With this list of our favourite courses, you can dig into many financial topics and start making better money decisions.
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Financial literacy is an essential life skill. Whether you want to budget, saving, invest or plan for retirement, understanding how to manage money can help you achieve financial stability. Fortunately, there are many free courses that can help Canadians develop greater financial literacy. Below, find our roundup of the best free finance and investing courses available in Canada.
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What did we look for when comparing courses?
Each course listed here must:
Be free for Canadians
Come from a quality educator
Provide lessons that teach something useful and relevant to Canadians
Be accessible, whether that’s online or in person in multiple locations
This course covers a wide range of topics related to personal finances specifically for Canadians—all for free. The eight lessons in total (see the list below), each taught by a different professor, which isn’t typical of most free personal finance courses. There are also bonus lessons about responsible investing and cryptocurrencies, as well as online multiple choice tests and exams.
Courses included in McGill Personal Finance Essentials:
Budgeting and Saving
Your Money: Today and Tomorrow
Understanding Debt and Borrowing
The Art of Investing
Retirement Planning
The Realities of Real Estate
Behavioural Finance
We recommend regularly dedicating some time to the material, so you can more easily pick up where you left off. Depending on your learning style (and how motivated you are to finish the course), you might enjoy the learn-at-your-own-pace format.
This is not a continuing-ed course, but you’ll receive a McGill Personal Finance Essentials attestation of completion certificate to add to your CV. You can register for McGill Personal Finance Essentials for free at any time.
Best free Canadian income tax course
Government of Canada’s Learn About Your Taxes course
When it comes to learning about personal income tax, there’s no better primary source than the Government of Canada. This free course on Canada.ca is great for anyone doing their taxes for the first time, starting their first job or wanting to better understand how income tax all works. It’s organized as mini courses with multiple lessons. The course has seven chapters, ranging from 12 to 76 minutes in length, each containing a handful of lessons. Essentially, you know exactly how much time you need to dedicate to each section, so you can easily break up your study time. Here’s the breakdown:
The Credit Counselling Society’s The Truth About Credit
We believe learning about debt is the first step toward managing how much you owe. Knowing how to also tackle debt can give you the room and freedom to start saving, too.
The Credit Counselling Society is a non-profit debt-counselling organization that helps Canadians create debt management plans. The Truth About Credit course can be done in an hour or less. While you won’t get a certificate of completion, you can repeat these courses and access them anytime, regardless of the device you’re using. You just need to bookmark the link. For this list, we focused on The Truth About Credit course, where you can learn about how credit works in Canada, as well as credit scores, credit reports and how to access your own credit report for free. There’s some myth busting, too.
Best free personal finance course for young Canadians
Desjardins Personal Finance: I’m in Charge
Desjardins is the largest financial cooperative group located in Canada and North America. Its mission is to support members and help its clients feel financially empowered. For the purposes of Personal Finance: I’m in Charge, Desjardins accredits more than 400 instructors to offer what it describes as “objective and neutral workshops.” Another course topic will be added soon focused on the tools needed to keep on top of your personal finances. The course is currently broken down into these topics:
Money in Everyday Life
Finances and Peace of Mind
Making my Project a Reality
Decipher Savings and investment
Introduction to financial life
Each chapter takes 30 minutes, and they can be taken in the order that suits you. There are 41 lessons in total.
This course is great for residents of Ontario and Quebec who want to learn on their own or even as a group (the site encourages groups or classes to take the course). You don’t need to be a Desjardins client to sign up.
The Bank of Canada Museum is based in Ottawa, Ont., in the heart of Canada’s central bank. In October 2024, it launched this free course intended for students in grades 7 to 12. The lesson plans and workshop activities were designed for educators without financial certification who work with young teens and teenagers.
Adam Young, evaluation and education specialist at the Bank of Canada Museum, says the course was created to demystify the Canadian economy and to help make the central bank’s core functions easier for the public to understand. Young says the museum felt it could use more resources to help educate Canadians about basic economic topics and what the Bank of Canada does.
The chapters take 75 to 110 minutes to complete, not including optional homework time. Students can take the online courses, multiple choice quizzes and lessons as many times as they want, but don’t earn a certificate of completion. The course consists of six modules (see below), accompanied by discussion topics, interactive activities on YouTube, and educational comic strips:
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Thinking like an economist: Introduction to foundational economic concepts using everyday examples.
Building budgets: Introduction to learning how to balance and create to build a monthly budget.
Connecting Canadian industries: Exploring different industries in the Canadian economy and seeing how they are interconnected and evolving.
Decoding Canadian economic data: Develop data literacy skills by interpreting charts of Canadian economic data.
Tracing Canada’s place in the world: Use data visualization tools to learn about how Canada’s place in the global economy has evolved.
Investing wisely: Make investment decisions based on what’s important to you and see how your spending and earning connects you to the global economy.
Young says that The Bank of Canada Museum chose to focus on students in grades 7 to 12, because it wanted a different entry point into financial concepts that intersect with school topics, including social studies, health, math, the economy and business.
Teachers can access the free online resources on The Bank of Canada Museum’s website. The organization encourages others to use it within their circles, including non-profits and youth-serving organizations.
Best free credit course for newcomers
Building Credit From the Ground Up: A Program for Newcomers to Canada
Understanding how credit works in Canada is important for newcomers, because credit is very different in Canada than in other parts of the world. Many newcomers are surprised by how credit is seen as a tool for reaching financial goals. But debt can also have a negative impact on people’s lives. And newcomers are more likely than other Canadians to be affected by scams and fraud, which can ultimately affect debt and credit history. According to an Interac survey, 70% of new Canadians polled feel they are more susceptible to financial scams than the general population, and 53% say they and/or an immediate family member have been targeted by fraud.
Credit Canada, a reputable non-profit credit counselling service, built a newcomer course all about credit. This free online course is available in eight languages, including Arabic, Farsi, Hindi, Simplified Chinese and Tagalog.
The course is broken down into four 10- to 15-minute modules:
Essentials of Credit in Canada: The basics about how credit works and resources.
How to Build Your Credit History in Canada: How to establish a strong credit history in Canada right away.
How to Improve Your Credit Score: How to check and monitor a credit score.
What to Do If You Run Into Problems with Credit: Learn problem-solving strategies, including avoiding fraud and debt payment strategies.
Methodology: Best free finance and investing courses in Canada
MoneySense’s editorial team of trained and experienced journalists assessed other aspects of the courses, including pace, comprehension, real-life application and more. We looked at free personal finance courses available to Canadians. First, we looked at their cost and accessibility. The course had to be free to all Canadians. The purchase of additional course materials had to be at the discretion of the student. We also looked at the quality of educators, including their reputation and expertise in the topic(s) covered, and more. Lessons and course material had to be useful and relevant to Canadians. There are many courses that talk generally about finance and investing, but the information had to work under a Canadian lens to make our list.
Frequently asked questions about financial literacy
Financial literacy refers to having a good understanding of financial basics. Good financial literacy can help you feel more confident about making financial decisions, whether it’s managing debt, saving or investing.
There are many easy ways to begin learning about money. For example, you can start by enrolling in one of the financial courses above. You can also read money-related articles from trusted sites, subscribe to financial newsletters, listen to podcasts, or book a meeting with a financial professional. The more you educate yourself about money, the more confident you’ll become in managing it.
Among those surveyed, 41% described themselves as “confident in their understanding of financial terminology.” This points to a gap between Canadians’ perceived and actual level of financial literacy.
There are many ways you can help spread financial literacy in Canada. The courses discussed above are a great starting point—share them with friends and family who might benefit for the topics covered. In some cases, teachers and instructors are encouraged to make use of the free materials and workshops.
Another simple way to contribute to financial literacy is by having open and honest money conversations with friends and family. Talking about money can encourage others to think about their finances and take steps toward managing their money with confidence.
Banks and other financial institutions are savvy to the benefit of having educated clients and customers. So, many do their best to create workshops that help you make better investing decisions. However, know that they may only discuss or focus on the products and services they provide. Know that you have more options.
Some influencers—or finfluencers, as financial influencers are often called—use courses, seminars, e-books and more as a way to earn income, in addition to advertising partnerships and speaking engagements. However, not all influencer content is created equal—as you might already know from your social media feeds. Before submitting your credit card, confirm a few things first.
Make sure that their content is relevant to Canadians. There are some great American and European influencers, but their rules don’t always apply here in Canada. With some topics, like taxes, consider if the advice is relevant to your province.
The influencer has the credentials needed to talk about the topic. Look for Canadian credentials such as CFP, QAFP, RFP, and FPI (more on these Canadian finance credentials). Some financial influencers talk about their “financial journey,” which is insightful, but you don’t want to be making their mistakes.
That the influencer is real, and not a fake account or a hack. Never give your credit card number or other personal details via social media. Only do it through a secured website or platform.
What else can you do? Check for reviews (not on their website as those would be curated, but on other platforms, like Google, Reddit, etc.
Great resource I just may take one of these courses. THANK YOU
this was so helpful thank you!
I heard the segment on CBC Radio Calgary yesterday, and I’m going to bring some of these courses into my classroom – thanks for the suggestions!
Was there a ‘runner up’ to the Desjardins course for youth, that might be available online or in Alberta?