Quarter One
Foundations
Money habits, honest numbers, and a first working plan. Everything later in the year rests on this quarter.
Your Money Story and Mindset · Income, Spending and Tracking · Your First Working Plan
Twelve months · Twelve modules · One cohort
Learn to run your own money, one month at a time
The Ascend Empowerment Academy takes young adults through a full year of everyday money skills: planning, saving, borrowing, growing and earning, using your own real numbers rather than textbook examples.
Outcomes
What you walk away with
Know where your money goes
Track what comes in and what goes out honestly, then build a monthly plan you will actually follow.
Build a real safety net
Open the right accounts, set up automatic saving, and reach a starter emergency cushion.
Understand borrowing before you sign
Read the numbers on a loan or payment plan and know the full cost of saying yes.
Think in decades, not days
Learn the general ideas behind growing money over time, risk, and patience on a small income.
Earn on your own terms
Price your skills, invoice properly, and run a small venture without losing money.
Protect what you build
Spot scams, read the small print, and keep your records, documents and passwords in order.
How it runs
How the year works
01
Apply and join a cohort
Sign up, tell us where you are starting from, and we place you in the next cohort of about 25 young adults.
02
Weekly practice, monthly workshops
Each month covers one module: a facilitated workshop plus short weekly practice with your accountability partner.
03
Practice with your own numbers
Every module ends with a take home task applied to your real income, not a case study.
04
Finish with a plan and a mentor
You leave with a working monthly plan, a savings cushion, a payoff or growth plan, and a mentor for the year after.
Curriculum
The four quarters
Quarter Two
Saving and Banking
Turning a plan into a buffer: accounts, automation, an emergency cushion, and the discipline to leave money alone.
Banking Without Bleeding Fees · Emergency Cushion Sprint · Goals, Trade Offs and Set Aside Funds
Quarter Three
Borrowing, Debt and Long Term Growth
The expensive quarter to get wrong. Borrowing costs, payoff plans, and a first honest look at growing money over time.
How Credit Actually Works · Getting Out of Debt · Growing Money Over Time
Quarter Four
Earning and Independence
Income you control: pricing your skills, running a small venture, tax and paperwork, and a plan for the year after.
Earning More: Skills and Pricing · Running a Small Venture · Tax, Paperwork and Next Year Plan
Special Topics
Shorter series for specific groups
Parents, educators, students, young parents, small ventures, newcomers, community groups and youth setting up on their own each have a series of their own.
Parents and Caregivers
Three sessions of 90 minutes
How to keep the money conversation going at home without lectures, arguments or shame.
Educators and Youth Workers
One full day or two half days
Training to run our lesson plans yourself, with facilitation practice and all materials included.
College and Career Bound
Four sessions of 60 minutes
Understanding the real cost of the next step, whether that is college, a trade, or straight into work.
Young Parents
Four sessions of 90 minutes
Managing a household on an uneven income, with support that fits around a child.
Who it is for
Young adults who earn, study, hustle or are between jobs and want to stop guessing with money. No prior knowledge is needed, and nobody is asked to share their numbers with the group.
Everything here is general education only. It is not investment, tax or legal advice. Places are limited to about 25 participants per cohort.