I thought I understood budgets before this course. But actually building a working financial model from scratch – with real numbers from a real business – showed me how everything connects. The café owner I worked with still emails me updates on how the dashboard's helping them spot problems early.

My background's in teaching, not finance. I worried I'd be out of my depth. But the project structure meant I learned by doing, not just reading textbooks. Creating that retirement tool taught me more about investment principles than any lecture could have. And seeing financial planners actually use it? That was pretty satisfying.