Take Control of Your Life with A Personal Finance Project
Do you see groups of people or even large populations who lack knowledge of how to manage their finances? Do you understand the importance of financial literacy and have a desire to teach people this critical life skill, but don’t know where to start? We can help.
If you’re searching for personal finance project ideas and examples, your search is over. You’re in the right place. Read on and you’ll discover the many ways we can help you achieve your goals of spreading financial literacy. No matter what audience you want to educate and no matter your background, we have the resources and training you need to help people with their financial literacy goals.
The National Financial Educator’s Council is an independent organization that specializes in providing the resources necessary to promote financial literacy and facilitate money management programs. Our diverse training systems are designed to reach and impact people of all ages, from all backgrounds. Our Curriculum Advisory Board creates programs that offer a strong foundation of classroom learning that is directly applicable to people’s real lives.
Example Development of a Personal Finance Education Project
Read Adaku’s story below, to discover how she found a calling in bringing financial literacy to fellow Nigerians. Interestingly, the female Nigerian name Adaku means, “One who brings wealth to the family.”
Adaku was born and raised in Nigeria. Growing up, she worked for a wealthy American family in Nigeria and witnessed first-hand, the advantages of financial literacy and inclusion. Now a young adult, she is driven to help her fellow Nigerians become financially literate and able to participate in the modern financial world. This was the inception of her personal finance project ideas.
Not knowing where to begin, she talked to a few banks and found them willing to sponsor her personal finance project if she could find a credible financial education program.
She spoke with public schools and one of them mentioned looking online for the National Financial Educator’s Council (NFEC) in the US. As she explored their website, she became more excited because this was exactly what she was looking for. It offered everything she needed. As she dug deeper, the obstacles that once seemed insurmountable effortlessly disappeared. These personal finance project examples showed her different ways of thinking about financial literacy education.
Narrowing Down Personal Finance Project Ideas
For her first personal finance course, she didn’t want to bite off more than she could chew, so she decided to focus on young adults with a public education. People with an elementary education would already have good learning habits, which would give them a head start.
She wanted her students to understand the skills and concepts of personal finance and get into strategic thinking, so they could weigh their financial options and be able to make informed decisions about budgeting and planning. If the pilot was successful and the students showed an interest in continuing their financial education, she could always extend the program in different directions, depending on demand.
Internet access is growing quickly in her city of Lagos, but to remove this possible issue, she found a few community centers eager to offer internet access in a classroom setting. This way, the course could be delivered via scheduled, recorded webinars.
Personal Finance Project Examples Lead the Way
Between taking care of family and work, young adult Nigerians are very busy, but they always find time for education. She knew they would be willing to put in the time and effort it would take to reach the level of understanding Adaku wanted for them.
She looked at many personal finance project examples for guidance on how to structure such a program.
To reach the level of education she intended to provide, the students would need about 40 hours of classroom education plus additional homework. The class would maintain the intended timeline with a weekly webinar and personal projects to complete each week. This schedule would suit the students, the community centers and the program facilitators. One week would be long enough to get the homework done and be frequent enough to maintain momentum to complete project-learning personal finance activities.
The class would also offer a closed Facebook group where students could help each other and get professional help during the week.
Personal Finance Project Ideas About What to Teach
Her target audience consisted of young adults with elementary education but no personal finance training. She wanted to give them the skills and understanding they needed to be included in modern financial systems and to plan for their financial future. She felt that one without the other would not be complete and the personal finance project examples showed her that she was on the right path.
Her program would teach them about saving, budgeting and the uses and perils of debt. She also wanted to give them a teaser about investing, in the hopes of stirring up interest in continuing their financial education project. Her long term goal was to offer one-on-one support and become a trusted personal finance coach.
Curriculum Characteristics of a Successful Financial Education Project
Nigerians tend to be highly practical with a healthy skepticism, and they’re not afraid to ask for help when they need it.
She wanted to offer a practical curriculum that would directly apply to the lives of these young adults. It would need to be engaging and based on hard evidence, with a strong scaffolding support structure every step of the way. It also had to meet core educational standards, which would encourage students to continue their formal education in school.
The Perfect Personal Finance Project Educator
Adaku knew that she could not teach the program herself. She also knew that the NFEC offered Financial Literacy Educator Certification and access to Certified Financial Trainers. She planned to become certified in the future, but for her first class she would need a certified trainer. The trainer had to be engaging and be able to relate to the everyday lives of Nigerians. With the help of the NFEC, she was thrilled to find the perfect person to deliver her class.
A Successful Personal Finance Project Example
With the help of the community center, Adaku was able to put 50 people into her first personal financial education project. Of the initial registrants, 45 successfully completed the curriculum, measuring a high level of newfound financial awareness and ability. She was even able to get sponsors to pay for personal finance textbooks.
Elated, Adaku put the numbers together and created a report showing the success of her personal financial project idea. The report would help spread awareness of her success and increase demand for this type of personal financial project. This was a powerful personal finance project example of success.
Continuing Personal Financial Education Projects
The Facebook group continued to be active long after the class ended, and the webinar recordings were made available to every student.
The investing teaser must have worked because most of the students expressed a strong desire to continue their financial education. They had many personal finance project ideas for the future.
Adaku realized that this was just the beginning for her and her students. She recognized their achievement at an award ceremony attended by the students and their families after they completed their personal finance test, where she presented Certifications of Completion, accompanied by celebration and applause.
Sharing hugs and tears of joy between herself and her students, Adaku realized that she had never felt better in all her life. She had found her calling.