Lessons

  • Lesson 1: Planning and Decision-Making This lesson emphasizes the importance of setting goals and using a sound decision-making process when making financial plans.
  • Lesson 2: Careers and Planning This lesson emphasizes the importance of identifying a career that matches your interests and skills with your financial goals.
  • Lesson 3: Applying for Jobs This lesson examines the process of job hunting, including networking, filling out a job application, creating a résumé, writing a cover letter, interviewing, and following up after an interview.
  • Lesson 4: Earning Money and Keeping Financial Records This lesson considers the various aspects of earning money and the employee benefits that a job may offer. The lesson covers information presented on a pay stub (pay periods, gross pay, wage deductions, and net pay) and employee benefits (insurance, retirement plans, stock options, paid vacation, and sick leave).
  • Lesson 5: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow This lesson continues the discussion of setting goals, planning careers, and interviewing for a job, with an emphasis on using many of the skills discussed in previous lessons.
  • Lesson 6: Preparing a Budget This lesson focuses on preparing a budget by allocating income to current and future expenditures. Budgeting helps individuals meet short-term financial needs while helping them save and invest for long-term financial security.
  • Lesson 7: Banking Services and Financial Institutions This lesson explores financial institutions and the range of services they provide.
  • Lesson 8: Selecting a Financial Institution This lesson continues the examination of financial institutions, with special emphasis on evaluating their services and associated fees.
  • Lesson 9: Check Writing the Right Way This lesson discusses the benefits of a checking account and the activities associated with such an account, including filling out deposit slips, writing checks, and interpreting and reconciling bank statements.
  • Lesson 10: Paying Yourself First—Saving and Investing This lesson focuses on issues related to saving and investing, the establishment of your nest egg, and watching your money grow.
  • Midterm Exam (covers lessons 1–10)
  • Lesson 11: Understanding Credit and Using It Wisely This lesson describes how to start and maintain a good credit record, the rights and responsibilities of using credit, and when it is a good idea to use credit. The lesson also covers the “Five Cs” of credit: character, capital, capacity, collateral, and credit history.
  • Lesson 12: Shopping for a Credit Card This lesson examines issues related to the use of credit cards, including credit card features, costs, statements, and the process of correcting errors. The lesson also describes the Fair Credit Billing Act and how it relates to credit card users.
  • Lesson 13: Selecting a Credit Card This lesson continues the examination of credit cards, with special emphasis on the skills required to gather information on and compare the terms and conditions of different cards.
  • Lesson 14: Insurance and Economic Risk-Management This lesson explores common types of insurance policies designed to protect people from financial disasters.
  • Lesson 15: Cars—Financing and Insurance This lesson investigates the legal and financial responsibilities of buying, insuring, maintaining, and operating a car.
  • Lesson 16: Developing Consumer Decision-Making Skills This lesson aims to develop good consumer decision-making skills such as comparative shopping. It also raises awareness of potential pitfalls when making purchasing decisions, such as impulse buying, the influence of advertising, and peer pressure.
  • Lesson 17: Moving Out—A Place of Your Own This lesson examines the fixed and variable costs associated with establishing a household and living on your own.
  • Lesson 18: Planning for Retirement This lesson focuses on the advantages of setting aside money early and consistently in order to reach retirement goals. The lesson also discusses various ways of saving and investing for retirement, including Social Security, conventional and Roth IRAs, employer pension plans, and annuities.
  • Final Exam (covers lessons 11–18)