Overview
This course will help you gain the knowledge and skills to effectively manage your personal investments. You will examine the budgeting and investment process, become familiar with investment math and terminology, and learn to assess and apply different approaches to investing.
The first two lessons focus on foundational topics and skills. Lesson 1 covers financial planning concepts, which lay the groundwork for successful investing, and Lesson 2 introduces you to investments. The course then takes on a more applied focus, through which you will learn and practice creating and managing an investment portfolio. Lessons 3 through 5 cover core investment concepts in more detail. Finally, Lesson 6 provides an opportunity to compare and evaluate investment philosophies and approaches.
Learning outcomes
After completing this course, you should be able to
- interpret and explain personal financial statements and the budgeting process.
- perform basic financial mathematics calculations.
- analyze and interpret industry and economic factors that affect financial markets.
- explain basic investment concepts and terminology.
- assess risk and return potential for various types of securities, including stocks and bonds.
- develop and manage a simple investment portfolio.
- contrast various investment approaches and styles.
Evaluation
To receive credit in FNCE 249, you must complete and submit three assignments (in order from 1 to 3) and the Assignment 2/3 Preparation exercise. Your final grade is determined by a weighted average of the grades you receive on these activities. You must achieve a composite grade of D (50 percent) or better for the entire course. The weightings for each assignment are as follows:
| Activity | Weight |
| Assignment 1 | 30% |
| Assignment 2/3 Preparation | 5% |
| Assignment 2 | 40% |
| Assignment 3 | 25% |
| Total | 100% |
To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University’s online Calendar.
Materials
Digital course materials
Links to the following course materials will be made available in the course:
Kapoor, J. R., Dlabay, L. R., Hughes, R. J., Stevenson, L., & Kerst, E. J. (2024). Personal finance (9th Can. ed.). McGraw-Hill. ISBN: 9781264840397
Other Resources
All other learning resources will be available online.
Challenge for credit
Overview
The challenge for credit process allows you to demonstrate that you have acquired a command of the general subject matter, knowledge, intellectual and/or other skills that would normally be found in a university-level course.
Full information about challenge for credit can be found in the Undergraduate Calendar.
Evaluation
To receive credit for the FNCE 249 challenge registration, you must complete and achieve a grade of at least D (50 percent) on the challenge examination.
Challenge for credit course registration form