Interested in taking control of your own finances? Looking to boost or change your career? Taking a free online course in finance is a great way to better yourself. Thanks to websites like Coursera and edX, the best finance classes from the best colleges and universities are available to anyone from anywhere in the world. That means you can study personal finance, investment banking, and even interest rate models on your preferred schedule. While dozens of online finance classes are available, we’ve got the rundown on 30 of the best free online courses in finance.
Advanced Financial Reporting: Accounting for Business Combinations and Preparation of Consolidated Financial Statements
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
Advanced Financial Reporting is a free online finance course offered by University of Illinois via Coursera. The advanced-level course covers a variety of topics related to the preparation of consolidated financial statements. These topics include:
- step-by-step acquisition
- segments reporting
- the goodwill impairment test
The course is 100% online, offers flexible deadlines, and can be completed in approximately 24 hours.
Online Course Website
Advanced Valuation and Strategy: M&A, Private Equity, and Venture Capital
Erasmus University Rotterdam
Erasmus University Rotterdam, one of the Netherlands’ top universities, offers this free online finance course via Coursera. Advanced Valuation and Strategy will guide students through the all it takes to make better business decisions. Thus, it’s best suited for those at the advanced level. Topics covered by the Syllabus include Discounted Cash Flow Analysis, Corporate Strategy, and Corporate Real Options.
Online Course Website
Analyzing Company Performance Using Ratios
Coursera
Analyzing Company Performance Using Ratios is a free guided project offered by Coursera. The project spans two hours, during which time participants will learn to extract balance sheet and income statement items, perform time series analysis, and calculate profitability, among other things. The course is taught in English, and best suited for intermediate finance students and professionals.
Online Course Website
Applying Data Analytics in Finance
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
Applying Data Analytics in Finance is a free online finance course offered by University of Illinois via Coursera. The intermediate-level course introduces students to an overview of financial analytics. Topics covered include:
- the forecasting process
- ARIMA models
- time series data
- basic trading algorithms
The course is 100% online, has flexible deadlines, and can be completed in about 23 hours.
Online Course Website
Behavioral Finance
Duke University
Behavioral Finance is a free online finance course offered by Duke University via Coursera. This fascinating course introduces students to the study of:
- the financial decision-making errors that plague each one of us
- the biases that cause them
- how they can be avoided
Topics covered include the classic economic model of consumer choice, “heuristic-driven bias”, and the ways in which we can improve our financial decision making. The course is 100% online, offers flexible deadlines, and can be completed in approximately five hours.
Online Course Website
Blockchain, Cryptoassets, and Decentralized Finance
INSEAD
Blockchain, Cryptoassets, and Decentralized Finance is a free online finance course offered by INSEAD via Coursera. The beginner-level course addresses the many challenges of the status quo against the government-controlled movement, storage, and allocation of money and assets. Topics covered include:
- identity and personal finance
- blockchain-based smart contracts
- cryptoassets
- distributed business models
The course is 100% online, offers flexible deadlines, and takes about 15 hours to complete.
Online Course Website
Compare Stock Returns with Google Sheets
Coursera Project Network
Compare Stock Returns with Google Sheets is not a traditional online course, but a guided online project. Organized and offered by the educational website Coursera, this unique class walks students through using the Google Sheets toolkit to:
- calculate stock returns using stock price historical data
- calculate a stock’s volatility and average return
- use Sharpe and Sortino Ratios, among other things
The class takes one hour to complete.
Online Course Website
Corporate Finance II: Financing Investments and Managing Risk
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
Financing Investments and Managing Risk is the second online finance course in a series on corporate finance offered by University of Illinois. Topics covered include:
- making important financial decisions
- managing credit risk
- the mechanics of dividends and share repurchases
- understanding the links between payout policies and company performance
The course is 100% online, has flexible deadlines, and can be completed in approximately 20 hours.
Online Course Website
Economics of Money and Banking
Columbia University
Economics of Money and Banking is a free online finance course offered by Columbia University via Coursera. The intermediate-to advanced-level course is described as “an attempt to begin the process of new economic thinking by reviving and updating some forgotten traditions in monetary thought that have become newly relevant” since the financial crisis of 2007-2009. The course is 100% online, offers flexible deadlines, and can be completed in approximately 29 hours.
Online Course Website
Essential Career Skills for Investment Banking and Finance
New York Institute of Finance
Essential Career Skills for Investment Banking and Finance is a free online finance course offered by the New York Institute of Finance via edX. The beginner-level course helps students to accelerate their financial fluency and “fool proof” their career in investment banking and finance. Topics covered include:
- buy-side institutions
- career prep strategies
- the elevator pitch, among other things
The course is 100% online, offers flexible deadlines, and can be completed in 3-4 hours of work per week for two weeks.
Online Course Website
Finance Essentials
Imperial College London
Finance Essentials is a free online finance course offered by Imperial College London via edX. The beginner-level course introduces students to fundamental finance tools, their uses, and the ways in which they can be used in common financial situations. Topics covered include:
- bonds
- equity
- diversification
- capital budgeting, among other things
The course is 100% online, offers flexible deadlines, and generally takes 2-4 hours of work per week for six weeks.
Online Course Website
Finance for Everyone: Debt
McMaster University
Finance for Everyone: Debt is the fourth of five free online finance courses offered by McMaster University via Coursera. The beginner-level course walks students through all things debt related. Topics covered include:
- personal debt
- corporate debt
- government debt
- debt synthesis
The course is 100% online, has flexible deadlines, and can be completed in about eight hours.
Online Course Website
Finance for Everyone: Markets
McMaster University
Markets is another of McMaster University’s free online finance courses in its Finance for Everyone series. The beginner-level course focuses on financial markets, and especially interest rates. Topics covered include:
- determining value with interest rates
- bond and stock markets
- the varying influence of interest rates in the worlds of policy, politics, and power
The course is 100% online, offers flexible deadlines, and takes approximately nine hours to complete.
Online Course Website
Finance for Everyone: Smart Tools for Decision-Making
University of Michigan
Finance for Everyone is a free online finance course offered by University of Michigan via edX. The beginner-level course teaches students to apply frameworks of finance to everyday financial decisions. Topics covered include:
- time value of money
- stocks and bonds
- allocating scarce resources
- smart financial tools, among other things
The course is 100% online, offers flexible deadlines, and can be completed in about 5-6 hours per week for six weeks.
Online Course Website
Finance for Managers
University of Navarra Business School
Finance for Managers is a free online finance course offered by University of Navarra Business School via Coursera. Topics covered include:
- short-term decision making at the management level
- the management of working capital
- Dupont analysis, among other things
The course is 100% online, taught entirely in English with flexible deadlines, and can be completed in approximately 13 hours.
Online Course Website
Finance for Non-Finance Professionals
Rice University
Finance for Non-Finance Professionals is a free online finance course offered by Rice University via Coursera. The beginner-level course offers students “a roadmap and framework for how financial professionals make decisions.” Topics covered include:
- financial valuation
- capital budgeting
- cash creation and flow
- the cost of capital
The course is 100% online, offers flexible deadlines, and can be completed in approximately 14 hours.
Online Course Website
Financial Accounting Fundamentals
University of Virginia
Financial Accounting Fundamentals is a free online finance course offered by University of Virginia via Coursera. The beginner-level course walks students through learning to prepare, read, and analyze the three most commonly used financial statements:
- the Balance Sheet
- the Statement of Cash Flows
- Income Statements
The course is 100% online, offers flexible deadlines and lots of “your turn” activities, and can be completed in approximately 13 hours.
Online Course Website
Financial Investment & Risk Management
Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University
Financial Investment & Risk Management is a free online finance course offered via Coursera. The course is best suited for intermediate finance students. Over the course of the 17-hour class, students will cover such topics as regulation, behavioral finance, and asset management, among other things. Though this course is offered by a top-ranked Russian university, it is taught in English.
Financial Market Analysis
International Monetary Fund
Financial Market Analysis is a free online finance course offered by the IMF via edX. The intermediate-level course teaches students the fundamentals of finance essential to investors and policymakers. Topics covered include:
- pricing financial assets
- constructing an optimal portfolio of risky assets
- calculating Value at Risk and Expected Shortfall, and more
The course is 100% online, has flexible deadlines, and can be completed in seven weeks with 8-10 hours of work per week.
Online Course Website
Financial Markets
Yale University
Financial Markets is a free online finance course offered by Yale University via Coursera. The beginner-level course offers students an overview of the ideas and institutions by which society manages risks and fosters enterprise. Topics covered include:
- financial markets
- forecasting and inflation
- stocks and bonds
- recessions
The course is 100% online, offers flexible deadlines, and can be completed in approximately 27 hours.
Online Course Website
Financial Planning for Young Adults
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Financial Planning for Young Adults is a free online finance course offered by University of Illinois via Coursera. Aimed at teenagers and college-aged students, this beginner-level course provides a solid introduction to basic financial planning concepts. Topics covered include:
- budgets
- saving
- investments
- credit
The course is 100% online, offers flexible deadlines, and can be completed in approximately 18 hours.
Online Course Website
Fundamentals of Business Finance, with Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women
Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women
Fundamentals of Business Finance is a free online finance course offered by Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women via Coursera. It’s perfect for entrepreneurs ready to take their business to the next level, This online class covers:
- important business documents
- key business ratios
- financial implications of growth, and more
The course is 100% online, has flexible deadlines, and can be completed in about four hours.
Online Course Website
Fundamentals of Finance
University of Pennsylvania
Fundamentals of Finance is a free online finance course offered by University of Pennsylvania via Coursera. The beginner-level course is based on the pre-term qualifying courses for Wharton MBA students. Topics covered include:
- compound and simple interest
- annuities versus perpetuities
- fixed income valuation, among other things
The course is 100% online, offers flexible deadlines, and can be completed in about nine hours.
Online Course Website
Guided Tour of Machine Learning in Finance
New York University
Guided Tour of Machine Learning in Finance is the first of four free online finance courses offered by NYU via Coursera. The course is designed for:
- those working in banks and other financial institutions
- full-time finance students
- those interested in machine learning for the purpose of personal day trading
Topics covered in the syllabus include:
- artificial intelligence and machine learning
- supervised learning in finance
- the mathematical foundations of machine learning
The course is 100% online, offers flexible deadlines, and takes approximately 24 hours to complete.
Online Course Website
How to Finance and Grow Your Startup — Without VC
University of London and the London Business School
How to Finance and Grow Your Startup is a free online finance course offered by University of London and the London Business School via Coursera. The beginner-level course is ideal for anyone who is figuring out how to fund their own startup business. Topics covered include:
- the why and how of avoiding venture capital
- matchmaker models
- pay-in-advance models
- subscription models, among other things
The course is 100% online, has flexible deadlines, and can be completed in about 26 hours.
Online Course Website
Innovative Finance: Hacking finance to change the world
University of Cape Town
Innovative Finance is a free online finance course offered by University of Cape Town via Coursera. The beginner-level course begins by asking the question: “To address global poverty – do we really not have enough resources or do we not have the right tools to allocate our resources?” Topics covered in this fascinating online class include:
- revenue creation
- financing approaches
- business models
- partnerships, among other things
The course is 100% online, has flexible deadlines, and can be completed in approximately 19 hours.
Online Course Website
Interest Rate Models
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Interest Rate Models is a free online finance course offered by École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne via Coursera. The advanced-level course discusses interest rates and related contracts. It then walks students through calibrating an interest rate model to market data and price interest rate derivatives. Topics covered also include stochastic models and term structures. The course is 100% online, offers flexible deadlines, and can be completed in about 30 hours.
Online Course Website
Introduction to Corporate Finance
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
Introduction to Corporate Finance is a free online finance course offered by Penn’s The Wharton School via Coursera. This course offers students an overview of the fundamentals of finance and their application to real-world situations. Topics covered include:
- time value of money interest rates
- mortgage financing
- asset valuation, among other things
The course is 100% online, offers flexible deadlines, and takes about 12 hours to complete.
Online Course Website
Keeping Up With Change: Issues for the Finance Professional
University of London
Keeping Up With Change is a free online finance course offered by University of London via Coursera. As described, the course “identifies and explores a number of challenges to the finance professional arising from the ever changing business environment.” Topics covered include:
- common issues experienced by finance professionals
- strategic position and choice
- international reporting standards, to name a few
The course is 100% online, offers flexible deadlines, and takes approximately 53 hours to complete.
Online Course Website
Personal and Family Financial Planning
University of Florida
Personal and Family Financial Planning is a free online finance course offered by University of Florida via Coursera. The beginner-level course is ideal for the person looking to take control of their own finances or those of their household. Topics covered include:
- financial statements
- budgets
- income taxes
- building and maintaining good credit
The course is 100% online, offers flexible deadlines, and takes approximately 10 hours to complete.
Online Course Website
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