Introduction to Finance

Introduction to Finance, Created by The Storyboard Initiative.

Welcome to the Introduction to Finance Course by TSI! This is a course that is designed for complete beginners— no experience is required. If you are interested in finance, then you have come to the right place. We start off by introducing finance as well as clearing up a lot of the common misconceptions people have regarding the field. We then cover money and inflation. Then we cover loans and interest. In this module, we define what a loan is the context of investing, provide an intuitive explanation for what interest is, and explain the two types of interest visually. Afterwards, you will learn fundamental accounting concepts such as the accounting equation, t-charts, the accounting cycle, etc. We then build off these concepts and discuss the financial statement trinity. We discuss the nature of these statements as well as how to analyze them using growth and profitability ratios. The financial statement lectures segue nicely into our next module about securities. In this module, we discuss four types of securities, what differentiates them from one another, and their purposes. Each of these investments/securities come with their own set of risks. In the module succeeding that of securities, we discuss what risk is in detail, the different methods to avoid it, and insurance. Finally, we cover international finance. We begin by discussing the types of advantages, trade barriers, and ways to promote trade. Then we talk about economic development and metrics used to gauge a country’s standing. Each of our engaging lectures present an intuitive approach to understanding the fundamental concepts mentioned above. We hope that you take away something from the course and start off strong in your finance journey! Enjoy the course!