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MAJOR CONCEPTS
 salaries
and wages
the
truth about millionaires
education
pays off
compound
interest
the
stock market
Personal financial literacy is vital for students, who need to know
that young people, even those of modest beginnings, do have real choices
and opportunities. Separating fact from fiction and arming students
with sound, practical advice enables students to formulate and reach
personal financial goals. This workshop, through lectures, simulations
and other exercises on teaching basic personal finance to students,
focuses on what money is and how it works and the strategies that
exist for becoming financially secure.
Award-winning teacher Marc Johnson
takes his class at Smoky Hill High School in Aurora, Colorado, through
the "Truth about Millionaires" exercise to show them some
very surprising things about who has wealth and how millionaires actually
live and work. They also learn about salaries, wages and the importance
of education.
Heather Anderson's class
at Eau Gallie High School in Melbourne, Florida, addresses the power
of compound interest, which is of special importance to young students
about to embark on their economic lives of earning, spending and saving.
In the final segment, we see Eliot
Scher, at White Plains High School in New York, conduct a
stock market simulation in his classroom in which his students track
their investment decisions over time.
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"I include personal finance
in my economics class for a couple of reasons. One is
that it's personally rewarding. The kids don't know
much about finance and I think it's very practical for
them. The other is it breaks up a traditional economics
course and gives them some high-interest stuff to get
involved in. About 85% of what I teach is traditional
economics. About 15% is personal finance. The Denver
Post offers a stock market game online. The kids get
in groups of four and are given an imaginary $100,000
they can invest any way they choose and it's interesting
to see. They really get involved in it.
Hopefully, it came out in
the lesson that I preach, time after time; their greatest
ally is time. If you start young you can really set
yourself up well financially. If you wait too long it's
too late. And my greatest success stories have been
kids who - and not the brightest kids either - who've
come back and said, 'I'm going to open up an IRA. I'm
going to start a mutual fund. I only have a hundred
bucks but I'm going to contact somebody.'"
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