The first thing to understand is that in your first 5-10 years of investing, you will do worse, probably much worse, than simply investing in a broad index. In

The first thing to understand is that in your first 5-10 years of investing, you will do worse, probably much worse, than simply investing in a broad index. Investing, seen as a skill, is pretty unique in being in that you need to become better than most of the others for it to even make sense. You don't need to be better than the median plumber to make good money as a plumber for example. So if you just want to "learn about investing" in order to make money, I would not bother, unless you want to make this your full time job for the next decade or so. But every one should learn about economics and the financial system, regardless. I would recommend introductory courses from The Teaching Company/Great Courses. Or indeed a mooc like Coursera, they have some excellent material, not sure why you want to avoid that.