Building Your Future

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Help Your Students Prepare for Life on Their Own

Age Group: Grades 9-12

Help your students prepare for life on their own! The Building Your Future series, hosted by YMI, helps students easily grasp the essentials of personal finance, gives them multiple opportunities to practice core skills and showcases the real-world impact of the financial decisions they make.

Getting Started With Building Your Future

Personal finance is part knowledge and part skill, and the Building Your Future series gives students a foundation in both. They will be able to see the real-world consequences of mastering their finances, which will help them understand the relevance of good mathematical skills.

This four-part curriculum features interactive PDFs to provide high school students with hands-on experience in all phases of money management, from spending wisely through investing for long-term wealth. Along the way, students practice the math skills essential for a financially healthy life, including the use of modern math technologies such as spreadsheets and online calculators. Each part of the program can be implemented on its own to allow customization for your math, economics and life skills curricula. Additionally, each section is classroom-ready with a teacher’s guide that includes handouts, answer keys, instruction and assessment suggestions.

 

Week 1
Weeks 2 & 3
Weeks 4 & 5
Weeks 5 & 6
Weeks 7–11

Book 1: Establishing a Foundation

  • Smart Savings
  • Spending Wisely
  • Many Ways to Pay
  • Credit Cards

*5 class periods

Book 2: Paving the Road to Success

  • Paths to Employment
  • Paying for Post-Secondary Education
  • Entering the Workforce
  • Taxes
  • Retirement Readiness

*10 class periods

Book 3: Expanding Responsibilities

  • Begin With a Budget
  • Loans and Debt
  • Purchasing a Car
  • Purchasing a Home
  • Insurance Protection

*12 class periods

Book 4: Accumulating Wealth

  • Overview of Investing
  • Bonds
  • Introduction to Stocks
  • Introduction to Mutual Funds

*8 class periods

Book 4: Accumulating Wealth – Projects & Presentations

  • 30-Day Market-Tracking Project—Stocks
  • 30-Day Market-Tracking Project—Mutual Funds
  • Student Presentations

Teacher Guides

Book 1

Building Your Future | Establishing a Foundation

Students learn the basics of personal finance, discover how compound interest can boost savings, explore the tools modern banking provides for money management and develop the skills they will need to choose and use credit cards wisely.

Download Lesson [PDF]

Paving the Road to Success

Book 2

Building Your Future | Paving the Road to Success

Students tap into economic data to evaluate different career paths, explore their options for funding a college education, learn the basics of bringing home a paycheck (including benefits and taxes) and discover the importance of starting to save for retirement now.

Download Lesson [PDF]
Expanding Responsibilities

Book 3

Building Your Future | Expanding Responsibilities

Students learn the benefits of budgeting, develop skills for managing debt and establishing credit, practice the financial decision-making involved in buying a car, explore the choices involved in purchasing a home, and weigh their options for healthcare coverage, auto insurance and other types of protection against financial risk.

Download Lesson [PDF]

Book 4

Building Your Future | Accumulating Wealth

Students learn how investors track inflation and weigh financial risk, explore the principles and practices that drive the bond market, develop the skills and know-how for investing in the stock market and discover the benefits of building a balanced investment portfolio with mutual funds.

Download Lesson [PDF]

Student Guides

Book 1

Building Your Future | Establishing a Foundation

Personal finance is part knowledge and part skill — and the Building Your Future workbook series gives you a foundation in both. Book 1 addresses knowledge by covering essential financial principles for establishing a foundation in financial literacy.

Download Lesson [PDF]

Book 2

Building Your Future | Paving the Road to Success

As you move through high school and into adulthood, choosing a career and mapping a path to success are among the most important decisions you’ll make. This workbook covers important topics including paths to employment, paying for post-secondary education, entering the workforce, taxes and retirement readiness.

Download Lesson [PDF]

Book 3

Building Your Future | Expanding Responsibilities

In this workbook, you’ll learn about budgeting, managing debt and establishing credit. You’ll also get to practice the financial decision-making involved in buying a car and a house, and you’ll be faced with the real-life scenario of weighing different options for health and auto insurance.

Download Lesson [PDF]

Book 4

Building Your Future | Accumulating Wealth

In the final installment of the Building Your Future workbooks, you’ll access lessons about investing, bonds, stocks, mutual funds and more. You’ll be able to practice the math skills essential for a financially healthy life, including the use of modern math technologies such as spreadsheets and online calculators.

Download Lesson [PDF]