Teaching Kids About Money: Worksheets from the NFEC

Financial literacy worksheets that provide real world application for educating studentsRegardless of our income, each of us has a limited amount of money to spend. The ability to track and manage spending is one of the keys to financial success. Think how much easier such management would be with a handy worksheet to walk you through the steps. The National Financial Educators Council (NFEC) has a whole set of teaching kids about money worksheets designed for that very purpose.

The NFEC has designed financial literacy lessons that teach kids about money using practical activities that apply to real-world situations. For example, the NFEC’s Real Money Experience (RMX) program takes young people through a series of exercises that mimic the decisions they’ll have to make when they move out on their own. This approach to teaching money management for kids highlights the benefits of becoming financially independent and offers solutions and options for making positive choices in the future.

Following are some examples of worksheets the RMX program uses for teaching kids about money:

  • Identifying Dreams and Setting Goals
  • Character Worksheets: Lifestyle Choices
  • Personal Budget Worksheet: Now
  • Personal Budget Worksheet: After Graduation
  • Can I Afford That? Renting a Place
  • Can I Afford That? Buying a Car
  • Let’s Bank!
  • What’s the Best Payment Option?  Save Money Over Time, Cash, or Credit?

You can see that these worksheets take a hands-on approach to teaching children money management. Kids learn best by doing. When they’re presented with activities they can easily relate to their own lives and the things they find important, they absorb the lessons better. That’s why the NFEC has chosen to present the materials using an active participation model rather than a didactic lecture format. This curriculum truly engages and entertains the youth while they learn skills that can change their lives.