My Personal Finance Course
Very few classes that we teach in high school are as important as a Personal Finance class. It’s an invaluable life skill! Developing a Personal Finance course can be overwhelming because there are so many important topics to cover in such little time.
When I was putting together the Personal Finance Course for my students I was careful to incorporate the key components according to the National Business Education Association’s (NBEA) standards and life experiences of my own in personal finance. I definitely didn’t want to leave anything out!
My personal finance course includes a lesson library
Since I am a multi-prep teacher, I find it so valuable to have a plug-and-play teacher lesson library in order to keep track of the scope and sequence. The Lesson Library is a game changer for time management and organization.
As you can see from the picture below, there are four columns:Â each unit is captioned and outlined, Video suggestions that are optional but excellent Bell ringers to get the students excited about what concepts were learning, links to each of the student activities, and the teachers keys or a good student example.
What’s in my personal finance course?
Units and Lessons Include:
Career and Income:
- Can money buy happiness?
- Steps in financial planning
- Wage Difference
- Work and pay reality check
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 and 1040 EZ 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
Insurance Options:
- What is insurance?…and Insurance components
- 4 Types of insurance that everyone needs
- Insurance WebQuest
Loans and Credit Cards:
- Types of Loans
- Teens and Credit Cards
Savings and Investments:
- Saving as a Teen
- Saving vs Investing
- Investing 101
Identity Theft:
- Protecting yourself from identity theft
- What to do if your identity is stolen
Consumer Education:
- Taste Test Personal Finance LAB Activity
- Federal Agencies that protect consumers
- Navigating Meat Labels
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
Bonus Digital Lesson: Financial Advice for Teens from Experts!
This FULL SEMESTER COURSE 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.
