually an audience at the other end. So it’s a bad idea. No one wants it, at least not online. <\/p>\n

And yet it’s an idea that won’t die. I’ve kept thinking about how to put it together, how to change and add to the content of the book for a course, and moreover talking myself into thinking that it is needed and maybe the reason for the previous response is that people just don’t want to raise their hands over vague hypothetical options (also, the people who would want a course are likely not on r\/PFC or here, excusing the underwhelming response earlier). So I’ve doodled a bit and come up with a preliminary syllabus for such a course. <\/p>\n

But it’s still a terrible idea that’s going to take way too much time that I don’t have. Fortunately I’ve heard that Ellen Roseman<\/a> plans to take one of her UofT courses online next year, and Bridget of Money After Graduation<\/a> is putting together an online course on investing too. So maybe I can bow out and let them solve the problem. <\/p>\n

Here is the preliminary course outline\/syllabus, make of it what you will. Maybe it will get you excited and you’ll want to enroll or back a kickstarter-type thing to make it happen. Maybe Ellen and\/or Bridgette will liberally borrow for their courses (and the outline is not the hard part of creating a new course so I don’t really mind). Maybe you will tell me that my outline is bad and that I should feel bad.<\/p>\n

Planning, Investing, and Other Grown-up Money Concerns<\/strong>
\nProposed Course Outline (each unit approx. 45 minutes + time for questions)<\/p>\n