Web Wealth:

Gaining financial literacy can take time and energy, and some good advice. Learn how to manage your own, or your business', money by studying the lessons at these sites.

Spending $10,000. The extension service at Ohio State University offers this six-lesson, study-at-home course on managing your money. What you do is print out the material and work your way through the lessons, which open with an exercise to find out what's important to you. A form asks how you would spend $10,000 if you won it in a lottery. But, if your answer is to buy 10,000 more tickets, you're in big trouble.

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Money literacy. A federal government site promoting financial literacy has links to help people in trouble with mortgages and other debts, along with lots of information on how to handle money to avoid falling into crisis. An interactive "Money 20" quiz makes it clear that nobody makes too little money, or too much, to need a budget. Your quiz answers lead to optional links for further information about saving, investing, and financial planning.

www.mymoney.gov

Course 101. The free online course site suite101.com has a four-lesson series on money management. Its author, Taura Lynn Colbert, introduces herself in a compelling way by describing her personal history of bad money habits, including moves that led to the repossession of her car just before Christmas and a personal bankruptcy filing just after New Year's. She calls the course "Improving Your Financial Self-Esteem." You start by writing your own "money story," Colbert says.

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Start-up lessons. Written for entrepreneurs at the StartupNation site, this is a business owners' guide to money management - a lesson that the site offers to teach in just eight steps. Learning some basic terminology is part of the process, along with getting to know how to track and control costs, maintain credit, pay taxes, and pick a bank with care.

http://go.philly.com/manage3