As someone who has worked in the financial industry, education field and the mental health field, I am keenly aware of how financial distress can impact all aspects of someone’s life. These stressors are often compounded for youth. Traditionally, it is assumed that lessons regarding personal finance would be passed down through traditional generational teaching. However, this assumes that parents/guardians had adequate knowledge of personal finance to teach their children. While many parents/guardians do their best to provide knowledge to their children, they cannot provide knowledge they do not have.
Unfortunately, many people do not get the knowledge they need to successfully manage personal finances. As a result, young people can often find themselves in financial distress before realizing how much trouble they are in. It can take years for them to get back on the right track. All of which could have been avoided if they had been given some information beforehand.
Many people I have spoken with have questioned why personal finance is not something taught to students in high school. As someone who has worked in the education field, I can attest to the fact that there is simply not enough time to teach students everything they need to prepare them for life outside of high school. In an attempt to bridge that gap and provide basic personal finance to high school students, I developed a training with the focus of teaching students basic personal finance skills.
It begins with basic banking fundamentals such as types of bank accounts and works with students to understand how to make smart financial decisions based on their future goals. It provides insight on how to determine needs versus wants and how to align those needs and wants with your financial future. While the guide focuses on two general paths, Workforce Path and College Path; it focuses more on determining needs for those path and how to distinguish between needs and wants.
Being able to distinguish between needs and wants allows them to begin the process of making a budget. It breaks down different components of a budget and how to make adjustments to the budget to fit their personal lifestyle. Once they understand how to create a budget, they focus on tracking how they are progressing towards their financial goals and how to make adjustments.
Most importantly, the course focuses on debt. Discussions range from student loans to credit card debt. It discusses how important a credit score is and how you can get trapped in credit card debt forever by just paying your minimum balance. A lot of time is spent discussing difference in interest rates and how higher interest rates can make you pay thousands more dollars for an item. There are also some ways to build credit that do not involve credit cards.
The training concludes with a discussion of investments. While retirement might seem like a faraway concept to high school students, it focuses on the importance of starting early and that saving even just a little can help you greatly in life. Having strong saving habits provide future financial stability. If you work with students, especially high school students, or have children of you own, consider increasing discussions of personal finance. Student need these skills and not having them can be detrimental to their future.
Personal Finance 101: High School Edition
- Understanding the Basics
- Banking Basics
- Basic Account Options
- Keeping Track of Your Money
- Future Determines Finances
- Workforce: Employment Basics
- The Worker Budget
- College Student Expenses
- Paying for College
- Why College?
- The Budget
- Budget Basics
- Savings & Investments
- Required Expenses
- Variable Expenses
- Building Your Own Budget
- Reconciling the Budget
- Adjusting the Budget
- Understanding Debt
- Components of Loans
- Credit Score
- Student Loans
- Auto Loans
- Credit Cards
- Understanding Investments
- Components of Investments
- How to Save
- Types of Investments
- Insurance Products
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