Curriculum Investing & Markets
Investing & Markets
Stocks, bonds, risk and compounding - explained without the jargon or the hype.
- Risk and Return Why higher returns always come attached to higher risk, and what diversification really does. 📄 Read-aloud
- Stocks 101: Owning a Piece of a Company What a share of stock actually represents, and how you can make or lose money owning one. 📄 Read-aloud
- Bonds 101: Lending Your Money for Interest How bonds work as a loan you make to a government or company, and why they usually behave differently from stocks. 📄 Read-aloud
- Investing & Markets: Checkpoint 1 Covers risk and return, stocks, and bonds. 5 questions
- What Is an Index Fund? How an index fund works, and why it's often recommended as a beginner's first investment. 📄 Read-aloud
- Compound Growth: Why Starting Early Wins Why a small head start investing can outperform a much larger amount invested later. 📄 Read-aloud
- Diversification in Practice How to actually build a diversified portfolio, beyond the general concept introduced earlier. 📄 Read-aloud
- Investing & Markets: Checkpoint 2 Covers index funds, compound growth, and diversification in practice. 5 questions
- Retirement Accounts: 401(k)s and IRAs How tax-advantaged retirement accounts work, and why the specific account type matters as much as what's inside it. 📄 Read-aloud
- Market Volatility: Staying Calm When Prices Swing Why markets move up and down constantly, and why reacting to every swing usually backfires. 📄 Read-aloud
- Understanding Fees: Why 1% Matters More Than You Think How small-looking investment fees compound into a large cost over time. 📄 Read-aloud
- Investing & Markets: Checkpoint 3 Covers retirement accounts, market volatility, and investment fees. 5 questions
- Common Investing Mistakes Beginners Make A closing look at the recurring mistakes that trip up new investors, drawing together the rest of this module. 📄 Read-aloud
- Dollar-Cost Averaging Why investing a fixed amount on a regular schedule, rather than trying to time the market, tends to work out well for most investors. 📄 Read-aloud
- Growth vs. Value Investing Two broad philosophies for picking stocks - betting on future potential versus buying what's currently underpriced. 📄 Read-aloud
- Index Funds vs. Actively Managed Funds Why most professional stock-pickers struggle to beat a simple index fund, and what that means for an everyday investor's choice. 📄 Read-aloud
- Dividend Investing: Building Income From a Portfolio How some companies pay shareholders directly out of profit, and what building a portfolio around that income actually involves. 📄 Read-aloud
- International Investing and Currency Risk Why buying stocks from other countries adds a second layer of risk and opportunity, tied to currency values rather than the companies themselves. 📄 Read-aloud
- ETFs vs Mutual Funds: What's the Difference Two ways to buy a diversified basket of investments in a single purchase, and how they actually differ in practice. 📄 Read-aloud
- REITs: Investing in Real Estate Without Buying Property How a REIT lets ordinary investors own a slice of real estate income without buying, managing, or financing a building themselves. 📄 Read-aloud
- Behavioral Biases That Sabotage Investors The predictable mental shortcuts that lead otherwise rational investors to buy high, sell low, and hurt their own returns. 📄 Read-aloud
- Tax-Efficient Investing: Asset Location and Loss Harvesting How placing investments in the right type of account, and managing losses deliberately, can meaningfully raise after-tax returns. 📄 Read-aloud
- Gold as an Investment Why people invest in gold, the different ways to own it, and how it behaves compared with shares and bonds. 📄 Read-aloud
- Rebalancing a Portfolio Why an investment mix drifts over time as markets move, and how periodically rebalancing keeps risk in line with your plan. 📄 Read-aloud
- Understanding Your Risk Tolerance How to judge how much investment risk you can and should take, based on your goals, time horizon, finances and emotions. 📄 Read-aloud
- Reading a Mutual Fund Factsheet How to read the monthly factsheet of a mutual fund, including expense ratio, portfolio, risk measures, the riskometer and exit loads. 📄 Read-aloud