First, we want to acknowledge that we are not the only ones in the financial education space. Other options are community colleges, colleges, and universities with similar financial education programs. With those programs normally, you would need to be accepted into those institutions and follow through with a complete course of study degree/accreditation program in order to maximize your return on your money. The problem with going through a complete course of study is, you need to take general education courses and major courses. You will be paying money to take general education courses that don’t necessarily apply to your major or that you are even interested in taking. Also, if you take out student loans to pay for that degree, the price of the degree could be exponentially higher with interest.

Finally, you need to ask your self once you have spent the money on your education. Was the time, energy, and dedication worth it? Meaning are you seeing more money come to you and your family, are your expenses going down, are you able to invest your money wisely, are you able to make money work for you, instead of you working harder for your money? On the right, there are current prices for financial education that we have found.

Paid Comparisons

You could make a comparison with what an individual 3-credit course would cost at those institution. There are many problems with that direct comparison. Who would be the professor, what experience do they have, what are the standards for the course, are those standards biased by state or political agendas, what access would you have to that professor, What relationship would you have with that professor or program once the course/program is over, is the information in that course going to benefit you and your family directly or your (future) employer, how effective is their course, are there reviews for the specific professor, and would you get your money’s worth and feel more knowledgeable at the end of the course. The list could go on. Again, if you take out student loans for the 3-credit course, the price of that course could be exponentially higher with interest.

Another option of comparison would be financial education courses on other platforms like Teachable, Thinkific, and Kijabi. This might be the best pound for pound comparison to our platform. You will find other entrepreneurs on these platforms selling their courses with similar topics and information. There are a few questions to consider here. When you give your information to the administrator of the course, do they have control over your information or does the platform have control over your information? If the administrator leaves or quits who is left with your information or if the platform goes under, who will have your information? This will ultimately dictate who is advertising to you and will be protecting your information. Next, what is the quality of the teachers, instructors, and administrators? Do they have a background in education?  Are they practitioners of their craft? What credentials do that have? The responsibility will be on you to do your research before buying a course to see the legitimacy of the instructor, platform, and course content. Courses will range in price based on what the owner thinks is a fair exchange of value. It is our philosophy that you get what you pay for. When purchasing an online course through any platform buyer will beware.

Banks and financial planners. These institutions can be a great source of information and education, but this will come at cost of doing business with those institutions. You need to ask yourself does your banker have your best interest at heart, the banks best interest at heart or their interest at heart. Banks and bankers are paid to sell you products. That’s how they make their living. These products are not good or bad. They all depend on what your need is. If you lack the financial education to tell the difference, then banks and bankers can give you information that serves their purposes. This information can come with great risk. The banks and bankers have access to your information and direct access to your account. If they sell you on the wrong product or service, you may pay the ultimate price for your lack of financial education.

Free Comparisons

Another option would be local groups, meetings, and meet-ups where free financial education is being disseminated. This would also be another fair comparison to our program. The problem with free is there are normally strings attached with the group running the meeting. The group will normally get you into the free meeting and give you a piece of information or two to peek your interest, before they upsell you. This is why the group got you there in the first place. Not many groups offer free information altruistically. There are hidden agendas with these types of groups. They will not inform you about why your there, until they have you in their airspace.

Next for comparison is google and youtube university. On these platforms information is free. We at AVK Wealth think these resources are a great tool for learning. The issue with google and youtube university is that you only know what you know. Meaning you will explore topics that you are familiar with. The problem with this is you don’t know, what you don’t know. Meaning unless you stumble across new information you will be in an echo chamber of what you already know. The second major problem is this form of learning can take weeks, months, and years to become an expert in finance. The time it takes in order to build the knowledge, skill set, and ability to act can set you back in time, money, and missed opportunity costs. We think it is easier to learn via an expert or mentor who has mastered the concepts that you want to learn about and can help you take the action steps that is necessary to achieve your dream lifestyle that you want to live.

The last big comparison is Artificial Intelligence (A.I.). Programs like ChatGPT is an amazing program which can lay out the how to do something. If you know how to communicate with A.I. these programs can be excellent learning tools. What A.I. lacks is motivation, encouragement, inspiration, drive, and the existential tools that it takes to change your life. Being educators at heart, those tools are built into what we do at AVK Wealth. We can fill in the gaps, drive instruction, and motivate our students to achieve the lifestyle of their choice. At the core of google, youtube, and Chatgpt they are all free tools that really help move you in the right direction, but there is a cost to the time lost to self-paced learning. Many obstacles can come and derail your progress that you have made. AVK will be that guide that keeps you on track to meeting all your goals and solving your financial problems.