Personal Finance Class for High School Curriculum – Financial Literacy Lessons for a Full Semester Course

Description

My Personal Finance Course curriculum for a high school Personal Finance or Financial Literacy class is an easy-to-follow personal finance and financial literacy curriculum bundle FOR A FULL SEMESTER that aligns to the National Business Education Association (NBEA) Standards. All activities, lessons, and projects are DIGITAL and attach easily to any learning management system as they are in Google Doc and Google Slide format. Most lessons convert easily to the Microsoft Office suite – some can be printed out.

❤️Why Teachers Love It:

• No prep required — just download and teach!
• Engaging, real-life scenarios students can relate to
• Flexible for in-person, hybrid, remote learning, and sub days
• Works with Google and Microsoft

I designed this Personal Finance/Personal Financial Literacy course for my high school classroom, but it also appropriate for 8th grade and higher education and college students. Many home schooling parents have used it with their children.

🎥 Here is a FULL VIDEO preview of this resource.
🎥 Here is a video on how to implement this resource to increase students’ engagement.

Short, engaging video suggestions are given for each of the FOURTEEN units that can be shown at the beginning of lessons. A PACING GUIDE is also included to make teacher planning easier.

**All resource links are flattened, so students CANNOT copy and paste their answers. Students must use their critical thinking skills and build on their knowledge in order to complete the prompts.**

✅Teacher’s Keys Included.

SPECIAL BONUS: When buying this bundle, you receive the easy to follow LESSON LIBRARY! The lesson library is a valuable tool for the teacher that lists all lessons in the order of instruction, links to the lessons, video suggestions, and teacher’s keys!

What are other educators saying?

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
There were so many engaging and fun lessons in this bundle. I highly recommend it. Denise, you knocked it out of the park again with these great financial resources!!!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This was a life-saver for a first year teacher teaching a Personal Finance class with very little resources! This course was set up in a very logical and helpful way – Denise had a guide with different units very clearly laid out with video links, student resources and assignments, teacher keys and helpful info and tips along the way.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I like how the topics are organized with activities for each one. The resources are very good and fit the activities. It is great to even just pick one topic and assign a worksheet that students can do while you are absent.

⚠️39 States are now requiring Personal Finance and/or Financial Literacy: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin

Units and Lessons Include:

Career and Income:

• Can money buy happiness?
• Steps in financial planning
• Wage Differences
• Work and pay reality check
• Post secondary degrees
• Sources of Income (added 3/26)
• 4 Types of Income (added 3/26)

Budgeting:

• Gen Z and spending-What do teens spend their money on?
• Creating a budget using percentages
• Creating a budget using the 50/20/30 rule
• Excel budget template analysis
• Holiday Budget Activity
• Guilty pleasure-reality check activity
• Plan a friend’s trip-fun budgeting project file

Banking and Money Management Systems:

• Big Banks
• Types of Bank Accounts
• Writing a Check
• Practice writing a check-When do we even use checks anymore?
• Endorsing a Check
• Bank Charges
• Cash Apps
• Outstanding Checks

Paychecks and Payroll Deductions:

• Five things a teen needs to know about a job
• The W-2 Explained
• The W-4 Explained
• The 1040 Explained
• Federal, state, and local income taxes
• Types of Taxes
• Payroll Taxes and Deductions

Credit Scores and Maintaining a Good Credit Score:

• Credit Score Basics-FICO Discovery
• Most Common Credit Score Mistakes
• Credit Score Factors
• Monitoring your Credit
• Credit Card Basics

Student Loan Debt, Grants, and Paying for Schooling and Training:

• How to pay for college
• How much will my college cost/reality check activity
• Tips to cut college costs and common mistakes

Buying a Car and Car Expenses:

• 10 Steps to Buying a Car
• Costs when Buying a Car
• Car Buying Activity
• Types of Auto Insurance

Housing: Renting, Leasing, Buying a Home:

• Home Buying Expenses
• Home Buying Spreadsheet Activity
• Buying vs Renting
• Real Estate Reality Check Activity
• Home Buying Project

Types of Insurance:

• What is insurance and insurance components?
• 4 Types of insurance that everyone needs – Life Insurance, Health Insurance, Long Term Disability Insurance, & Auto Insurance
• Homeowner’s, Property, and Renter’s Insurance (added 4/25)
• Health Insurance (added 4/25)
• Insurance WebQuest
• Life Insurance (added 3/26)

Loans and Credit Cards:

• Types of Loans
• Teens and Credit Cards
• Truth in Lending Act (TILA) (added 3/26)

Savings and Investments:

• Saving as a Teen
• Saving vs Investing
• Investing 101
• Saving Programs (added 4/26)
• Risk and Return (added 4/26)
• Compound Growth & Rule of 72 (added 4/26)
• Building an Emergency Fund (added 4/26)
• Future ME at 63 Project (Retirement Savings) (added 4/26)

Identity Theft:

• Understand how to prevent identity theft
• Know what to do if their identity is stolen
• Identify two important government agencies that help with identity theft issues and how to contact them
• Apply real-world strategies to safeguard personal information

Consumer Education:

• Taste Test Personal Finance LAB Activity
• Federal Agencies that protect consumers
• Navigating Meat Labels
• Understanding Store Shelf Labels
• How to read store shelf labels.
• Calculate serving costs (Applied Math)
• Calculate cost per unit (Applied Math)
• Consumer trends
• Cost comparison (Applied Math)
• What makes people spend money?
• Shopping behaviors explained
• Diderot effect explained
• Psychological shopping
• Tips to Keep spending under control
• Consumer Protection Laws

Map Tax Facts:

• Collaborative Activity and Bulletin Board
• Explore various types of taxes and how they vary by state

Free Enterprise Economic System

• What is a free enterprise system?
• A March-themed bulletin board

Budgeting and Planning a Road Trip Budgeting Activity

• Invaluable real-life lessons on travel costs.

Consumer Spending and Buying Habits – A great lesson to do around the Christmas Holiday Shopping season.

• What makes people spend money?
• Shopping Behaviors Explained
• Diderot Effect Explained
• Psychological Shopping
• Tips to Keep spending under control

The Cost of Coffee

• A consumer spending and applied math lessons and so much more!
• Calculate serving costs
• Calculate cost per unit
• Calculate cost of various convenience coffee products
• Consumer spending
• Consumer Trends
• Cost Comparison
• Factors that affect coffee prices and scarcity
• Cost of a daily latte at a popular coffee shop (Starbucks)

Bonus Digital Lesson: Financial Advice for Teens from Experts!

This FULL SEMESTER PERSONAL FINANCE COURSE, like all of my courses, includes Student-Led material. No PowerPoints needed as all of the information is included to allow the students to discover on their own and present to the class. Also, the Lesson Library includes Formative Assessment Templates that can be edited and customized for any lesson. There are no tests or quizzes included in this resource to allow for teacher autonomy on student assessment. Also, ready-made tests and quizzes can be bought and easily shared on the internet by students. I use the projects and activities within the bundle to evaluate and assess my students…which also saves me time grading tests. WIN!