EdX

Planning for Risk and Retirement (edX)

Offered by Indiana University, IUx,
Planning for Risk and Retirement (edX)

Learn to assess your tolerance for risk, evaluate investment products, and develop an investment mindset. This course prepares you to compare insurance policies, calculate your need for retirement income, and includes a step-by-step workshop on retirement planning. Planning for Risk, Retirement and Investment is made possible by the Brian and Sheila Jellison Family Foundation.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see EdX's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

The Planning for Risk, Retirement & Investment course is designed for individuals to build financial literacy, one of the most pressing needs Americans face today. Financial decisions made by individuals impact the larger community in significant ways with pervasive cost due to financial mistakes. A recent study by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) reveals over 50% of Americans have less than $10,000 saved for retirement. In addition, over 50% of Americans have no emergency fund, unable to cope with an unexpected car repair without borrowing funds. Financial literacy is an urgent need for many.
This course dives deeply into issues and decisions that impact your financial future. You’ll explore strategies around controlling and managing risk, planning for retirement, and cultivating an investment mindset. Through a hands-on approach, you’ll gain answers to common personal financial questions including:

  • What exactly is risk, and why should I care about it?
  • What are the core concepts and principles of insurance?
  • How do insurance companies help consumers manage risk?
  • Do I need to buy life insurance and how much?
  • What are my family’s needs for security from loss of life and property?
  • What are my options for life insurance?
  • What are good decisions that both save money and protect me from reasonable risks?
  • Do I need full coverage auto insurance, or can I save money with liability insurance?
  • How much money do I need in retirement, and how do I determine my needs?
  • Where can I look for sources of income in retirement?
  • Am I ready both financially and philosophically to be an investor?
  • What are the risks of investing, and am I ready to accept them?
  • How do I allocate my investments depending upon the stage of my life?

Through course videos, selected short readings, and self-paced activities, students in this course will gain both practical knowledge of core concepts of risk, retirement, and investment, and a broader view of the role of planning plays in our quest for financial and personal satisfaction.

This course is part of the Personal Finance Professional Certificate

What you'll learn
Through course videos, selected short readings, and self-paced activities, students in this course will gain both conceptual and practical knowledge of the inevitable and universal decisions around managing risk, planning for retirement, and starting a program of investment. You’ll develop your ability to:

  • Classify a variety of financial risks
  • Choose between risk acceptance and risk avoidance
  • Assess your family’s need for life insurance including the amount and type
  • Choose between whole, term, and universal life products
  • Understand the features and limitations of property and casualty insurance products
  • Compare policy features and costs across insurance products
  • Understand an insurance policy and how to save money when purchasing
  • Determine your need for renter’s insurance
  • Distinguish between basic automobile insurance and coverages
  • Assess your need for comprehensive and collision insurance
  • Participate in a step-by-step workshop on retirement planning
  • Calculate your retirement income needs and identify common sources of retirement income
  • Distinguish between investment and speculation
  • Understand and compare the features of secured credit
  • Assess your tolerance for risk in investments and evaluate investment products
  • Develop your investment mindset

Syllabus

Week One: Insuring Your Life
Principles and Insurance Needs

Week Two: Insuring Your Property
Property & Casualty Insurance Products

Week Three: Retirement Planning
Sources of Income in Retirement

Week Four: Investment Planning
The Principles of Becoming an Investor

Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Understanding the Australian Health Care System (edX) EdX
University of Queensland,UQx

Understanding the Australian Health Care System (edX)

Understand and navigate the complexities of Australia’s world-leading health care system by following patient journeys. This course will enable you to understand the workings of the Australian health care system. By following in the footsteps of patient journeys, you will gain an experiential understanding of how this multi-layered system operates in the context of the geographic, social and cultural landscapes of Australia and how to successfully navigate within this system.

Self Paced
Self-Paced
Personal Finance (edX) EdX
Purdue University,PurdueX

Personal Finance (edX)

Manage your money more effectively by learning practical solutions to key investment, credit, insurance and retirement questions. Have you ever watched the evening news and wondered what the anchor meant when she said: “…and the Dow closed 50 points in choppy trading today.”

No sessions available
5-12 Weeks
Finance For Everyone: Value (Coursera) Coursera
McMaster University

Finance For Everyone: Value (Coursera)

In Value, you will explore the most powerful generator of value in the world – ideas. Ideas are the engines of productivity, both in the private and public sectors. You will learn about the universal frameworks that determine how ideas and money interact, leading to the allocation of financial resources. We will identify components of cash flow for any project, business or venture as the most essential ingredients of value. We also assess the investment techniques used to give life to some ideas while killing others.

Oct 5th 2026
4 Weeks
Planning & Design of Sanitation Systems and Technologies (Coursera) Coursera
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Planning & Design of Sanitation Systems and Technologies (Coursera)

Do you want to learn how to plan affordable and context-specific sanitation solutions? Do you want to be updated on the newest developments in urban sanitation planning and programming? Do you want to get insights about best practices examples of urban sanitation systems in low- and middle-income countries? If yes, this course is for you! This course provides you with an introduction to integrated sanitation planning, both on a citywide scale and for specific contexts such as informal settlements.

Oct 5th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Sustainable Supply Chain Planning, Sourcing, and Procurement (edX) EdX
International Supply Chain Education Alliance,ISCEA

Sustainable Supply Chain Planning, Sourcing, and Procurement (edX)

Learn the fundamental concepts of planning, sourcing, and procurement with applied sustainable techniques. The course will begin with content on how to integrate sustainability and circularity into planning and sourcing. The course demonstrates the importance of efficiency and long-term planning to ensure the minimization of waste and the maximization of productive Supply Chain flow.

Self Paced
Self-Paced
Try It: Introduction to Trello (edX) EdX
edX

Try It: Introduction to Trello (edX)

If you’re interested in organizing your To Do list and collaborating more effectively in a remote setting, Trello is for you. Trello is a task planning tool that gives order to your work, home and school to-do lists. The demand for Project Management skills has risen in recent years as employees are asked to take more responsibilities. Regardless of where you are in your career - interested in a project management career or looking to automate some of your current work - Trello is a great tool to start with.

Self Paced
Self-Paced
Introduction to Investments (edX) EdX
Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore,IIMBx

Introduction to Investments (edX)

Learn about equity markets and security valuation. When you complete this course, you will become familiar with the general structure of primary and secondary equity markets from a domestic and international perspective. Beginning with introductory finance notions of risk and return, we examine qualitative concepts such as market efficiency and valuation.

This course is archived
5-12 Weeks
Análisis de Sistemas de Transporte (Coursera) Coursera
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

Análisis de Sistemas de Transporte (Coursera)

Este curso es una introducción a las metodologías fundamentales para la gestión, planificación y evaluación de sistemas de transporte de pasajeros. Se aprenderán técnicas usadas en la práctica para estimar la demanda, modelar la operación y realizar análisis económicos de proyectos de transporte.

Oct 5th 2026
5-12 Weeks