Sound personal financial management is a critical skill that equips students to be future-ready, face life's changes and transitions with confidence, and thrive across personal and professional life domains.
Most financial literacy programmes focus only on the hard skills, tools and techniques associated with personal finance management. CFG's Financial Wellbeing programme provides students with training in essential financial planning skills and goes a step further by addressing the mental and emotional aspects of money management. Students will gain a deep understanding of how emotions and mindsets impact their decision-making, and develop the financial know-how as well as positive habits and practices related to financial decision-making.
Through Financial Wellbeing, students thus not only enhance their personal effectiveness, but also learn about themselves and their personal values, building greater self-awareness and mental resilience.
Financial literacy and financial planning
Mental resilience in money management
Pathways to saving and investing sustainably
Managing your own investment portfolio
Financial empowerment to achieve your goals
The programme comprises two courses:
Financial Wellbeing – Introduction (CFG1003)
Financial Wellbeing – Art and Science of Investing (CFG1004)
The Financial Wellbeing programme is developed by the NUS Centre for Future-ready Graduates in partnership with PlayMoolah, an organisation that enables the next generation to use money as a tool for a flourishing life.
For enquiries regarding this programme, please contact cfg_financialwb@nus.edu.sg.
Have any questions about this programme? See the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Hear us share about personal financial management as well as the Financial Wellbeing courses in this CNA938 Live radio interview!
What our students say
This course (CFG1004) has given me the basics of how to start investing, without any of the confusion, fluff or misinformation that may be rampant online. Additionally, I appreciate the guidance related to more intangible steps on investing, such as building up my emotional resilience and my attitudes towards money. This makes the course a holistic one, which I was not expecting but really appreciate.
— Seah Jie Hui, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
As somebody who only knows the basics about financial management and initially found the topic very daunting, this course felt like the perfect place to start.
It helped me introspect on why I felt the way I did about money and gave some concrete advice on the steps I can take to move towards financial independence: How I can control my money instead of letting money control me.
— Asfar Banu Alim, Faculty of Science
Unlike other courses on financial wellbeing which focus more on techniques, this course is relevant to many students in asking us to reflect on the kind of flourishing life we want to have and teaching us skills to build up financial emotional resilience and self-regulation as many of us tend to spend on impulse at a younger age.
The length of the course was also just nice at an hour and the
interactive course platform was engaging. I would certainly recommend that students try out this course to pick up an
important life skill at one's convenience.
— Bryan Chang Kin Hong, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
I really like that this course can be done at one's own pace and time as I have been busy with project deadlines and tests. Furthermore, the 14 sections were engaging and halfway through the course, I was already thinking about how to properly budget to achieve my financial goals.
— Tan Zi Feng, NUS Business School
This course provides us with many essential life skills that we may think we have, but in fact are not equipped with. I love how flexible this course is, and it is very interactive due to the inclusion of many videos and drawings.
— Lucia Pan Yucheng, College of Humanities and Sciences
This is a great course that not only helps students understand more about financial planning and budgeting but also goes through money narratives and what a flourishing life means.
Financial management is a lifelong journey hence everyone should engage in this course and start to practice as early as possible.
— Tang ShuQian, Risk Management Institute
This course was well taught and had content that was relevant and of importance. The course debunked many incorrect notions of budgeting and financial planning as well. Would highly recommend it to students who are interested in financial planning but do not know where to start.
— Haja Shareef Mohamed Suhail, College of Design and Engineering
In this course, you can expect to:
- Understand the fundamentals of managing your money
- Explore topics such as the five pillars of money, automation, good and bad debt and explore the pathways to savings and investing.
- Know how to develop a plan for a flourishing life with core financial management practices, while managing the stresses of money in one’s daily life.
With a pure e-learning format, learn at your own pace, enhance your skills at independent learning, and complete the entire course in 1.5 hours. This course is a co-requisite for Financial Wellbeing - Art and Science of Investing (CFG1004).
Students who enrol in CFG1003 can enrol in CFG1004 in the same or subsequent semesters.
Course Details
Course Units: 0 Units (Unrestricted Elective). This course is exempt from the limit on Level-1000 courses.
Assessment and Grading Basis: No assessment. CS grade awarded if the e-learning course is completed. Estimated completion time is 1.5 hours.
Pre-requisites: No requirements
Schedule: Semester 1 and 2 of AY23/24
Mode of Enrolment: CourseReg Rounds 1-3. Via request between 14 - 28 January 2024.
All undergraduate students are welcome to apply.
Interested postgraduate students can separately enrol for an e-learning version of this course via this form.
Please refer to the FAQs for more information.
Students will learn fundamental principles of investing, how to make sound decisions on what types of investing strategies are in line with their risk tolerance and investing style, and how to regulate their emotions in response to the inevitable volatilities in the financial markets.
Students will also acquire critical skills in responsible financial management for sustainable investing that will empower them to achieve their life goals and live a flourishing life.
Learning Outcomes
Understand different investing principles and how one’s character affects inclination towards investing principles
Evaluate the features of various investment instruments and the risks involved
Master strategies for habits of mental and emotional regulation in dealing with financial planning and investments
Acquire fundamental skills of financial management and integrate principles of living a flourishing life to plan for your future
Programme Details & Registration
Course Units: 2 Units. This course is exempt from the limit on Level-1000 courses.
Assessment and Grading Basis: CS/CU
Students must complete all assignments for CFG1004, and CFG1003 in order to pass CFG1004.
Passing criteria for CFG1003 is completion of the e-learning course (estimated completion time 1.5 hours)
Co-requisites: CFG1003
Students must enrol in CFG1003 via CourseReg in the same semester, to be eligible to enrol in CFG1004, unless they have successfully completed CFG1003 in the previous semester.
Schedule: Semester 1 and 2 of AY23/24
Mode of Enrolment: CourseReg Rounds 1-3. Via request between 14 - 28 January 2024.
All undergraduate students are welcome to apply.
Interested postgraduate students can separately enrol for an e-learning version of this course via this form.
Please refer to the FAQs for more information.
Course Structure
This course, will equip you with foundational knowledge of core principles of financial management, investing psychology and investing fundamentals via a blended learning approach comprising of interactive e-lessons and live ‘Ask-Me-Anything’ sessions with industry professionals.
There are six e-lessons within the course:
Introduction to Investing:
Introduction to the concept of investing, common misconceptions, emotional impact of investing, the role of investing in good Financial management and achieving life goals.
Getting Started:
The different stages of Financial maturity, how to get your finances in order before starting to invest, and an overview of financial instruments.
The Investing Horizon:
How to determine when is a good time to start investing, what type of investor you are, fundamentals of asset allocation, circle of competence and dealing with emotions when investing.
Investment Portfolios:
How to estimate and set aside monies for investment, what to look for in a brokerage, the steps to setup a brokerage account, considerations of where and what to invest in, fundamentals of portfolio building and management and navigating family circumstances.
A Holistic Investment Lifestyle:
How principles of Financial Emotional Resilience can guide your investment journey. Learn about sustainable investing, how ESG investing can impact communities and societies, and how your investment decisions can make an impact in society.
Stock Investing:
Introduction to the major styles of investing philosophies. Identify the most suited investment philosophy based on your money narrative, risk capacity and appetite for risk.
In addition to the six e-lessons there will be two ‘Ask-Me-Anything’ sessions. These will be conducted virtually via zoom.
- Students will meet professionals from sectors such as technology, blockchain, finance, social impact and the arts who will share their insights, lessons learnt, failures and wins in their money decisions.
- Students can engage with speakers on any topics relating to Financial Emotional Resilience, financial management and their investing journey.
Workload
CFG1004 is structured around six lessons and delivered in an e-learning format. You enjoy the convenience of acquiring the financial skills and mindsets you need in your own time.
To secure a CS for this course, you will need to complete the following:
- All reflection assignments
- MCQ Quizzes
There is no examination for this course.
Grading Components:
| Assessment Task |
Assessment Weightage |
Self- Reflection Activity 1
|
10% |
| Multiple-choice assessments |
60% |
| Self- Reflection Activity 2 |
10% |
| Self- Reflection Activity 3 | 20% |
| Total course Score |
100% |
Passing Criteria for CFG1004:
CFG1004 is graded on a CS/CU basis. Submission and completion of all the following assessment components is compulsory to secure a CS grade in this course. Failure to submit any component will result in a CU grade.
Assessment Details:
Self-reflection activity 1: Investing money narratives (10%)
- Reflect on money narratives identified in CFG1003 and identify an investing money narrative that resonates with you.
- Submit reflection via Canvas
Multiple-choice assessments (60%)
- There will be 3 multiple-choice assessments based on the content in the e-learning lessons
Self-reflection activity 2: Investing Philosophies (10%)
- Reflection on the different investment philosophies and which resonates most with you
- Submit reflection via Canvas
Self-reflection activity 3: Starting my Investing journey (20%)
- Reflection on the actions you will take to commence financial planning including your investing journey
- Submit reflection via Canvas
In addition to the assessment components within CFG1004, students must complete CFG1003 in order to attain a CS grade for CFG1004.