What will I be able to do upon completing the course?

By the end of this course, you should be able to: 1. Explain ways in which debt can be useful or detrimental to the individual, the company, and the country. 2. Relate important financial concepts and issues to experiences in your daily life or the real world. 3. Perform financial calculations with accuracy. 4. Build confidence in your ability to manage debt. 5. Engage in research in order to increase your knowledge of particular financial issues/scenarios. 6. Engage with news, issues, and communities that matters to you, inclusive of concepts of finance and debt. 7. Assess finance issues (ex. the debt position of a given entity) with confidence. 8. Analyze how financial concepts are applied by organizations.

How long does it take to complete this course?

The course is structured to be 4 weeks in length.

How often is this course offered?

This course will be offered every month.

What background knowledge is necessary?

No previous knowledge is required. It is recommended that learners have basic mathematics knowledge.

When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?

To access the course materials, assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience when you enroll in a course. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid. The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.

What will I get if I subscribe to this Specialization?

When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile.

Is financial aid available?

Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.

Finance for Everyone: Debt

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Finance for Everyone: Debt

Name: Finance for Everyone: Debt
Rating: 4.736486486486487 (148 reviews)

This course is part of Finance for Everyone Specialization

Instructor: Arshad Ahmad

18,823 already enrolled

Included with

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4 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

148 reviews

1 week to complete

at 10 hours a week

Flexible schedule

Learn at your own pace

4 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

148 reviews

1 week to complete

at 10 hours a week

Flexible schedule

Learn at your own pace

Skills you'll gain

Tools you'll learn

Risking

Details to know

Shareable certificate

Add to your LinkedIn profile

Assessments

12 assignments¹

AI Graded see disclaimer

Taught in English

91%

of learners achieved a positive career outcome

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This course is part of the Finance for Everyone Specialization

When you enroll in this course, you'll also be enrolled in this Specialization.

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Gain a foundational understanding of a subject or tool
Develop job-relevant skills with hands-on projects
Earn a shareable career certificate

There are 4 modules in this course

In Debt, we take on one of the most challenging financial questions that remains unresolved: How much to borrow? We start by demonstrating why using debt has always been and continues to be a great temptation, particularly when borrowing costs are historically low. We identify conditions for selecting the optimal amount of debt for a corporation looking to maximize its value. You’ll become fluent in related concepts like norms and benchmarks. You will explore these and other factors that influence debt for individuals and for public sector organizations -including governments, who are the largest consumers of debt. Like pollution, debt creates systemic risks even for the people and organizations that don’t create it. This course discusses the imperative of limiting and reducing debt and the costs to all of us if we don’t. We build on case based learning giving you opportunities to interpret, uncover and acquire financial information that is often hidden or missing. We also summarize important threads from previous courses to give you a deep and cohesive understanding of when debt works for you and when it becomes your worst enemy.

Module details

Welcome! This first week will introduce you to a critical question for our time: how much debt is too much debt? We start by demonstrating why using debt has always been and continues to be a great temptation, particularly when borrowing costs are historically low. Then we’ll delve into Personal Debt and how building your financial literacy as well as tapping into your own motivations can help you manage your debt level, instead of it managing you. You will make connections between Debt and concepts in the prior three courses of this Specialization, and start examining what area of debt from your experiences that you would like to address as part of this course’s final assignment.

What's included

5 videos5 readings4 assignments3 discussion prompts

5 videosTotal 50 minutes

Course Introduction Part I: Today's Temptation to Borrow8 minutes
Course Introduction Part II: When Giving In to Temptation Becomes the Norm10 minutes
Personal Debt Part I: Debt & Financial Literacy17 minutes
Personal Debt Part II: Reading the Signs of 2007 and Today7 minutes
Personal Debt Part III: Common Types & Taking Stock8 minutes

5 readingsTotal 50 minutes

F4E Specialization Snapshot10 minutes
Course Outline10 minutes
Where are Our Learners From?10 minutes
Keeping a Learning Portfolio10 minutes
Introduction to Final Assignment: Choose Your Own Debt Case Study10 minutes

4 assignmentsTotal 120 minutes

Personal Debt30 minutes
Making a Difference 130 minutes
Learner Introduction Survey30 minutes
Practice Quiz: Personal Debt30 minutes

3 discussion promptsTotal 30 minutes

Course Connections: Introduce Yourself!10 minutes
The New Normal10 minutes
Case Study Brainstorm10 minutes

This week we will look at Corporate Debt and how this type of debt has significant advantages over equity under certain conditions. Taking a critical yet realistic lense, we’ll explore how debt favours and benefit firms who use it as financial leverage aimed at increasing a firm’s value, while impressing an understanding of why this is an advantage only during times of growth. We’ll also tap into each other’s thoughts on how this type of debt could influence our own investing decisions

What's included

2 videos2 readings4 assignments1 discussion prompt

2 videosTotal 51 minutes

Firm Debt Part 1: Calculating How Much to Borrow26 minutes
Firm Debt Part 2: Theorizing How Much to Borrow24 minutes

2 readingsTotal 20 minutes

LearnSmart - what it is and how to use it10 minutes
LearnSmart Chapter 16: Financial Leverage and Capital Structure Policy10 minutes

4 assignmentsTotal 120 minutes

Firm Debt30 minutes
Making a Difference in Week 230 minutes
Practice Quiz: Firm Debt Part 130 minutes
Practice Quiz: Firm Debt Part 230 minutes

1 discussion promptTotal 10 minutes

From Firm Debt to Your Decisions10 minutes

This week we’ll move beyond the personal and corporate to the bigger picture of Government Debt. We’ll collectively understand why a measure of debt is often a requirement to grow national wealth. But, we’ll also discuss how this ‘measure’ of debt has become a ‘monolith’ of debt in many instances around the globe. The key aspect that we’ll work together to uncover is how this impacts you and the people and places surrounding you, and consider how we might plan and react to finding ourselves at an economic turning point in our history. This week will also be the launch of our peer review activity around your debt case study.

What's included

2 videos3 assignments1 peer review1 discussion prompt

2 videosTotal 23 minutes

Sovereign Debt Part I: Global Money Flow in the 21st Century12 minutes
Sovereign Debt Part II: The Big Picture10 minutes

3 assignmentsTotal 90 minutes

Sovereign Debt30 minutes
Making a Difference 330 minutes
Practice Quiz: Sovereign Debt Parts I & II30 minutes

1 peer reviewTotal 120 minutes

Choose Your Own Debt Case Study120 minutes

1 discussion promptTotal 10 minutes

Visualizing Debt10 minutes

Week 4 is the time to synthesize all that we have learned about debt - from our personal experiences, the state of corporations as well as the current level of government debt, and scrutinize and address it in a way that will increase your debt literacy. You will also reexamine your debt case study and share your biggest takeaways from the course, and look ahead to F4E: Capstone!