Introduction to the workshop

• Welcome to the Financial Intelligence Workshop
• What you need to take this workshop properly

How money and the economy work

• What money is and how it is created
• Banks: how they make money with your money
• Nominal and real interest rates: the price of time
• Inflation: why your money is worth less every year
• Exchange rates and currencies
• Opportunity cost and decisions at the margin
• Supply and demand: how prices are set
• Incentives: why people do what they do
• Elasticity: how much sales change when you change the price
• Costs, scale and productivity
• Competition, monopoly and oligopoly
• Asymmetric information: adverse selection and moral hazard
• Externalities and regulation
• What GDP measures and why a country grows
• Business cycles, crises and recessions
• Crises worth knowing: hyperinflations, devaluations, defaults, 1929 and 2008
• The labor market: unemployment, informality and wages
• Monetary policy: what a central bank does
• Spending, deficits and public debt: what happens when a country cannot pay
• Why some countries are richer than others
• International trade and globalization
• How to read economic news
• Template: economic indicators dashboard
• Step by step: working out how much inflation took from your money
• Step by step: where to look up the economic data of your country

Financial mindset

• How we really decide: behavioral economics
• Assets that bring in money and assets that cost money
• Biases that destroy wealth: loss aversion and herd behavior
• Status spending and social pressure
• Habits and automation
• Your relationship with debt
• Discipline and systems
• Money stress and anxiety: how to regain your calm
• Talking about money as a couple
• Teaching your children about money
• Step by step: automating your savings on payday
• Step by step: your first family money meeting

Spreadsheets and numbers for decisions

• Cells, formulas and references
• Currency, percentage and date formats
• Sorting, filtering and validating data
• SUM, AVERAGE, IF and SUMIF
• VLOOKUP and XLOOKUP
• Pivot tables and charts
• The time value of money: simple and compound interest and the rule of 72
• Financial functions: FV, PV, PMT and RATE
• Your first self-updating dashboard
• Percentages, changes and percentage points
• Mean, median and spread
• Probability and expected value
• Reading charts and tables without being fooled
• Surveys, samples and why correlation is not causation
• Step by step: your monthly budget in Google Sheets
• Step by step: sharing, protecting and backing up your sheets

Personal finance

• Personal balance sheet: assets, liabilities and net worth
• Your first paycheck: what to do with it from day one
• Gross pay, deductions and net pay
• Budget and cash flow
• Budgeting methods: 50/30/20, envelopes and zero-based
• Budgeting with irregular income
• Small leaks, subscriptions and hidden costs
• Financial goals with amount and date
• Bank accounts: which one suits you and what fees they charge
• Digital payments, fraud and identity theft
• Savings: where to keep them so they keep their value
• Emergency fund
• If you lose your job: final pay, severance and a 90-day plan
• Your finances with high inflation and devaluation: real rate, indexation and foreign-currency debt
• Remittances and migrant finances: sending money and living between two countries
• Moving out: what living on your own costs
• Big purchases: cash or credit
• Buying or leasing a car
• Planning your children's education: future cost, time frame and savings
• Caring for aging parents without neglecting your future
• Retirement: how much you need and why to start early
• Template: budget and personal balance sheet
• Step by step: opening a bank or digital account
• Step by step: building this month's budget
• Step by step: cutting fixed costs and cancelling subscriptions
• Step by step: building your emergency fund

Credit and debt

• How credit works: rate, term, payment and total cost
• Nominal rate, effective rate and annual total cost of credit
• Amortization: fixed and declining payments
• Credit cards: using them without paying interest
• Buy now pay later and app loans
• Reading your credit card statement
• Credit history and score
• Personal, car and payroll-deduction loans: when yes and when no
• How to apply for a loan and what the bank looks at
• Negotiating a loan with the bank: rate, term and fees
• Collateral, guarantees and co-signers
• Refinancing, consolidating and moving debt
• Getting out of debt: avalanche and snowball
• If you can no longer pay: restructuring and negotiating with creditors
• Template: loan comparison and debt payoff plan
• Step by step: checking your credit report and fixing errors
• Step by step: applying for a loan: documents and requirements
• Step by step: calling the bank and asking for a better rate
• Step by step: negotiating an overdue debt

Income, sales and negotiation

• Types of income: job, freelance, business and assets
• Your value in the job market
• Résumé, interview and personal brand
• Negotiating your salary and raises
• Growing inside a company
• Your human capital: what studying or training pays
• Principles of negotiation
• Preparing a negotiation: your alternative and your limit
• Common tactics and how to respond
• Presenting, persuading and building your network
• High-value skills
• Leaving your job: when to jump and with what cushion
• Freelancing: how to start
• How to price your work
• Contracts, invoicing and clients who do not pay
• Extra income without leaving your job
• Selling: the basics everyone needs
• Finding customers
• Handling objections and closing a sale
• Template: freelance rate and offer comparison
• Step by step: your résumé and online professional profile
• Step by step: writing a quote and a proposal
• Step by step: a simple service contract
• Step by step: getting paid by transfer, card, payment link or platforms
• Step by step: landing your first clients

Level I exam

An exam with questions from every subject of Level I. Pass it to move on to Level II. If you do not reach the grade, you review the lessons you missed and take it again.

Investing and financial markets

• Why invest: inflation and compound interest
• Risk and return
• Your investor profile: risk tolerance and time horizon
• How financial markets work
• Financial institutions: banks, insurers, funds and regulators
• Term deposits and fixed income
• Bonds: lending to a government or a company
• Stocks: owning part of a company
• What moves a stock price: earnings and dividends
• Reading a company's numbers before buying its shares
• Mutual funds and ETFs
• How to read a fund: return, volatility and fees
• Gold, commodities and crypto: what they are and their risks
• Derivatives made simple: futures, options and hedging
• Diversification and asset allocation
• Active or passive: what the evidence says about beating the market
• Regular investing
• Rebalancing your portfolio
• Inflation and currency: protecting yourself from devaluation
• Opening an investment account and choosing a broker
• Pensions and retirement: building up and then living off your wealth
• Financial independence: your freedom number
• How to spot scams and Ponzi schemes
• Common investor mistakes
• Speculating is not investing: trading and betting
• Template: compound interest and portfolio tracking
• Step by step: opening an account with a regulated broker
• Step by step: reading a fund factsheet before investing
• Step by step: setting up your monthly automatic investment
• Step by step: reviewing and rebalancing your portfolio once a year

Real estate

• Buy or rent
• How much house you can afford
• Mortgages: types, fixed and variable rates
• Comparing and negotiating your mortgage
• Buying costs: taxes, notary fees and commissions
• How the real estate market works and its bubbles
• Gross yield, net yield and cap rate
• Leverage: when it helps and when it sinks you
• Long-term and short-term rentals
• Managing a rental: tenants, leases and maintenance
• Buy, renovate and sell (flipping)
• Land, retail space and pre-construction: opportunities and risks
• Checking a property before you buy
• Negotiating the price of a property
• Real estate without buying property: REITs and funds
• Template: property evaluator and amortization table
• Step by step: buying a home, from search to signing
• Step by step: applying for a mortgage
• Step by step: renting out your property: listing, tenant and lease
• Step by step: renting a home without getting scammed

How businesses work: strategy and entrepreneurship

• Why companies exist: transaction costs and make or buy
• Business models: how each type of company makes money
• Industries and value chains
• Types of business: retail, services, manufacturing, small businesses and startups
• Platform economics: network effects and winner takes most
• Analyzing a business from the outside
• Thinking strategically: basic game theory
• The environment and the competition
• SWOT and competitive advantage
• The business model on one page
• The business plan: what it is for and what goes in it
• Annual planning: goals, priorities, KPI dashboard and quarterly review
• The life cycle of a company
• Spotting business opportunities
• Innovating: making something people want
• Validating an idea before investing: minimum viable product and quick tests
• How much money you need to start and when it starts to make a profit
• Starting with little money: growing on your own sales
• Scaling a business
• Case study: the coffee shop, from idea to first location
• Template: business model and SWOT
• Step by step: opening your business: registration, permits and accounts
• Step by step: writing your business plan
• Step by step: validating your idea in two weeks

Business marketing and sales

• Knowing your customer: segments and needs
• Value proposition and positioning
• Pricing strategy: value pricing, bundles, discounts and when to raise prices
• Building a brand
• Digital marketing and social media
• Selling online
• The sales funnel and its numbers
• Unit economics: what a customer costs to win and what they leave over their lifetime
• Customer service and loyalty
• Researching your market without overspending
• Launching a product or service
• Case study: the coffee shop goes after customers
• Template: sales funnel and customer acquisition cost
• Step by step: your business profile on search, maps and social media
• Step by step: opening your online store
• Step by step: selling on marketplaces
• Step by step: your first paid ad campaign

Operations, people and leadership

• Processes and quality
• Choosing a location and negotiating the lease
• Inventory: how much to hold and what it costs
• Suppliers and purchasing: choosing and negotiating
• Logistics and supply chain
• Technology and tools for your business
• Delegating and getting the owner out of daily operations
• When to hire: employee or contractor and the real cost
• Hiring well
• Payroll: paying wages, withholdings and social security contributions
• Leading and motivating a team
• Culture and internal communication
• Your time as an owner: priorities, schedule and productivity
• Making decisions with incomplete information
• Project management in the company
• Managing change and conflict
• Case study: the coffee shop hires and organizes its operations
• Template: the real cost of an employee
• Step by step: hiring your first employee
• Step by step: choosing a point-of-sale and payment system
• Step by step: tracking inventory with a spreadsheet
• Step by step: writing a process manual

Business accounting and finance

• Basic accounting for owners
• The income statement
• The balance sheet
• Business cash flow
• Profit is not cash
• Fixed and variable costs
• Unit cost: what each product costs you
• Pricing and margins
• Break-even point
• Working capital, collections and payments
• The annual business budget
• The numbers to check every month (KPIs)
• Financial ratios: liquidity, leverage and profitability
• Costs for decisions: relevant, sunk and marginal
• Evaluating a project: NPV, IRR and payback period
• Debt or equity: capital structure and financial leverage
• Cost of capital: what money costs your business
• Free cash flow: the money the owner really keeps
• What a company is worth: valuation methods
• Sources of funding: banks, suppliers, partners and investors
• Business credit: what the bank looks at
• Negotiating a business loan
• Angel investors and venture capital: how funding rounds work
• Investors: how much to give up for capital
• Crowdfunding: funding a business or investing alongside many people
• Pitching your business to an investor or the bank
• Owner's salary or dividends
• Reinvesting profits
• Case study: the coffee shop's numbers and its second location
• Template: cash flow, income statement and break-even
• Step by step: keeping the month's books in a spreadsheet
• Step by step: building your income statement and cash flow
• Step by step: pricing a product or service
• Step by step: applying for a business loan

Level II exam

An exam with questions from every subject of Level II. Pass it to move on to Level III. If you do not reach the grade, you review the lessons you missed and take it again.

Taxes

• Why taxes exist and how a tax system works
• Types of taxes: consumption, income, wealth and local
• Your tax registration and obligations
• Invoices and receipts: why they matter
• Taxes for employees
• Taxes for the self-employed
• Simplified regimes for small taxpayers
• Individual or company: the tax view
• Business taxes: deadlines and returns
• What is deductible
• Taxes on investments
• Taxes on property and rental income
• Inheritances and gifts
• Legal tax planning or evasion: the red line
• Tax residency and differences between countries
• If you do not pay: fines, surcharges and getting back on track
• Working with an accountant: how to choose one and what to ask
• Template: annual tax estimator
• Step by step: registering as a taxpayer
• Step by step: issuing an invoice
• Step by step: organizing the year's receipts
• Step by step: preparing your annual return with your accountant

Law and ethics for business

• How law works in business
• Making your business formal: benefits, costs and steps
• Sole proprietor or company: the most common structures
• Partners: the partnership agreement and how to split
• Basic business contracts
• Your brand and name: protecting them
• Separating your money from your business's
• Consumer rights and warranties
• Basic labor law: contracts, hours and dismissals
• Personal data protection
• Collecting through legal channels and resolving disputes
• Business ethics
• Family business and corporate governance: rules between family, partners and business
• Money laundering and source of funds: why they ask for documents
• Social responsibility and sustainability
• Template: legal checklist for your business
• Step by step: reading a contract before signing it
• Step by step: registering your trademark
• Step by step: drafting a partnership agreement
• Step by step: terms, privacy and returns for your online store

Protecting your wealth

• What risks your wealth faces
• Protecting your income: disability
• Concentration risk
• Continuity plan: if sales, a key supplier or the owner fall through
• How insurance works: premium, coverage and deductible
• Life insurance
• Health and medical insurance
• Home and car insurance
• Liability insurance
• Pension and health cover when you work for yourself
• Insurance for your business
• Reading a policy before you sign
• Wills and beneficiaries
• Passing your wealth and your business to the next generation
• Trusts: what they are and when they make sense
• If you can't decide for yourself: power of attorney and advance directives
• Marital property and money in a separation
• Template: how much life insurance you need
• Step by step: getting and comparing insurance quotes
• Step by step: making your will and naming beneficiaries
• Step by step: what to do if your identity or card is stolen

Growing, going international and selling a business

• Growing: new products, branches, franchises and exports
• When the business is in trouble: signs and what to do
• Buying an existing business or a franchise: what to check, what to pay and common traps
• Selling or closing a business
• Importing and exporting: buying and selling across borders
• Customs, tariffs and Incoterms
• Getting paid and paying abroad
• The exchange rate in your business: risk and hedging
• Selling online to other markets
• Working for clients in other countries
• Owning a company in another country: when it makes sense and its tax risks
• The US LLC: what it is, what it is for and what it is not for
• Opening an LLC step by step: state, registered agent, EIN, bank account and annual filings
• Template: import cost and final price
• Step by step: your first import
• Step by step: getting paid from abroad with payment platforms
• Step by step: selling to other countries online

AI, data and technology

• What AI is and what it can do for your finances
• How to ask: clear instructions
• Privacy: what data not to share
• Analyzing your spending with AI
• Comparing loans, investments and properties with AI
• Simulating scenarios
• AI for sales, customer service and marketing
• AI for your business finances
• Preparing the meeting with your accountant or the bank
• Analyzing your business data
• Digital transformation: where to start
• Basic cybersecurity for your business
• AI limits and how to check its answers
• Your financial copilot
• Step by step: reviewing the month's spending with AI
• Step by step: automating repetitive tasks in your business

Your 10-year wealth plan

• From diagnosis to plan
• SMART goals: from 'I want a house' to a goal with amount and date
• Milestones and tasks: the plan in yearly stages and monthly actions
• Plan risks and assumptions
• A Kanban board for your actions
• Net worth projection in three scenarios
• Your business in the plan: 3-year business plan with cash flow, unit economics and KPIs
• Monthly and yearly review
• How to build and submit your final project

Final exam

The final exam, with questions from the whole workshop. Together with your Wealth Plan, it is the last step to get your certificate.