The best online personal finance courses

Podcasts and audiobooks aren’t the only way to learn about money by audio. Over the past few years, I’ve come to love “classes” produced by a company called The Great Courses. In the olden days, the company provided college classes on audiotape — ancient history, music theory, classic literature, and that kind of thing. In recent years, they’ve moved to digital content and have expanded their courses to include subjects like photography, cooking, and (yay!) personal finance.

Most of the courses I own aren’t about money — they’re about music theory and cultural geography, believe it or not — but I’ve listened to (and liked) the following:

• Money Management Skills with Michael Finke
• How the Stock Market Works with Ramon DeGennaro
• Understanding Investments with Connel Fullenkamp
• The Art of Negotiating the Best Deal with Seth Freeman
• Thinking Like an Economist: A Guide to Rational Decision Making with Randall Bartlett
• History of the U.S. Economy in the 20th Century with Timothy Taylor
• Modern Economic Issues with Robert Whaples

The big problem with The Great Courses is their pricing model. Courses have a regular price of several hundred dollars. But a couple of times per year, each course goes “on sale” at a vastly reduced rate. For instance, The Entrepreneur’s Toolkit is normally priced at $150, but right now you can buy it for $45.

This is dumb. I don’t get it.

I have two courses sitting on my “wish list” right now waiting for the price to drop before I can buy them: Behavioral Economics ($130) and Critical Skills for Business Success ($350). Why not let me buy them at the lower rate now? I mean, does anyone ever pay the artificially inflated price?

This complaint aside, The Great Courses are an excellent way to get pro-level info in audio format.

Now it’s your turn! I’m sure there are lots of worthwhile classes I’ve left off this list. What are your favorite money-related courses? And if you’ve heard any of those I’ve shared here, what do you think? Are they good? Bad? Ugly?