Mondays, April 3rd-24th || 6-8pm PST (9-11pm EST)
ONLINE COURSE || Link to online classroom provided with registration
Four weeks, $129 || Space is limited to 20 students || Scholarships Available

There is only one person responsible for your financial health: you. Become the CFO for your life. Most people live their lives unconscious or uncomfortable about money. We'll explore the hidden assumptions of consumption and debt in our capitalist system and help you reclaim ownership of how you spend your time + your energy. Financial independence gives you the chance to live a fully honest and authentic life. It doesn't matter how much money you make, $20,000 or $400,000, this course will help you feel in control of your life and live according to your aspirations, priorities, and realities. In class, you'll write your financial manifesto and make a plan on how to execute it. Topics include budgeting, investing, and how intimate relationships affect the way you treat money.

Week 1: Understanding Money

Talking about money is a taboo and thus we aren’t very aware of our relationship with it. We'll start with our internal assumptions about money, where they came from and how they dramatically influence our lives. Then we’ll talk about the personal savings rate and how it affects how many years you have to work.

Week 2: Minding the Gap: Consumption + Income

We’ll break down the personal savings rate into its two basic components: spending + production. We'll talk about the profound implications behind taking control of both. We’ll go into depth about the personal and global consequences of consumption. Lastly, talk about the attitudes and behaviors necessary to really take control of your financial life.

Week 3: Writing Your Manifesto and Making a Plan

We live in a financial system that fundamentally requires people to be in debt. We’ll talk about breaking consent to the high-consumption, debt-driven system. No matter where you are on the path, working towards financial independence means taking back control of your life. You’ll draft your financial manifesto. Then you'll make a 1 year, 5 year, and long term plan that matches match your values, aspirations, and priorities. 

Week 4: Investing

This last session will be about the nuts-and-bolts of investing. We’ll about creating passive income, types of investments, risk and return, and other important concepts in investing for the future. 

"This class was great! It really helped me to re examine and re create my relationship to money. I'm totally inspired now to think and learn about money, and am starting to save and invest in the future that means the most to me. Douglas was an excellent instructor. He is a living example of financial freedom, and was an skilled facilitator, guide, and advisor during the process. Take this class! It's the best investment (in your dreams) that you'll ever make." - Dan D.


"The Financial Freedom course changed my perspective on money and removed a lot of mental and emotional barriers I was having to taking control of my financial life, as well as providing me with a lot of practical information. Highly recommend!" - Kronda A.

Douglas Tsoi, JD, is the founder of Portland Underground Grad School (PUGpdx.com). In his career, he has been a lawyer, schoolteacher, and climate change activist. With lessons learned from his immigrant family, he started saving half of his income since college. After twenty years, he gained financial freedom to do what he wants with his time, which is to help people learn and feel closer to their communities.