Guidelines to Teach Personal Finance for Middle School

The first thing to consider about personal finance for middle school students is their demographic background. In other words, what financial situations has the family encountered? A child is born into a given socioeconomic pathway, each of which is different. But that doesn’t mean their financial futures are completely predetermined. There is opportunity to help kids form positive money handling behaviors before poor habits become ingrained.

The behaviors children adopt when they’re young are major indicators of how they’ll manage money as adults. There are myriad influences on kids to pick up behaviors that can have negative consequences: advertisements they’re exposed to, pressures from their friends, and parental lack of financial skill. The approach to teaching good money management for kids, then, should be proactive. Give them vital information at a time before any negative habits have solidified.

Another factor that has impact on kids’ money habits is their psychological makeup. Attitudes, values, and beliefs combine to create a person’s financial sentiment. Everyone has a unique relationship with money issues. So when it comes to personal finance, middle school students should be guided to form a positive relationship with money, which in turn will help them move closer to financial wellness as they grow up.

The last feature to consider when approaching financial literacy for middle school kids is that very few children are likely to be exposed to any financial education. Their parents aren’t preparing them adequately for life on their own, and public schools rarely have such coursework. Personal finance for middle school students is a unique subject because it’s so individual. A good program will be one that includes psychological components and systems development.

There are three levels of cognitive learning ability that can usefully guide personal finance for middle school: preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. These levels were identified by the psychologist Jean Piaget. Knowing the right way to approach kids at their cognitive stage is a big part of helping kids develop healthy relationships with money.

Preoperational: between ages 2 and 6, children experience the world from a self-centered place. They only perceive one aspect of an object or situation at a time. One activity that can work at this level is having kids rank-order currencies of varying denominations. Movement and visual aids also are helpful for successfully teaching kids about money at this stage.

Concrete operational: from ages 7 through 11, kids are developing logical and symbolic thinking processes. Since the concept of “number” is so important to personal finance, middle school-aged kids can benefit from problems that address more or less, production or consumption, and how to recognize patterns.

Formal operational: this level starts at about age 12 and carries through adulthood. Group work is beneficial to teaching personal finance for middle school students of this age because youth can test out and share their developing abstract problem-solving skills.