Financial Education Activities
It is important for citizens to be financially literate not only for their well-being but for the good of the American economy. By partaking in financial education activities, students will be able to take control of their own circumstance by improving the quality of their life and ensuring a more stable future. If citizens are more financially informed, it allows the economy to prosper.
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Budgeting Your Financial Resources
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Learning to create a budget or financial plan is important. Through this activity, students will understand a budget, earned income, unearned income, fixed expenses and variable expenses. Students will understand financial planning and the importance of how every purchase has a cost. On The Mint website, all the materials are available to print for this activity. They include a sample budget, starting salaries for different occupations and worksheets for determining your budget. You will begin by asking students to identify sources of income, explaining the two types of expenses and the relationship between income and expenses. Students will then choose a job from the starting salary worksheet, which shows the take home pay after taxes, and they will create a budget using the knowledge they have learned.
Credit: Buy Now and Pay More Later
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This financial education activity will help students understand how credit works and how charges increase the cost of the product purchased with a credit card. The key concepts learned in this activity include credit, decision making, opportunity cost and interest. The only material needed is the What's Your Credit Card IQ worksheet, which you can download on The Mint website. You will begin the lesson by explaining opportunity cost, the collective cost of using credit, the use of credit cards for purchasing consumable goods and durable goods. Students will then work on the worksheet and present it to the class.
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The Stock Market: Risks and Rewards
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The stock market is vital to the American economy, so it is important for students to understand what role it plays in their personal lives. Key concepts discussed in this activity include markets and prices, economic institutions and incentives. After completing this activity, students will be able to read and analyze stock market reports and understand what profit is and how it plays a role in the economy. Material for this activity is available on The Mint website, which includes two worksheets---How to Read Stock Market Pages and A Random Walk Down Wall Street.
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References
- Photo Credit finance #3 image by Adam Borkowski from Fotolia.com
