Foundations
Before any strategy, any calculator, any broker, a handful of ideas do most of the heavy lifting: what you actually own when you buy a share, how ETFs and index funds bundle that into one trade, what a dividend is, how the ASX sets a price, and why letting money compound matters more than almost anything else you'll do. Get these and the rest of the course clicks into place.
9 questions · test yourself first · resources below to fill any gaps
Test yourself first, then learn what you missed
📝 Module quiz
Owning a share means you own a small piece of that company.
Missed a few? Shore up this module
Here is everything for this module in one place. Start with whatever you got wrong above, or work through the lot if you want the full picture.
📖 Guides to read
What Is a Share? The Absolute Basics
What owning a share actually means, how prices are set, and how shares make you money, explained before you buy your first one.
What Is an ETF? A Beginner's Guide (Explained Simply)
A plain-English explanation of what an ETF is, how it works, what it costs, and whether it's right for a beginner starting to invest in Australia.
What Is an Index Fund? A Plain-English Guide for Australians
What an index fund actually is, how it tracks a market index, why fees matter, and the difference between unlisted funds and index ETFs.
What Is a Managed Fund? A Beginner's Guide for Australians
What a managed fund actually is, how it structurally differs from an ETF, active vs passive managed funds, and why fees matter so much over the long run.
What Is a Dividend? A Beginner's Guide for Australian Investors
What a dividend actually is, how dividend yield and the ex-dividend date work, and how it connects to franking credits in Australia.
What Is the ASX 200? Australia's Benchmark Index Explained
What is the ASX 200? It's Australia's main share market index, 200 of the biggest companies on the ASX. Learn how it works, what's in it, and how to invest.
What Is ROI? Return on Investment Explained for Beginners
ROI tells you how much you made relative to what you put in. Here's the formula, worked examples, total vs annualised ROI, and what a good ROI looks like.
What Is Compound Interest? (And Why It's the Whole Point of Investing Early)
A plain-English explanation of compound interest, why starting early matters more than the amount, and how the same effect works against you on debt.
🎯 Test yourself with a related quiz
🧮 Try the numbers yourself
🔗 Go deeper with the official sources
- Share, Moneysmart glossary · ASIC Moneysmart
- How to buy and sell shares · ASIC Moneysmart
- Exchange traded funds (ETFs) · ASIC Moneysmart
- Start investing · Australian Securities Exchange
- Compound interest calculator · ASIC Moneysmart
📚 Recommended reading
The Psychology of Money
Morgan Housel
The Psychology of Money
19 short stories on how people actually think and feel about money, not just the maths of it.
The Barefoot Investor
Scott Pape
The Barefoot Investor
Australia's best-selling money book ever. A simple system for accounts, budgeting, debt and a real emergency fund in one.
The Simple Path to Wealth
JL Collins
The Simple Path to Wealth
The friendliest on-ramp to index investing there is, born from letters a dad wrote his daughter. It makes 'buy the whole market and chill' feel obvious, just map his US fund picks onto Aussie equivalents and super.
Some links above are affiliate links. If you buy through them, Snowball Invest may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend books we'd suggest anyway.