Free finance education · Made in Canada

Where's the money?

The bridge between everyday Canadians and the world of finance. Clear, free lessons for understanding how your money works, or for exploring a future in it.

Start with how money works See the course map

Free forever · 32 lessons · no account needed

2.50% where it is today
0.25%today 2.50%5%
Your variable mortgage$500,000 over 25 years
Your savings account$25,000 in high-interest savings
interest per year
A private equity buyout$60M of floating-rate debt
interest per year

This is Lesson 2 in thirty seconds. The course explains why each number moves, and who wins and loses when it does. Illustrative: prime at the Bank's rate plus 2.2 points, mortgage at prime minus 0.75.

Where Canada is right now Bank of Canada 2.50% Prime 4.70% Inflation 3.1% 10-year bond about 3.8% Oct 30, 2026 · sources

Start with the machine. Then see who runs each part of it.

The first four lessons build the foundation every part of finance sits on. The everyday money track shows where it shows up in everyday life. The sector lessons then go inside each kind of firm, each with a page on how the work actually gets done.

Foundations

  1. Lesson 1The financial systemEvery kind of firm, how each makes money, and who works where.
  2. Lesson 2How money worksSupply and demand, inflation, interest rates, bonds and loans.
  3. Lesson 3Reading a companyThe three statements, ratios and what a business is worth.
  4. Lesson 4Markets and investingStocks, portfolios, real estate and commodities.

Everyday money

  1. E1Cash flow, credit and debtBudgets, credit scores and what debt really costs.
  2. E2Buying a homeDown payments, the stress test, FHSA and closing costs.
  3. E3Taxes in plain languageBrackets, investment income and side hustles.
  4. E4Retirement and estateCPP, OAS, RRIFs, wills and probate.
  5. BonusScams and money psychologySpot fraud and the mental traps.

Sectors

  1. Lesson 5BankingDeposits, loans, capital, and inside an investment bank.
  2. Lesson 6FundsThe containers, and everything institutions put inside them.
  3. Lesson 7Portfolio managementFront, middle and back office, and the life of a trade.
  4. Lesson 8Wealth managementAdvisors, fees, TFSA vs RRSP and the full plan.
  5. Lesson 9Hedge fundsLong/short, the main strategies, 2 and 20, and who can invest.
  6. Lesson 10InsuranceHow risk is priced, the products, and how insurers make money.

Private markets

  1. Lesson 11Private equityBuyouts, value creation and how the work gets done.
  2. Lesson 12Venture capital and startupsFunding rounds, dilution and how VC funds make money.
  3. Lesson 13Private creditFunds lending directly to companies, and the risks.
  4. Lesson 14Infrastructure and real assetsToll roads, airports, pipelines and why pensions own them.
  5. Lesson 15The investor sideHow pension funds invest, and the Canadian model.

Corporate finance and advisory

  1. Lesson 16Accounting, audit and FP&AWho records, checks and plans the numbers.
  2. Lesson 17Deal advisoryM&A, valuations, due diligence and restructuring.
  3. Lesson 18Small business financeStructure, cash flow, financing and selling.
  4. Lesson 19Business and ownership structuresCorporations, holding companies, trusts and real estate ownership.

Trading and commodities

  1. Lesson 20Capital markets and tradingExchanges, market makers, trading floors and futures.
  2. Lesson 21Commodities, gold and the petrodollarOil, metals, mining and why the world runs on US dollars.

Global economy and trade

  1. Lesson 22Global tradeWhy countries trade, what Canada sells and supply chains.
  2. Lesson 23Tariffs and trade agreementsWho really pays a tariff, CUSMA, CETA and the WTO.
  3. Lesson 24Currencies and exchange ratesWhat moves the loonie and how businesses hedge.
  4. Lesson 25Global institutions and crisesThe IMF, World Bank, sovereign defaults and sanctions.
  5. Lesson 26International businessExporting, shipping terms, letters of credit and customs.

Practice

  1. P1Money calculatorsCompound growth, debt payoff, mortgage affordability, rent vs buy.
  2. P2Case studiesReal Canadian deals and failures, told simply.
  3. P3QuizzesQuick checks for every part of the course.

Every term, explained three ways.

Tap any underlined word in the course and it opens in place: the textbook definition with its formula, an everyday picture you already understand, and what it means for your own money.

Statements become a pizza shop. Buyouts become a rental property with a mortgage. Insurance becomes a cracked phone screen.

Economy
Prime rate

The base rate banks lend from. In Canada the big banks set prime at the Bank of Canada's rate plus about 2.2 points, and it moves the same day the Bank does.

Prime ≈ Bank of Canada rate + 2.20%

Learn by moving the numbers yourself.

Twenty-four interactive tools sit inside the lessons and on the calculators page. Change one input and watch what happens, the way analysts and advisors actually think.

Written for Canada, not translated from New York.

Most finance courses assume 401(k)s and the Fed. This one uses the accounts, institutions and rules you'll actually meet here.

Your accounts
TFSA, RRSP, FHSA and RESP, with this year's limits and a calculator to choose.
Your institutions
The Big Six banks, CPP Investments and the Maple 8 pensions, Canadian insurers and asset managers.
Your rules
CIRO, OSFI, CDIC coverage and the mortgage stress test.
The industry's designations
CIRO exams, CSC, CFA, CFP, LLQP, CPA, IFRS, CAIA, FRM, actuarial (FSA, FCAS, FCIA) and more, and the roles each one leads to.

Understand it first. Then take the next step.

Learning is free and always will be. When you want to go further, we point you to options we'd explain the same way to our own family.

Learn

Understand the basics

Start with how money works, then go as deep as you like. Every term explained in plain language, with Canadian examples.

Start learning
Go further

Courses and credentials

Programs and certifications that pick up where our lessons leave off, for a new career or a sharper skill set.

See where to go next
Act

Tools and professionals

Platforms for saving and investing, explained before you sign up, and licensed professionals when you need advice for your situation.

Find trusted options

Finansoon is education, not advice. Some links may support Finansoon at no extra cost to you, and never change what we teach.

Follow the money. Start free.

Start with Lesson 1, the map of who's who in finance. No sign-up, no jargon, no sales pitch.

Start Lesson 1