You and Your Money The Open University UK

Overview

The You and Your Money module at The Open University UK is structured around four themes: the changing economic, political and social context; individuals, households and other relationships; economics and the real world; and the life course and financial planning. You'll study income, expenditure, debt, savings and investments, housing, insurance, pensions and caring, critically appraising the balance between personal and social responsibility for financial well-being.

What you will study

This module has three primary aims to:

• give you the knowledge, skills, tools and confidence to manage your own money well
• provide an introduction to the social sciences, especially economics, relating them to the real world in which we live
• gently build and practise your study skills and employability skills as a strong foundation for your further studies at the OU and life beyond.

The study weeks are arranged in pairs with each pair devoted to a different topic. In the first week of each pair, you’ll read a chapter in the module textbook. This textbook has been specially written for this module and includes lots of activities to help reflect on the material, test your understanding and apply the ideas to your own finances. In the second week, you’ll consolidate your learning through a rich mixture of video, audio clips, slideshows, activities and interactive tools.

You can use the interactive tools to understand your own finances. For example, how tax affects your earnings, how much you’d need to save to reach a goal, what the repayments would be on a loan or mortgage, and your options for building up enough pension savings.

Throughout the module, you’ll share in the lives of 12 households, two each from the UK, USA, Germany, Sweden, Brazil and India, so you can compare financial experiences from across the globe and the factors that influence them.