Best Systems for Financial Literacy Classes in High School
There are ways to maximize the results of financial literacy classes in high school. Read the following information to learn how to select the subjects teens find most interesting, and how to engage and keep their interest by helping them deal with the everyday tasks they’ll need to complete related to money management. Here are the top recommendations for financial literacy programs for youth at this level.
Major Foci for a Personal Finance High School Course
What is Financial Literacy Class in High School: Important Topic Areas
Prepping youth to meet the financial real world head-on will require intervening in their lives at critical decision points. For example, if you’re spearheading an initiative that seeks to reach 12- to 25-year-olds, you would be wise to feature components that give them skills for moving out on their own. When they embark on their journey toward self-reliance, they’ll benefit from knowing how to apply for and land a rental space, budget their income in a way that meets their long-term financial goals, and understand all the less obvious expenses involved with self-sufficient living (such as insurance, transportation costs, furniture, utility bills, etc.).
Since most kids have not received financial training to date, a personal finance class for the high school ages should work toward helping them modify any negative financial behaviors that have become ingrained as habits. Long-term personal financial planning is important at any age; however, most teens are unlikely to have begun thinking about their more long-standing goals and future behavioral choices. This time in their lives represents a key teachable moment, when they are ready and enthusiastic to learn about such choices as buying a car and/or figuring out how they will pay for college education.
The Optimal Financial Literacy High School Class Addresses Influences
When you set out to teach financial literacy courses in high school settings, you will capture the students’ attention best if you work toward helping them counter the negative effects of all the life influencers to which they’ve been exposed. That is, you need to know the elements that have impact on how youth relate to money, and teach them methods for counteracting the negative forces that affect their financial futures.
Financial behaviors start forming very young and become rooted as people progress through the lifecycle. Think about all the factors that may have impact on youth attitudes toward money: the money management behaviors their parents model, the more than 40,000 commercial ads they probably see every year, what their peer group is doing, and the surroundings in which they live. For in-depth information, read this journal article on family socialization and youth financial behaviors.
In contrast, consider how little financial education kids are likely to have received. Parents and schools alike are failing to teach kids even the most basic money management tools, so high school finance lesson plans and programs are needed to bridge this gap.
So determining how to answer, “What is financial literacy class in high school?” demands addressing the relationships with money that young people have developed already, and countering any negative influences with positive ones. That process should include helping them institute appropriate financial systems into their day-to-day lives – including checking, savings, and retirement accounts – so they are better prepared to meet the realities of today’s complex financial world.
