Learn how to allocate your money appropriately in cash, stocks and bonds, how to do fund research using Morningstar, Retirement Planning and understand 401K fund choices.
What is Money 101?
Calling all women entrepreneurs -
Do you want to take the “Fear out of Finance?” Enroll in Money 101, a five-segment financial literacy program designed for women and conducted by Diane Drey, a certified SCORE mentor.
Segments include Foundation, Investments, Taxation, Real Estate, and Money and Life Cycles. Each Segment consists of five two-hour classes. The segments can be taken in any order and are independent of each other. All classes are live on Zoom. Once you pay for a segment, you can take that SAME segment over again for FREE!
See Investment Segment Session Details >>
Registration is limited to keep the classes intimate. Sign Up Now!
Date
Wednesdays, July 30, and August 6, 13, 20, 27, 2025
Time
All sessions will be held from 4:30pm - 6:30pm EDT
Cost
$125 for all five sessions
EARLY BIRD PRICING: $100 if you register before July 16th!
At the end of this INVESTMENTS course, you will be able to:
- Distinguish between, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, electronic traded funds
- Determine what is the most appropriate diversification strategy for you based on when you will need your money
- Describe the selections and how to make better investment choices for an employer-sponsored 401k plan
- Explain what is a “target date fund” and why it may be your best choice for long-term savings.
- Recognize the importance of an employee match and vesting schedule for a 401k plan
- Differentiate between a Roth IRA and Traditional IRA to enable you to decide which is the best plan for you
- Use a free tool to help you research mutual fund expense ratios, performance, and risk relative to its category
- Identify what questions to ask before making any investment
- Summarize the ways the brokerage community makes money off your investment
Class 1: Cash and Stocks
- Why is having a written personal budget essential before you start investing?
- What are the different “piles” of money that you need?
- What do you mean by “opportunity cost”?
- How much should be kept in an emergency fund?
- What is the difference between a checking, savings, money market and certificate of deposit?
- How should emergency funds be kept?
- What is FDIC insurance, and what does it cover? Are stocks and bonds covered by FDIC insurance?
- When you have competing needs, i.e. emergency fund, payment of debt, and retirement investments, what should you focus on first?
- What are the five standard Asset Classes?
- FOCUS on STOCKS – What is a stock? What is an equity?
- And more!
Class 2: Bonds and Diversification of your Portfolio Depending on When You Need Your Money
- What is a bond?
- Who issues bonds?
- What are the four key classifications of bonds: Issuing entity & their credit rating, term of bond, interest rate on bond, tax status (taxable vs tax-exempt).
- How do interest rates effect bond prices? What is the relationship?
- How do people sell bonds before they reach “maturity”?
- What do these Bond vocabulary words mean terms: face value, discounted value, coupon rate, interest rate, interest payment frequency, term of bonds.
- Review returns and volatility for stocks and bonds.
- How to determine an appropriate Stock/Bond ratio diversification based on when you need the money.
- Discuss other Asset classes, REIT and COMMODITIES
Class 3: Key Fund Metrics to Research, and How to Research for Free
- Should I buy individual stocks or funds?
What is the difference between a Mutual Fund and an Index Fund? - Which fund is more expensive to manage Mutual Fund or Index Fund? Which is better?
- What is an “electronic traded fund” and how does it differ from a Mutual fund?
- What a “benchmark category”? – how many are there?
- What is an Asset Allocation Fund? What are the benefits?
- What is a Target Date fund – and what are the benefits?
- What is an “Intelligent Portfolio”
- How to use Morningstar to investigate funds including: portfolio composition, performance, expense ratio, and risk.
Class 4: Choosing a Fiduciary, How to Minimize Fees, Buy and Hold Strategy
- Comparison of popular fund metrics using Morningstar for Asset Allocation and Target Date Funds.
- The difference between a “Fiduciary” and fund selection.
- Popular Apps that are actually middlemen
- Criteria in selecting a fiduciary/investment firm,
- How are fees charged by brokers, and how to avoid fees.
- Creeping cost of Asset Under Management fees.
- What is a Buy and Hold philosophy?
- What is meant by “reinvesting dividends”?
- Setting up automatic investments.
Session 5: Tax Consequences, Understanding a 1099 from your Fiduciary
- Tax issues arise with investing, interest income, dividend income, and capital gains income.
- How to read a 1099 form issued by your investment firm.
- What is the difference between a Roth or a traditional IRA – which is better?
- What is a Required Minimum Distribution (RMD)?
- How to handle an inherited IRA?
- Where to get more FREE and reliable investment info
BEFORE YOU REGISTER, please be certain you can:
- Attend all 5 sessions in the course. This represents a commitment to yourself and others in the group
- Work in front of a full-screen computer, allowing screen sharing in a quiet area to allow you to concentrate
- Agree to complete pre-work before each session. Optimizes your learning experience by enabling you to discuss concepts and examples with your peers and instructor. Pre-work should take approximately 2 hours before the second, third, fourth and fifth sessions.
- Use a calculator or application if needed to make math calculations.
- Complete the PRE-CLASS Questionnaire upon enrollment. The Questionnaire helps assess your current financial knowledge so sessions meet your needs. You will receive the link to the questionnaire AFTER enrollment.
- This class requires 90 minutes of homework each week so plan accordingly.
Diane was formerly CEO of a New York Metro bottled water manufacturing and distributing company. Her expertise is in financial planning and marketing. She holds an MBA in finance and has over 30-years’ of experience running her own firm. She light-heartedly calls herself the "Money Lady" and focuses on business owners achieving profitability.
Are you ready to take the fear out of finance and plan for your financial future? Seats are limited; claim your spot now!
