Financial Planning for Young Adults — Offered by the University of Illinois
I enrolled in the University of Illinois financial planning course on Canvas and completed all eight modules. Here is what I learned — and how this course broke my habit of quitting halfway through online courses.
Recently, I received a financial planning for young adults course offered by the University of Illinois on Canvas, a learning management system widely used by various universities. I pondered for quite some time about the course, whether I should enroll in it, because I had always wanted to learn, comprehend, and devour more of financial literacy concepts, skills, and knowledge. I was unsure whether I could take it since I had enrolled in several courses and didn't complete them because I felt they were too theoretical.
After some time, I made my decision to challenge myself again to enroll in it, despite the past course experiences I had not managed to complete. At the start, consistency feels a bit challenging for me, having gotten used to dropping the course I take in the middle of its completion. That habit was still triggering the forces and cues that always led me to quit in the middle of every course I enrolled in. However, I continued regardless of whatever obstacles and cues — still triggering that old habit entrenched in me.
I was determined to complete it because these days, things related to financial literacy and concepts are solely subjective-based decisions, and if I couldn't make it happen, who should I invite to interact with me regarding my financial decision-making? I believe no one. Leave alone what your mind is thinking about.
Today, I came back to the LinkedIn community to not only celebrate this milestone of wrapping up this insightful course, which consists of eight modules, but also to cheer myself up for unravelling the cues that have always been behind the scenes, triggering me to quit any course that feels theoretical to me. Not to sound exaggerated, this course has truly been interesting from the start to the completion of it.
Fundamental Concepts I Learned
To highlight a few of the fundamental concepts and questions that I've learned from this course, you should also reflect on them based on your understanding of financial literacy and etiquette.
- The use of a balance sheet at the personal level to determine your current financial situation and position through income and expenses.
- The importance of personal financial budgeting and a financial goal list in our daily lives.
- How our personal habits and attitudes influence and affect our financial decisions.
- Cash flow management — understanding using three phases: regular expenses, such as daily transportation and entertainment, large expenses such as rent, books, and tuition, and lastly, saving money for unexpected expenses.
The Financial Goal List
To further add more information regarding the financial goal list, it is a structure that a person can use in the attainment of specific financial goals within a set time frame. It is always in the form of a table:
- It starts with the current date of planning that financial goal.
- Followed by the specific financial goal of what you want to achieve if you manage to procure that specific amount of money.
- Third of it is the total amount needed, where you can mention the amount needed for that specific thing you are craving and pursuing.
- In fourth place is the target date to secure it, where you can mention its deadline for working on it.
- Last but not least, the amount needed per week, month, and year — that's to say the breakdown of the main financial amount as a goal you are targeting in small fractions like per year, month, and week.
The financial goal list is a simple but powerful structure. Breaking a large financial target into weekly and monthly fractions makes it actionable — instead of a number that feels impossible, it becomes a habit you can build on.
A Reflection on the Experience
This program has been an incredible experience and an opportunity to learn and grow as an individual, with financial management and etiquette based on the personal level, as I mentioned earlier, that these days it is hard to come together and manage someone's finances and make financial decisions together, whether as a team or partners.
"These days, things related to financial literacy and concepts are solely subjective-based decisions, and if I couldn't make it happen, who should I invite to interact with me regarding my financial decision-making?" — Solomon Thiong Garang Leek
The most meaningful part of completing this course was not just the knowledge itself — it was proving to myself that I could push through something I had historically quit. That habit of stopping in the middle of theoretical courses was real. Breaking it, even once, changes the relationship you have with learning.
If you are a young person who has never thought deeply about your finances, I encourage you to start with a balance sheet. Write down what comes in and what goes out. From that single exercise, everything else — budgeting, goal-setting, cash flow management — begins to make sense.