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Business & finance courses
Beginner friendlyThis investment course teaches you how investing really works before you put money anywhere. You'll learn how shares, bonds and funds make money and how they lose it, read a fund factsheet line by line, work out what a pension holds and costs, and build spreadsheets that show compounding, inflation and fees at work over decades. You finish able to weigh up an investment for yourself, with no tips and no hype.
Course overview
This course starts with how markets work and moves through shares, bonds, cash and other assets, funds, trackers and ETFs, then risk, diversification and building a portfolio. After that come the costs, ISAs and pensions in outline, regulation and scams, and the biases that trip investors up. It finishes with a full written plan for a fictional investor, stress-tested against a real market crash.
By the end you can read the documents investors actually receive, explain what you hold and what it costs, check a firm is authorised and spot a scam before it costs you. It suits complete beginners, anyone with a pension or ISA they've never understood, and newcomers to platforms and wealth managers. You don't need any money invested.
Free course guide
Every module and what it covers, the price, how you're assessed and where the course can take you.
10-page PDF, free
Curriculum
An indicative outline of the modules and what each covers. Work through them in order, at your own pace.
Key benefits
Everything you need to learn the skill, prove it and put it to work.
Getting started
There is no application, no waiting for a start date and no sales call in the way.
Pay once. Instant access, yours for life.
Career outcomes
Platforms, wealth managers and pension providers need people who can explain a factsheet, a charge or a pension statement clearly, and you'll have practised all three. Adviser roles need a regulated qualification on top and analyst roles further professional exams, and the course shows you both routes.
Source: National Careers Service (gov.uk), September 2026.
An example of the certificate for the Certificate in Investing Fundamentals.
If you want to read a company's accounts in depth, Finance Fundamentals is the closer fit. If you're curious about interest rates and inflation across the economy, start with Economics for Business. And if you want someone to tell you what to buy, no course can do that: speak to a regulated financial adviser.
A course advisor will talk it through with you free, and will say so if a different course fits your goal better.
Good to know
How investing works, from the ground up. You learn how markets work, then shares, bonds, cash and other assets, funds, index trackers and ETFs, risk and diversification, building a portfolio and what investing really costs. After that come ISAs and pensions in outline, regulation, protection and scams, and the biases that push investors to buy high and sell low. The capstone is a written plan for a fictional investor with two goals, stress-tested against a real market crash.
No. It's an education course. It explains how markets, funds, risk and costs work and never recommends a fund, share or platform, so it won't tell you what to invest in. Treat anyone who promises winning picks with caution, and for advice about your own money, speak to a regulated financial adviser.
Yes. It's written for investing beginners and starts from what changes when saving becomes investing. You don't need any money invested or any finance background, just basic arithmetic.
No. Understanding how investing works before you have money at stake is the best order to do things in. You practise on real, publicly available fund and pension documents, and the final plan is for a fictional investor, so nothing in the course involves your own money.
No. Google Sheets or Excel for the web is free, and so are the FCA register and Warning List you use to check firms. You don't need a trading account or a paid data service.
Investing Fundamentals if you want to understand markets, funds, pensions and costs as an investor. Finance Fundamentals if you want to read a company's accounts and judge whether the business is sound. They fit well together.
Yes, where it matters. It covers the London Stock Exchange and AIM, gilts, ISAs, workplace pensions, the FCA register, the FSCS and the Financial Ombudsman Service. Allowances and tax rates change, so you learn to look up the current figures on GOV.UK rather than memorise them.
Yes. Pass the final assessment and you get an OBA certificate of completion that an employer can verify online. It isn't a regulated qualification: advising clients on investments needs a Level 4 diploma, and analyst roles involve professional exams of their own. The course explains both routes.
Download the free info pack first. It walks you through every module, what you'll build and what you need before you start, so you can enrol knowing exactly what you're getting. If you'd like to talk it through, get in touch and we'll help you choose.
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Free info pack
Every module, the price, how you're assessed and where it can take you. Yours free, and it opens straight away.
Takes 30 seconds
