Payday and title lenders, pawn shops, check-cashing services and prepaid cards can be convenient and valuable financial services, similar to those offered by traditional providers of such services—banks and credit unions. What are the costs and benefits of using alternative financial services, as well as of going to a bank or credit union?

In this lesson, students hear a story about two little bears whose parents use several figures of speech relating to money. Students draw a picture of a bank and write a caption explaining their illustration. Students follow along with the story by listening for additional figures of speech and how they relate to the concepts of banks and interest. The students also construct a story map of an event in the story relating to why people choose to keep their money in banks.

Cards, Cars and Currency is a set of personal finance programs that encourages participants to learn about three areas of personal finance: credit cards, debit cards and purchasing a car. Cards, Cars and Currency includes five individual programs that can be used together or individually to enhance personal finance learning.

What do you need to know before buying a car? Aside from knowing what you want in a vehicle, you’ll need to know about budgeting and credit before you start shopping. Learn some car-buying basics in the February 2019 Page One Economics: Focus on Finance essay.

Students listen to a story about P.B. who thinks money is missing from the peanut butter jar on his window ledge. In addition to basic concepts of saving and spending, students learn currency equivalency and some measurement concepts.

This 6 minute video walks students through how to calculate compound interest. It will aid in the mastery of standard EPF. 18 (a)

Young children are not likely to think past their piggy banks when it comes to safe places to set money aside for those special items. In this short e-book from our Ella's Adventures series, they'll learn that a bank account offers security and a return on savings.

Young children are not likely to think past their piggy banks when it comes to safe places to set money aside for those special items. In this short course from our Ella's Adventures series, your students will learn that a bank account offers security and a return on their savings.

Students will be able to understand the processes, rights, and responsibilities of renting, leasing, and purchasing a home. Identify key qualification factors for homeownership, including debt-to-income and loan-to-value ratios, and comprehend the roles of professionals in the home-buying process.

Class Time Needed:
1 Block Schedule Lesson, 75-90 minutes

Payday loans are convenient and provide FAST cash to cover emergency situations or help pay a borrower’s expenses from one paycheck to the next. But the fee-based structure of payday lending is quite different from a traditional loan, and laws vary among the states. The April 2019 edition of Page One Economics®: Focus on Finance takes a look at the structure and fees that make these loans costly.

Rent-to-own and "buy here, pay here" make it easy to get what you want. But what are the real costs that you will pay for this convenience compared with what you’d pay using more-traditional financing, such as loans or credit cards? This video weighs the benefits and costs of your options.

This 9 minute video will show students how to calculate interest and then shows them the difference when interest is calculated using simple v. compounded. This video will also discuss interest as "the cost of money" and demonstrates in examples how much a person borrows v. pays back when the interest rate is low v. high. This video will enforce the standards EPF. 13 and 18

Watch this video from our Personal Finance 101 Conversations series to examine the costs and benefits of various post-secondary education options including community colleges, technical colleges and universities, and more recently, for-profit colleges.

Using some form of credit is a necessity for most adults. Unfortunately, some misuse credit, and the consequences can be devastating. The earlier young people learn about credit, the more likely they are to use it responsibly as adults. In this short course from our Ella’s Adventures series, your students will learn what credit is, why people use credit, and how interest can affect the final cost of a good or service when bought on credit.

In this course, superhero Jack of All Trades and his sidekick Andy are confronted by a villain that threatens to disrupt society and rob the world of the certainty people have come to expect. And this dastardly villain is...Inflation. Jack and Andy time travel to the period known as The Great Inflation to discover the truth about inflation. With the help of Dr. Equilibrium, professor of economics, they learn that inflation is the result of too much money chasing too few goods and that the Federal Reserve System plays a key role in maintaining stable prices.

In this first episode of the No-Frills Money Skills video series, economic education specialist Kris Bertelsen explains compound interest, or "Growing Money."

In this lesson, students participate in two rounds of a role play to help them understand the role of banks in facilitating economic growth through loans. Round 1 is conducted without a bank. After the first round, students read excerpts from Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton’s 1790 report to Congress in which he proposes a national bank because the United States had few banks at the time. Students then conduct Round 2 of the role play with a bank. After the round, students read excerpts from and summaries of the statute creating a national bank, Thomas Jefferson’s opposition, and Hamilton’s rebuttal.

Want to learn about the Federal Reserve? Have no fear! In Plain English describes the structure and functions of the Federal Reserve System in an easy-to-understand interactive format.

The fourth episode of our podcast series, The Economic Lowdown, discusses three aspects of inflation: what it is, what causes it and how it is measured. The episode also addresses related topics such as deflation, disinflation and the role of the Federal Reserve in monitoring inflation.