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Is an Online Investment Course Worth Doing?
After a decade in the investment and finance industry, Kiwi-born Victoria Harris had a realisation. Women around her struggled to be confident about their finances. There was a gap in the market for places women could go to talk about money — and for those chats to be appealing.
So she teamed up with producer Sophie Hallwright and created The Curve, a women-only financial education platform that aims to make talking about money engaging. The Curve has a podcast, newsletter, TikTok and Instagram and membership-only Investing Club that I was recently invited to try.
For context, before I joined, I knew a bit about ETFs (exchange-traded funds) from my dad who’s constantly nagging me to invest in them. I also had basic knowledge about stocks — I knew they were parts of a company that you could buy and then sell (hopefully for a profit) and that you should buy stocks in companies you think will be successful.
But that was the extent of it. In the last few months that I’ve used The Curve, I can say my view on finance talk has changed — yes, I still think of some of it as dry, but generally, it’s been interesting. And I feel better equipped to make those financial decisions and to talk about them.
The platform has a library of videos that break down money topics in an easy-to-understand way. The videos range from a couple minutes to around 20 minutes. You can watch chats with experts on topics like investing in infrastructure or how to construct your portfolio. There are also clips on the foundations of investing. And here’s what I found most fascinating: investment ideas.
In the videos, Harris outlines what you might be able to expect from certain companies. I watched one of Harris thought about investing in Duolingo stocks. A Curve community member had asked her to share her thoughts on buying into the company.
“My first memory of Duolingo is – I was at doing a trip to South America,” she says in the video. “I thought I needed to take some language-learning classes. I downloaded it and at first, I thought it looked like a gaming app. But oh my goodness, it was the best app that I’ve ever used, in terms of learning a language. I could learn on the go. I could go for a walk and I’d be learning phrases and then in the car. I thought ‘This is genius’.”
Immediately, I was hooked. This is also what Harris taught me about choosing which stocks to invest in — they should ideally be in companies that I believe in. Even better if I actually use the products or services they offer. Harris then deep-dived into Duolingo’s business model (“it’s like a Spotify model”), its competitors and its “red flags”.
Other stocks Harris recently dived into are Pfizer, Walt Disney and Xero. She also publishes a weekly brief video that outlines what’s happening in the finance world — again, explaining it conversationally, like you would to a friend.
“Biggest news this week has been around interest rates,” says Harris. “So, New Zealand and Australia have dropped their interest rates. Really good news because it encourages spending. Low interest rates are really good for the stock market.”
The platform’s really a choose-your-own-adventure format. I would watch a few videos at a time over the weekend when I got the chance, but you might want to watch weekly. I didn’t use the Community section of the platform too much, but it would help to make finance even less intimidating, knowing there are people like you not afraid to ask questions that might make them seem dumb and who are just keen to learn. Harris posts updates on the noticeboard and community members can ask each other or Harris questions.
“A quick question,” a post reads. “Ryman has a trading halt on its shares while it does a capital raise. The shares traded for $4.31 –— the price rights exercise price is $3.05. Would this be a good investment?” (If you have no idea what price rights exercise price is, same.) Harris then commented on what the community members should factor in when deciding if they should invest in the company.
You could also read The Curve’s “Weekly Recap” newsletter. A recent newsletter covered potential problems with Tesla stocks and what Nike’s collaboration with Skims could mean for its stocks. Plus, there were some easy-to-read (alarming!) stats on the pay gap in sports.
The newsletter also has links to the newest episodes of The Curve’s weekly podcast. Some recent podcast topics have included ‘What immigrants teach us about wealth and opportunity’, ‘The romance of splitting the bill: can money and love mix?’ and ‘Money, business and life lessons from 2024’. I also recommend following The Curve’s TikTok and Instagram accounts to add a little education to your scrolling.
This year, the platform will launch new courses on property, corporate finance, superannuation and side hustles. You can sign up to watch these individual courses or for an annual membership which gives you access to everything. You’ll get a solid foundation in investment principles, better understand complex jargon and, what I found was my biggest takeaway, actually find yourself thinking of finance as fun. And that, in my eyes, made the courses and membership worth it.
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