Building your financial literacy level probably isn’t the sexiest to do on your to-do list. But improving your financial literacy may be the best thing that you do for yourself all year.
Anyone can boost their financial literacy with cost-efficient resources, from free online courses to an educational website.
Financial Literacy Tools that Can Sharpen Your Money Skills
Here are a few free financial literacy tools that you can use to get savvier about money:
SDFLC.org
We created this educational platform, called the San Diego Financial Literacy Center, a private, 501(c)(3), nonprofit corporation, which offers complimentary financial services to the public. The San Diego Financial Literacy Center provides services across three key areas: financial literacy, debt management, and credit counseling.
MyMoney.gov
This resource was created by the federal Financial Literacy and Education Commission and it offers links to five building blocks for managing and growing your money. These pages provide information on how to make the best financial choices about life events, spending, protecting your assets, earning, borrowing, saving, and investing. The website also includes online calculators, money-quizzes, budget worksheets, planning checklists, and other tools to help manage your money.
FederalReserveEducation.org
Set up by the U.S. central bank, this site provides curriculum plans for teachers as well as resources that you can use, arranged by topics in personal finance, money, consumer protection, credit, and banking.
CashCourse.org
This money guide, created by the National Endowment for Financial Education, aims to help college and university students. But, it’s really useful for anyone who wants to learn how to take charge of their money. It offers informational articles on the basics of personal finance, calculators, a budget tool, videos, worksheets, finance-quizzes, and more. Users can also ask questions on the site’s “financial experts wall” and get feedback.
JumpStart.org
You can find hundreds of programs, documents, and other resources in this free, online library set up by the JumpStart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy. It provides materials to help educate kids and teens on personal finance.
360financialliteracy.org
Provided by the American Institute of CPA’s (certified public accountants), this website gives you tools, information, and more to aid your understanding of personal finances through every stage of life. It offers a range of calculators organized according to topic or life stage.
Mint.com
This free financial app lets you input your finances and create a personalized budget. You can link your accounts to it and set up your goals. You’ll get back tips and suggested plans to help you reach those goals. You can also receive a free credit score. With MintBills, you can organize your routine bills in one central place and get alerts when each is due.
BillGuard.com
Drawing from crowd-sourced wisdom, this free app sends alerts to help you protect yourself from fraud and unwanted charges on your accounts. You can also track spending and stay on top of your budget goals. BillGuard identifies unwanted “gray” charges, charges that start sending monthly bills after a free trial period, which may arrive as well.
In addition, you can find financial literacy help through many banks, credit unions, and credit counseling agencies, such as DebtWave!