This text provides an overview of personal finance, containing topics on financial planning, buying a home, risk management, budgeting, investing, and career opportunities. This text is being used for an upper-division Consumer Economics course at the University level.

This lesson will help students explore different budgeting tools that will identify where their income is coming from and recognize the different categories they will need to budget their expenses to manage their money wisely.

Studies the role of the consumer in the economy and addresses problems of financing individual and family needs, including budgeting, banking relationships, charge accounts, installment buying, insurance, wills, real estate investing, and personal taxes.

These workshops cover personal finance topics. The participants will learn how to make decisions about home buying vs. renting and financial planning. Workshop discussions will include budgeting, basics of investment fundamentals, and basic economic principles, such as understanding interest, business cycle, and inflation.

Bankruptcy is the situation is when a person or other economic agent that owes more money than they will be able to pay back. In the United States, people who declare personal bankruptcy can do so under two provisions of the United States Bankruptcy Code, Chapter 7 or Chapter 13. Under the provisions of Chapter 13, some kinds of debt are restructured so that at least some of the debts are repaid. However under Chapter 7, some kind of debts are completely eliminated. In this video, we explore some of the differences between Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcies, and some of the considerations when people consider these forms of bankruptcy need to think about. Created by Sal Khan.

The Piggy Bank Primer: Budget and Saving e-book for 7 through 9 year olds uses a story, activities, and puzzles to introduce basic economic concepts saving, savings plan, spending, costs, benefits, goods, services, and opportunity cost.

In this February 2024 Issue of Page One Economics: Focus on Finance, we’ll explore the most common retirement savings plans and other things to consider as you begin thinking about retirement. We will compare employer-based defined-benefit and defined-contribution plans, as well as options available to individuals. Understanding the basics of retirement savings accounts can help you feel empowered to start making decisions today for your retirement!

In this challenging instructional task students relate addition and subtraction problems to money and to situations and goals related to saving money.

Growing up means making big decisions, and decisions about college are among the most important. The second episode of the Continuing Feducation Video Series, Saving for College, follows high school student Martina as she learns about the basics: investing in human capital, factors to consider when choosing a college, and ways to fund higher education.

This resource can serve as a teaching module, student self-study material, or evaluation of understanding. It explains and evaluates the concepts and calculations regarding simple and compound interest. It was developed by Martha Donnelly of Lone Star College.

The familiar magnetic stripe credit cards used for decades in the United States are being phased out. Read about the new smart-chip credit cards, designed to reduce fraud and improve security, in the March 2016 issue of Page One Economics: Focus on Finance.

Spending patterns change over time because of changes in income, education, the structure of our families, and technology. The April 2018 issue of Page One Economics: Focus on Finance addresses how phone technology has changed our lives and our budgets.

Soar to Savings provides tips for saving and describes the impact of individual saving on the overall economy. As a result of this course, users will have a better understanding of opportunity cost, interest, down payments, and financial investment.

What skills do you need to develop for future success? Academics for sure, but soft skills are also important. Learn more about soft skills, the labor force, and unemployment in the May 2016 issue of Page One Economics: Focus on Finance.

In this lesson, students participate in a market activity in which a market for cake ingredients is set up to demonstrate the process of using a spending budget. They listen to the story Splat the Cat Takes the Cake and answer comprehension questions through a student-led Q&A. By participating in the opening market activity and reading the story, students use what they have read and learned to conclude that the ingredients Splat used were purchased with money that was earned. They participate in a read-aloud activity to identify specific long-vowel sounds and earn Splat bucks. They use the Splat bucks to purchase materials to decorate a cake and track their spending.

Stock market mutual funds offer investors diversified stock market portfolios, but there are several types. Actively managed funds attempt to “beat” the market by using research, forecasts, and judgment to pick stocks with the best growth prospects. Passively managed funds attempt to replicate the market by buying a representative sample of the stocks on a specific stock market index. Which to choose? The April 2016 issue of Page One Economics explains the efficient market hypothesis and how it might influence your investment decisions.

Welcome To The Student Success Library!
Each subject below links to a student success “chapter” of content which includes videos, readings, activities as well as tools for educators. At the bottom of this page, you’ll see a big button that says Student Success Textbook, which has all of the content on each of these subjects compiled into a downloadable PDF. Enjoy and have a great experience.

N.B.: The Student Success Library was customized for Santa Monica College (SMC) in Santa Monica, CA. If you come across an SMC that does not apply to or is not useful to you, search your local resources for similar tools that can help.

Refund anticipation checks are often offered by tax preparers as a way to get your tax refund faster than normal—especially if you don’t have a bank account. Also, some check-cashing stores and payday lenders are able to issue refund anticipation loans. This video takes a look at the costs of these options and suggests some cheaper alternatives.

These are Economics lessons and units from Teaching California, targeted for grade 12.