About Us

Who we are:

Personal Finance 101 offers full service financial education to individuals, small groups and large organizations. We are not traditional financial planners and will not give you specific investment advice or manage your money. What we will do for you is much more important: we will give you the knowledge you need to independently make decisions about your money and take control of your financial future.

About our founder:

Personal Finance 101 was founded in 2005 by Amanda Moore. Amanda is a former employee of The Vanguard Group where she worked in their Institutional Client Services department helping with the daily administration of 401(k) plans. After leaving Vanguard, she began giving virtual advice through various online message boards. She received her Certificate in Financial planning from Boston University and is currently accruing hours to qualify for her CFP designation.

Why/how we started:

Personal Finance 101 was founded in 2005 to fill what seems to be a gaping hole in the education system. After spending several years answering questions on various online message boards including Craigslist and MSN Money, our founder realized that there was a distressing lack of financial education opportunities available. The knowledge needed to make sound financial decisions was just not being taught and people were moving forward in their lives without even basic knowledge to guide them.

After reading one too many stories about someone being taken advantage of by financial salesmen and people struggling to get out from under a ton of debt, she decided to try something different.

Starting with small groups of acquaintances gathered from her local area, Mandy started teaching basic financial education classes. Those classes have been developed into the curriculum that is being used today. Since its inception, Personal Finance 101 has helped to educate over 100 individuals on the topics of Goal Setting, Budgeting, Debt, Credit, Investing and Retirement.

What’s next:

In late 2006, early 2007 we anticipate launching a conference call series to connect with those who live outside of the DC metro area as well as launching a Personal Finance 201 series for those who want to take it to the next level but need a bit more guidance.