Building a Better Budget
This lesson uses the Better Money Habits video How to Set a Budget and Stick to It to reinforce the concepts of budgeting introduced in Lesson 7: Managing Cash in Financial Fitness for Life, Grades 6-8.
https://www.econedlink.org/teacher-lesson/1279/Building-Better-Budget
Meeting Financial Goals
In this lesson, students learn several basic steps to help them understand the importance of saving to meet future personal financial goals.
https://www.econedlink.org/teacher-lesson/1278/Meeting-Financial-Goals
Checking Out Checking Accounts
This lesson uses a Better Money Habits poster to help students examine the features of checking accounts.
https://www.econedlink.org/teacher-lesson/1280/Checking-Out-Checking-Accounts
Setting Goals
This lesson uses a Better Money Habits video to reinforce student understanding of setting short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals.
https://www.econedlink.org/teacher-lesson/1281/Setting-Goals
Debit Cards vs Credit Cards
Using a Better Money Habits video, this lesson introduces students to the advantages and disadvantages of using debit cards and credit cards.
https://www.econedlink.org/teacher-lesson/1282/Debit-Cards-vs-Credit-Cards
Establishing Credit
https://www.econedlink.org/teacher-lesson/1283/Establishing-Credit
What Car Should I Buy?
This lesson uses a Better Money Habits video to explain the basic decisions involved in buying a car.
https://www.econedlink.org/teacher-lesson/1284/What-Car-Should-I-Buy
Staying Afloat Financially in the 21st Century
This lesson will help students identify how to make good decisions which will help them financially in the future. Students will identify how to take their own wants and work them into a form of a personal budget. Students will also discuss various financial scenarios and decide what course of action would be the best to follow.
https://www.econedlink.org/teacher-lesson/792/Staying-Afloat-Financially-21st-Century
What is money? Why does it have value?
In this lesson, students consider the fact that the value of money differs depending on where the money is being spent. In order to understand this idea, students will first develop a deeper understanding of what it means for money to have a value. They will then consider that different goods and services cost different amounts of money in different regions of the world. Finally, students develop an understanding that the value of a dollar is determined by where the dollar is spent.
https://www.econedlink.org/teacher-lesson/750/What-Is-Money-Why-Does-It-Have-Value
Saving
Students take an interest inventory test that gives them a list of careers from which to choose. Once they select a career they are given the annual median wage for that career. Students are taught how to make a table, label a graph’s axes, title a graph, plot the first two points, and connect the points. Given their careers’ yearly salaries, students determine their monthly earned income and estimate how much they could be saving. Through a group discussion, students learn about taxes and monthly expenses. They also learn about unexpected expenses and what they might do to prepare themselves for such events. After establishing their monthly budget, the students play a game called, “Wheel of Mystfortune.” Each spin of the wheel gives either an unexpected expense or a little extra money for the month. After each spin, the students have to figure out what their monthly savings are and write them in the table as well as graph the points. The students spin the wheel twenty-four times (two times each month), write their adjusted saving in the table and graph each point. When the students are done they come up with a line of best fit.Finally, the students use this knowledge and a graph to help determine their average monthly saving.
https://www.econedlink.org/teacher-lesson/1248/Saving
How Expensive are Payday Loans?
Students will learn how a payday loan works by watching a video. They will learn that payday loans are an expensive form of borrowing and then calculate the total cost of a payday loan using several methods (table, graph, and formula). Students will learn what makes payday loans an expensive form of quick cash and how to evaluate offers. They will learn the effect rolling over a payday loan can have and also calculate the total cost of the loans and the Annual Percentage Rate (APR).
https://www.econedlink.org/teacher-lesson/1211/How-Expensive-are-Payday-Loans
Mobile Phones Matter
Most high school students are comfortable using mobile phones. Many high school students use smartphones, such as iPhones, which are becoming part of our culture. It is also becoming more cost effective to use the broad range of smartphone services to cut down on other costs such as watches, games, and other accessory items. According to Maximilian Schmeiser of the Federal Reserve, the Center for Financial Services Innovation, the U.S. Treasury, and other national leaders, mobile phones do matter when it comes to financial management and financial decision-making.
https://www.econedlink.org/teacher-lesson/1150/Mobile-Phones-Matter