Instructor: Mr. Colby     

Prerequisite: None     

Length: 20 weeks     

High School Credits: 1/2 Credit
Grade Level: 10th 

​

​​The semester-long personal finance course covers all of the essential personal finance topics necessary to become a financially capable student.  Topics include banking, credit, budgeting, investing, career, and more.

​

Punctuality - As with a job, being on time counts! If you show up late you need a pass from the class you came from. No other pass will be accepted. Three tardies will result in a referral and a call home.

​

Absences - You are responsible for missed work. Refer to the class webpage and School Tool. You have the number of days you were absent to make up the work. After that, you will lose 10 points per class until it is handed in or the grade drops to zero.

​

CLASSROOM POLICIES - School rules apply. In addition, eating is NOT ALLOWED in the computer room. Drinks are allowed and should be kept on the floor away from the computers.

​

Grading - Class assignments, quizzes, projects, tests, homework.

 

What software will we use?

 

We are going to use a combination of Khan Academy and Personal Finance Lab.

 

What Is Personal Finance Lab?

Personal Finance Lab is a new web-based experiential education teaching and learning tool designed for personal finance, economics, business, social studies, and math classes for high schools designed and built by Stock-Trak, the world’s leading provider of portfolio simulations for high schools and universities. This unique fusion of technology, real-world market activity, and educational content is specifically designed to increase student engagement and maximize retention of lessons by blending exercises, class activities, interactive calculators, and managing a portfolio of real stocks from global markets to bring the classroom to life.

​

Personal Finance Lab brings 21st century readiness skills to life both in the classroom and at home. The platform is entirely web-based, which means you can access all the features, lessons, content, and portfolio simulation from anywhere with an internet connection. 

​

• World-class portfolio simulation, enabling you to apply what you learn in class to the real world

• Over 100 integrated lessons in personal finance, economics, business, social studies, and math

• Automatically-graded quizzes to encourage concept mastery, built in to each lesson

• Interactive personal finance and business calculators, focused on saving, investing, and much more

• Learning Center with over 600 articles, videos, glossary terms, and more

• Tutorial videos 

​

Khan Academy

____________________________

​

​

Unit 1.1 - Intro to Budgeting

Unit 1.2 - Understanding Money & Wealth

Unit 1.3 - Spending and Saving Plans

Unit 1.4 - Maintaining a Budget

Unit 1.5 - Researching Purchases

Unit 1.6 - Long-term Saving

Unit 1.7 - Buying a Home

​

By the end of this class, you should be able to...

● Define budget and spending plan

● Identify parts of a budget and spending plan

● Create a personal and family budget

● Allocate funds into different sub-categories

​​​

Key Glossary Terms

 

The key terminology is covered in each of the sub-units, here is a complete list of all the terms introduced in the Budgeting Unit.

 

• Budget An estimate of income and expenditure for a set period.

• Spending Plan A plan of what you will be spending each month.

• Needs Needs are the things you must purchase to survive. They include necessities such as rent, utility bills, groceries, and medical expenses. They also include legal responsibilities such as paying taxes.

• Wants Wants are things that you chose to spend money on, but in theory they are items you don’t really need. Eating out, holiday gifts for friends and family, TV/streaming subscriptions, and new clothes might be in this category.

• Fixed Expense Fixed expenses are items whose cost stays the same from one month to the next. This means you can reliably plan for these expenditures. They include expenses such as rent, your cell phone bill, or a subscription fee for a video streaming service.

• Variable Expense Variable expenses change from month to month, so it is hard to plan accurately for these expenses. They might include how much you spend on fashion, how many times you go out to eat, or how much you spend on gas for your car.

• “Pay Yourself First” You make your savings goals your #1 priority, before paying other bills and obligations.

• Emergency Fund Money you set aside to pay for true emergencies, like a major car repair.

• Discretionary Income The money you can spend on whatever you like, after you’ve paid for your overhead expenses, like rent, food, or electricity.

• Non-Spending Alternatives Consider the cost of your time as well as the money to buy the things you need. For example, making something yourself, or borrowing from a friend something you only need once.

• Spending Shock Large, irregular expenses that can be either budgeted (seasonal gift giving) or unplanned (sudden illness).

• Receipt Proof of purchase, either paper or electronic, that is used to return unwanted items or to file your taxes.

• Warranty A promise from a licensed professional that a product or service will be defect-free over a period.

• Comparison Shopping The practice of comparing the price of products or services from different vendors before buying.

• Social Security Social welfare system in the United States, paid for by payroll taxes, often referred to as FICA (Federal Insurance contributions Act).

• IRA Accounts Individual Retirement Accounts, commonly known as IRAs. The government lets you contribute an amount of your income that you pay taxes on when you withdraw.

• Roth IRA Accounts Similar to the IRA account, but you pay the full income tax when you make the contribution, but you do not pay any tax when you withdraw the money.

• 401(k) Accounts A tax-advantaged retirement account offered by many employers to their employees. Pre-Approval A written agreement from a mortgage lender to grant a loan for a home purchase.

• Pre-approval assures the seller that a buyer’s offer is valid. It also speeds up the buying process because, once an offer is made, there is no need to wait while the buyer finds a loan.

• Down Payment Money paid upfront in a financial transaction, such as the purchase of a home or car. It may also be referred to as a deposit. The home buyer may pay 5% to 25% of the total price of the home upfront, while taking out a mortgage from a bank or other financial institution to cover the remainder.

• Amortization The process of paying off a loan through a series of periodic payments to a lender. This includes the interest on the loan and paying off the principal.

• Closing The delivery of a deed, financial adjustments, the signing of a note, and the disbursement of the funds necessary to consummate, or close, the sale or loan transaction. “Settlement” is another term for closing.

• Closing Costs Outside a property’s sales price that must be paid to cover the cost of the transaction, such as a loan origination fee, discount points, insurance fees, survey fees, and attorney’s fees. Closing costs vary from location to location but must be described to you when you submit your mortgage loan application.

• Title (Real estate) Written evidence of the right to or ownership in property. In the case of real estate, the documentary evidence of ownership is the title deed that specifies in whom the legal estate is vested and the history of ownership and transfers. Title may be acquired through purchase, inheritance, devise, gift, or through foreclosure of a mortgage.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​