Personal Finance

Personal Finance sets the tone for a student's financial life for the rest of their lives. 

 

Personal Finance will cover the following units: 

Unit 1    Financial Awareness & Philosophy - Laying the Blocks   
        Needs vs Wants
        Personal and Financial goal-setting
        Financial Freedom

Unit 2    Budgeting - Creating a Financial Blueprint   
        Paychecks - Pay, Taxes, Deductions, Net Pay
        Gross Income, Net Income, Discretionary Income
        % of expenses - recommended ratios
        Building a Budget - fixed and variable expense
        Budgeting mistakes
        Dave Ramsey video - 3 days
        Need a guest speaker here
        Introduce Quicken

Unit 3    Banking - Finding a Home for Your Money   
        PNC Virtual Wallet:  On-line banking simulation. Guest speaker.
        Writing checks
        Reconciling checking account
        Checking vs. Savings
        ATM's, Debit vs. Credit
        Banks vs Credit Union
        Pine Gulch
        Feed the Pig
        Taxes -W-2, W-4, 1040EZ

Unit 4    Let's Go Shopping - Spending Wisely   
        On-line purchasing (http vs https), (tax vs shipping)
        Buying a Car
        Researching buying a car
        Kelly blue book
        How to negotiate
        Identity protection
        How to research buying a product - consumer reports
        Impulse buying

Unit 5    Credit - Good Debt/Bad Debt - Using Your Credit Wisely   
        Store cards vs credit
        Credit Protection - laws
        FICO scores
        Oprah / Ramsey videos
        Interest Rates, minimum balances
        Cash vs Credit
        Good debt vs bad debt
        Buying on credit-90 days same as cash

Unit 6    Investing - Making your Money Grow, Wealth Building   
        Markets - NYSE, Nasdaq, etc
        Indexes
        How to buy a stock
        Selection of stocks
        Stocks, mutual funds, bonds, CDs
        Other investments - commodities, real estate, etc.
        Stock market game
        Planning for retirement - 401(k), 403(b), etc
        Compound interest

Unit 7    Insurance - Protecting What You've Built   
        Car insurance
        Renters insurance / home insurance
        Personal property insurance