Research shows that UK households are poor at investment management with a limited understanding of investment choices, risks and returns. The resultant ‘savings gap’ threatens a scenario where many cannot afford to retire.

Elsewhere households fail to plan properly, to make their investment choices fit with their risk appetites and the time horizons for access to their funds . Managing My Investments aims to give you the tools to avoid these personal finance nightmares.

Understand investment choices, risks and returns

On this free online course, you’ll learn about different investment choices, the returns and risks associated with each, and the evidence about their historical performance. You’ll explore investment strategies, as well as the practicalities about involvement in personal finance markets. And you’ll look at how to avoid the individual and group behavioural traits that can impair effective investment decision making .

Throughout, the course will provide recent and current case studies on investment issues, to demonstrate how the ideas and issues explored in the course are reflected in the arena of personal investments.

The course is up-to-date and covers the current reforms to UK pensions due to be rolled out in 2015 – changes that will radically alter the way many people will use their pension savings as they move into retirement .

Managing My Investments aims to give you the knowledge and confidence to take charge of your investments and your financial future.

You can find out more about what to expect from the course in Martin Upton’s post for the FutureLearn blog: “Understanding the UK pensions revolution.”

This course is presented on FutureLearn with the kind support of True Potential LLP.

The True Potential Centre for the Public Understanding of Finance (True Potential PUFin)

The True Potential Centre for the Public Understanding of Finance (True Potential PUFin) is a pioneering Centre of Excellence for research in the development of personal financial capabilities, based at The Open University Business School. The establishment and activities of True Potential PUFin have been made possible thanks to the generous support of True Potential LLP, which has committed to a five-year programme of financial support for the Centre totalling £1.4 million.