JagInsights › Lessons

Free money lessons you can read without an account

17 short lessons on budgeting, saving, tax, credit, housing, and insurance. The calculators that go with them run in your browser. The rest of the library stays on a signed-in account.

• How to budget

  A budget is a plan for the money that actually lands. Needs, wants, and savings, with a $3,200 worked example. No account required.

• Savings accounts

  A savings account separates money you should not spend this week from checking. APY, FDIC, and why the emergency fund does not live next to DoorDash.

• Bank accounts

  What checking is for, what savings is for, how overdrafts work, and what FDIC insurance actually covers. Free to read.

• Emergency fund

  An emergency is unexpected, necessary, and urgent. Size the fund from must-pay bills, keep it in savings you can reach this week, and do not invest it.

• First paycheck

  Gross pay is the offer letter. Take-home pay is the deposit. Withholding, FICA, benefits, and why the budget uses the smaller number.

• Credit score

  A credit score is a price tag on borrowing, not a grade of whether you are good with money. Payment history and utilization matter most.

• Credit-card debt

  Why the minimum payment keeps a balance alive, how APR eats a $50 payment, and the difference between snowball and avalanche. Free to read.

• Paycheck taxes

  Federal withholding, FICA, and a refund are three different things. Why take-home pay is the number a budget uses. No account required.

• 401(k) match

  A match is extra pay that only arrives if you contribute what the plan formula requires. Vesting, per-paycheck matching, and what happens when you leave.

• Roth accounts

  A Roth account is funded with money already taxed. A traditional account cuts taxes now. The difference is when the tax is paid, not which one is automatically better.

• Overdraft

  An overdraft is a payment the bank pays when checking does not have the money. What the fee is, what opting out does, and why a declined card is cheaper than two fees.

• APR

  APR is the yearly price of borrowing. How a 22 percent card turns a $50 payment into about $13 of progress, with the numbers written out.

• Student loans

  Federal loans have income-driven plans and discharge rules private loans often do not. Why refinancing federal loans into a private loan is a one-way door.

• Rent versus buy

  Owning is not the mortgage payment. Tax, insurance, and repairs sit next to rent. Equity is real. It is not grocery money.

• Insurance

  Insurance moves a rare, expensive loss to a premium you can pay. Deductible, premium, and out-of-pocket maximum are the three numbers that decide whether a plan fits the cash you have.

• Identity theft

  A credit freeze at the three bureaus is how someone else is stopped from opening a card in your name. Alerts, passwords, and what to do when a charge is already there.

• Compound interest

  Compound interest is interest on the original amount and on interest already added. A $1,000 example at 10 percent, and why the same math on a card runs the other way.