Both/And Finance Courses
Course Links | Courses Overview | Ways to Take Courses | Curriculum Details | Questions
Course Links
Find quick links to my courses immediately below. Scroll down further for more information about all courses.
Group Office Hours Access (this page can be accessed Sprout or Blossom-level subscribers)
Blossom Supporter Home Page (this page can be accessed by Blossom-level subscribers)
Financial Foundations Course Quick Links:
Rebecca Blumenshine
Financial Foundations Unit 1 - Grounding
Financial Foundations Unit 2 - Forecasting
Financial Foundations Unit 3 - Investment Portfolios
Investment Management Course Quick Links:
Rebecca Blumenshine
Investment Management Unit 1 - Frameworks
Investment Management Unit 2 - Planning
Investment Management Unit 3 - Implementing
Courses Overview
From January - June 2024, I'm rolling out two self-paced Both/And Finance courses: 1) Financial Foundations and 2) Investment Management.
Together, these two courses are designed to support people in developing their own answers to questions like:
- What is my current financial situation?
- How much money do I “need” to save for the future?
- What is my version of “enough”? And, what is my current status in relation to this?
- What does my current investment portfolio look like and what does that mean for me?
- What is an investment plan that aligns with my version of being a “responsible” investor?
- How can I implement and monitor my investment plan?
- What is community investing and is it for me?
- How can I holistically use my resources to support a Just Transition?
These courses are intended to be taken sequentially over approximately 6 months: #1 Financial Foundations (3 months) and #2 Investment Management (3 months). But, since they are self-paced courses, you can take them over whatever time period is best for you.
Each course is comprised of monthly on-demand videos along with activities for you to complete. The activities guide you through building dynamic tools ("course deliverables") that you can use and adjust in the future as your financial situation evolves.
The monthly time investment for these courses ranges from 2-4 hours per month with approximately 1 hour of video content and 1-3 hours of course activities per month. Depending on your subscription level, you may also have access to group or 1:1 office hours with me each month.
Course #1 - Financial Foundations
Course Goals: Clarify your current financial situation, forecast your financial future, understand your current investments
Course Deliverables: Completed dynamic tool that holistically reflects your current financial situation including how you are currently invested (Google Sheets format).
Course Timing: This course will consist of 3 units that I will release monthly from Jan - Mar, 2024. Since it is a self-paced course, you can start anytime after Jan 2, 2024 and take as long as you'd like to complete it. Expect 2-4 hours of course time per month to complete the course in 3 months.
Course #2 - Investment Management
Course Goals: Understand the investing landscape, build knowledge to manage your own investments, create your investment strategy
Course Deliverables: Completed personal investment policy statement that includes your investment management plan and holistic target portfolio (Google Docs format).
Course Timing: This course will consist of 3 units that I will release monthly from Apr - Jun, 2024. Since it is a self-paced course, you can start anytime after Apr 1, 2024 and take as long as you'd like to complete it. Expect 2-4 hours of course time per month to complete the course in 3 months.
More about the Both/And Finance approach
I call these Both/And Finance courses because my starting assumption is that you care about both personal and collective thriving as you navigate your financial life.
This simple idea, that people may choose to manage their finances with consideration of both personal and collective wellbeing, is fundamentally at odds with the underlying assumptions of most of finance, including most personal finance education.
By design, my course content focuses more on tools to help you navigate our financial system personally, rather than broader ideas about how we can rethink and change that system collectively (I will continue to discuss that sort of thing in my newsletter essays). Still, I believe these courses are unique in the world of personal finance education because I am transparent about my Both/And starting point and I give you resources to apply Both/And thinking to your own finances if you choose.
For each topic we cover, I'll explain what the recommendations would be from a traditional finance view, AND I'll also point out where I think these recommendations are constrained by assumptions that uphold values that you may not share.
My intention is never to tell you what to do. Instead, I share resources for how you can think about various topics in your financial life so that you can make your own well-informed decisions.
Ways to take (and support!) Both/And Finance courses
There are various ways you can take these courses and support my work while you’re at it.
My intention is to offer these courses with a "pay-what-you-will" model. I hope you will take me up on this and pay what you will.
By this I mean, I invite you to voluntarily pay at the level that makes sense for you based on what you are getting from my work.
To make it as easy as possible for you to get started, I've made my Financial Foundations course available completely for free (no paywalls! no sign-ups required!).
For the Investment Management course, I ask that you contribute at some level to access the course, but you can choose a subscription option as low as $10/month and cancel it anytime (I recommend 3 months for the course, but you do you).
For both my courses, here's my heartfelt request...
...If you find you are getting value out of my course content, I ask that you opt-in to one of my paid supporter options during the period you are taking the courses.
You can learn more about my paid supporter options below. When you're ready, you can sign up at any of these levels through my subscription portal here. You can also change or cancel your subscription at any time.
Thank you for supporting this work if you can!
Seed-Level Supporter: $10/month
Choose this option if you are just lightly using my resources but still want to support my work. Thank you!
Benefits:
- Both/And Finance Newsletter
- Support my work and help me make more of it
Sprout-Level Supporter: $30/month
Please select this subscription level or higher if you are actively taking my self-guided courses and getting value from them. Subscribers at this level will also receive invitations to monthly group office hours. This is a great way to get more from this course and hold yourself accountable to making the most of it!
Benefits:
- Both/And Finance Newsletter
- Support my work and help me make more of it
- Access to monthly group office hours
Blossom-Level Supporter: $100/month
Select this level if you are actively taking my course, you appreciate my work, and your financial situation allows this level of support. Subscribers at this level will also be invited to schedule one-on-one office hours with me for 30 minutes once a month (or 1 hour every two months). Get your questions answered and really help grow my work in a meaningful way!
Benefits:
- Both/And Finance Newsletter
- Support my work and help me make more of it
- Access to monthly group office hours
- Access to one-on-one office hours on your schedule
Course + Coaching Package: Pricing Varies
Want to get the absolute most out of my courses and come away strongly empowered to manage your finances and investments your way? Consider a coaching engagement with me!
One option is to do coaching with me while also working through the course content. Or, you may want to first take the courses and then work with me for coaching around specific topics. I give coaching discounts to both course-takers and course “graduates."
Learn more about my coaching services here.
Sign up as Both/And Finance supporter here.
Launch the Financial Foundations Course here.
Curriculum Details
Here's a more detailed look at the content planned for these courses.
Course #1) Financial Foundations:
Month 1 - Grounding
Exploring your actual and relative financial wealth.
Topics of the month:
- Money stories
- Wealth distribution facts (and stories)
- Your guiding principles
- Reviewing your financial balance sheet
Activities for the month:
- Money and wealth distribution stories reflections
- Create your personal financial responsibility statement
- Build and/or review your financial balance sheet
Month 2 - Forecasting
Understanding what your money math looks like and reflecting on "enough."
Topics of the month:
- Looking ahead: goals, dreams, and what-ifs
- Forecasting your financial future
- Reviewing your cash flows
Activities for the month:
- Documenting your top goals, dreams, and what-ifs
- Enter your info and explore scenarios using your financial forecast model
- Cash flow review and forecast
- Reflections on "enough"
Month 3 - Investment Portfolios
Understanding our current investments and considering our holistic portfolios.
Topics of the month:
- Holistic portfolio thinking
- Investing Part 1 - asset classes, diversification, risk & return, retirement accounts
- Understanding key info about your current investments
Activities for the month:
- Gather info about your current investments and populate it into a tracking tool
- Draw your version of your ideal holistic portfolio model
Course #2) Investment Management:
Unit 1 - Frameworks
Building your tools and knowledge to manage your investments in alignment with your values.
Topics of the month:
- Financial and non-financial risk and return
- Investing Part 2 - Other important investment management concepts
- The Investment Impact Spectrum
Activities for the month:
- Begin drafting your personal Investment Policy Statement (IPS)
- Document and prioritize your investment objectives
- Identify what types of non-financial risk/return matter most to you
- Update the Investment Impact categories of your current investment portfolio
Unit 2 - Planning
Clarifying your constraints and considering your target portfolio allocations.
Topics of the month:
- Time Horizon and Liquidity
- Risk Tolerance and Asset Allocation
- Diversification and Correlation
- Including "impact" considerations in our portfolio planning
Activities for the month:
- Document personal parameters for your investment planning: time horizon, risk tolerance, liquidity needs
- Create your asset class allocation plan
- Create your impact category allocation plan
Unit 3 - Implementing
Determining your investment management policies and making your action plan.
Topics of the month:
- Determining and documenting your investment philosophy
- Management considerations for community investments
- Sourcing and evaluating investments
- Revisiting your current portfolio
Activities for the month:
- Determine your investment management preferences...
... for your market-rate (conventional) investments
... for your community (positive impact) investments
- Document your rebalancing and due diligence commitments
- Create your action plan
Questions? Comments?
Email me at contact@bothandfinance.com
I look forward to connecting with you!
Important legal note: This course is not financial advice or recommendation for any investment. The content is for informational purposes only, you should not construe any course information or other material as legal, tax, financial, or other advice.
In other words, I will provide educational information that empowers you to make your own informed decisions for yourself, but I will not give specific investment advice. If you have questions about this, feel free to reach out to me for a chat.