Topics and Skills

• Identifying sources of income.
• Identifying expenses.
• Tracking expenses.
• Categorizing expenses.
• Creating a system to manage income and expenses.

Standards Alignment

• Spending and Saving. Standard 1: Develop a plan for spending and saving.
• Create a way to keep track of money spent.
• Categorize types of household expenses and sources of income.
• Use a plan to manage spending and achieve financial goals.

Lesson Goals 

At the end of this lesson, students will know how to:

• Identify and list sources of income.
• Identify, list, and categorize expenses.
• Create a system to manage income and expenses.

Lesson 2: Spend Less Than You Make

Topics and Skills

• Reducing expenses to ensure they don’t exceed income.
• Differentiating between “want” expenses and “need” expenses.
• Spending priorities reflect goals and values.
• Spending habits affect personal satisfaction.

Standards Alignment

Spending and Saving. Knowledge Statements.

• Many factors and experiences, such as role models and peer pressure, affect spending patterns.
• Spending behaviors and habits affect personal satisfaction.

Spending and Saving. Standard 1: Develop a plan for spending and saving.

• Assess how spending priorities reflect goals and values.
• Analyze how spending and saving behavior can affect overall well-being.

Lesson Goals

At the end of this lesson, students will know how to:

• Ensure that expenses don’t exceed income.
• Differentiate between wants and needs.
• Identify negative spending patterns.
• Improve negative spending patterns.

Topics and Skills

• How to create a budget.
• Budgets are a tool to improve spending patterns.

Standards Alignment 

Spending and Saving. Knowledge Statements.

• Planning helps people make choices about how to use their money.
• A spending plan (budget) is a guide to help people balance money coming in (income) and money going out (expenses).
• A spending plan is a guide for deciding how to use income to meet current obligations and future goals.

Spending and Saving. Standard 2: Develop a system for keeping and using financial records.

• Create a way to keep track of money saved for future spending.

Lesson Goals

At the end of this lesson, students will know how to:

• Create a budget to meet current obligations and future goals.
• Assign every dollar of income to particular expenses to balance a budget.

Lesson 4: How to Save

Topics and skills

• How to find money to save.
• How to allocate money to a savings fund.
• How to set financial goals.

Standards Alignment

Spending and Saving. Knowledge Statements.

• Saving means choosing not to spend money today in order to buy something in the future.
• Saving means choosing to set aside money for emergencies and future needs and goals.

Spending and Saving. Standard 1: Develop a plan for spending and saving.

• Describe ways that people can decrease expenses to save more of their incomes.
• Compare saving strategies, including “Pay Yourself First” and comparison shopping.
• Explain how saving money can improve financial well-being.
• Demonstrate how to allocate weekly income for spending, saving, and sharing goals.

Lesson Goals

At the end of this lesson, students will know how to:

• Free up money for savings.
• Allocate money to a savings fund by using the “Pay Yourself First” method.
• Set financial goals.

Topics and Skills

• Credit can be used as a financial tool.
• Credit can be useful for big-ticket items.
• Credit comes in many forms.
• Effective interest rate allows consumers to compare different kinds of credit.

Standards Alignment

Credit and Debt. Knowledge Statements.

• Credit is a basic financial tool.
• Credit allows borrowers to use big-ticket items while paying for them.
• Consumers can choose to borrow from a variety of credit sources.
• Borrowing money to buy something usually costs more than paying cash because there is a price (interest and fees) for buying on credit.
• Comparing the costs and benefits of buying on credit is key to making a good borrowing decision.
• Credit cost disclosure information is useful in managing borrowing expense.

Credit and Debt. Standard 1: Analyze the costs and benefits of various types of credit.

• Summarize the advantages and disadvantages of using credit.

Lesson Goals

At the end of this lesson, students will know:

• What credit is and how it can be used.
• How to compare loans and different kinds of credit.

Lesson 6: Credit Reports & Credit Scores

Topics and Skills

• What information credit reports contain.
• How credit reports and credit scores are used to determine creditworthiness.
• How negative information in a credit report can affect financial options.
• How to request a free credit report.
  
  

Standards Alignment

Credit and Debt. Knowledge Statements.

• Borrowers who repay as promised show that they are worthy of using credit in the future.
• Credit bureaus maintain credit reports, which record borrowers’ histories of repaying loans.
• Negative information in credit reports can affect a person’s credit score and financial options.

Credit and Debt. Standard 2: Summarize a borrower’s rights and responsibilities related to credit reports.

• Summarize factors that affect a particular credit scoring system.
• Analyze how a credit score affects creditworthiness and the cost of credit.
• Explain the value of credit reports to borrowers and to lenders.
• Give examples of permissible uses of a credit report other than granting credit.
• Identify the primary organizations that maintain and provide consumer credit records.
• Categorize the information in a credit report and how long it is retained.
• Explain the rights that people have to examine their credit reports.
• Investigate ways that a negative credit report can affect a consumer’s financial options.
• Outline the process of disputing inaccurate credit report data.

Lesson Goals

At the end of this lesson, students will know:

• Who produces credit reports.
• What information is contained in a credit report.
• Who can request credit reports.
• How a credit score is determined.
• How credit reports and scores are used to determine creditworthiness.

Lesson 7: How to Improve Your Credit

Topics and Skills

• Tips and strategies for improving credit.

Standards Alignment

Credit and Debt. Standard 2: Summarize a borrower’s rights and responsibilities related to credit reports.

• Recommend ways that a person can regain a lender’s trust after losing or damaging borrowed personal property.
• Weigh the potential payoffs of a positive borrowing reputation versus the potential consequences of a poor borrowing reputation.

Lesson Goals

At the end of this lesson, students will know how to improve credit using four strategies:

1. Making payments on time by planning in advance.
2. Paying off outstanding balances by reducing expenses.
3. Requesting a free credit report and identifying errors and outstanding balances.
4. Stopping credit applications until they have improved their credit score.

Lesson 8: Credit Cards & Debit Cards

Topics and Skills

• How credit cards work.
• How debit cards work.
• The difference between credit and debit cards.
• The advantages and disadvantages that credit and debit cards offer.

Standards Alignment

Credit and Debt. Standard 1: Analyze the costs and benefits of various types of credit.

• Explain how debit cards differ from credit cards.

Lesson Goals

At the end of this lesson, students will know:

• How credit and debit cards work.
• When to use a credit card and when to use a debit card.
• How to make payments on time.
• How to avoid fees and interest charges.

Topics and Skills

• What is debt?
• The risks of debt.
• When is debt good and when is it bad?

Standards Alignment

Credit and Debt: Knowledge Statements.

• Bankruptcy provides debt relief, but has serious negative consequences.
• Sometimes changing circumstances affect people’s ability to repay what they have borrowed, which can have consequences such as repossession, garnishment, tarnished borrowing reputation, and increased credit costs.
• Debt reduces net worth.

Credit and Debt: Standard 1: Analyze the costs and benefits of various types of credit.

• Assess whether a specific purchase justifies the use of credit.
• Explain the effect of debt on a person’s net worth.

Credit and Debt: Standard 3: Apply strategies to avoid or correct debt management problems.

• Develop a personal financial plan to manage debt, including working directly with lenders.
• Identify indicators of excessive debt.
• Predict possible consequences of excessive debt.
• Relate overspending to potential borrowing problems.

Lesson Goals

At the end of this lesson students will know:

• When debt is good.
• When debt is bad.

Lesson 10: How to Reduce Debt

Topics and Skills

• Tips and strategies to reduce debt.
  
  

Standards Alignment

Credit and Debt. Knowledge Statements.

• Consumers with excessive debt can work directly with lenders to regain control, with options that include loan consolidation and renegotiation of repayment schedules, rather than by paying a third-party “credit repair” company.

Credit and Debt. Standard 3. Apply strategies to avoid or correct debt management problems.

• Examine the types of services that consumer credit counseling agencies offer.
• Investigate the purpose of bankruptcy and its possible negative effects on assets, employability, and credit cost and availability.
• Recommend actions that a borrower could take to reduce or better manage excessive debt.
• Develop a personal financial plan to manage debt, including working directly with lenders.

Lesson Goals

At the end of this lesson students will know three steps to take to reduce debt:

1. Reduce expenses to free up income.
2. Use extra income to pay off debt.
3. Contact lenders and debt counselors for assistance.

Lesson 11: Consequences of Missing Payments

Topics and Skills

• What are the consequences of missing payments?
• What delinquency means.
• What default means.
• How to prevent serious harm if a borrower misses payments.

Standards Alignment

Credit and Debt: Standard 1: Analyze the costs and benefits of various types of credit.

• Differentiate among various types of student loans and alternatives as a means of paying for post-secondary education.
• Predict the potential consequences of deferred payment of student loans.

Credit and Debt. Standard 3. Apply strategies to avoid or correct debt management problems.

• Investigate how student loan obligations differ from other kinds of debt.

Lesson Goals

At the end of this lesson students will know:

• The consequences of missing loan or credit card payments.
• What delinquency means.
• What default means.
• When missed payments cause a borrower to enter delinquency and default.
• How to prevent serious harm in the event of missed payments.