personal finance
12 min warm-up:
Procedure:
- sign in to Personal Finance at vb.KnowledgeMatters.com.
- complete the reading assignment
- take the reading quiz
- take the math quiz
- click Run SIM and follow the lesson instructions.
- Weekly grade will be issued and deadlines are to be met. Make sure you are taking notes and understanding what you are working on. After ALL lessons are completed there will be a PROJECT - New Career with ALL topics you are learning. This simulation will be a major grade for the semester.
Lesson 1 - Time Management & Health
You will:
You will:
- Monitor key health factors
- Allocate time and make smart purchases to improve their health
- Plan and alter schedules to allow them to balance health, work and educational goals
Lesson 2 - Finding a Job
You will:
You will:
- be able to research and compare potential job openings.
- see how experience and education qualify them for different levels of jobs.
- see how payroll taxes and income tax education cause their net play to be less than their gross pay.
- learn that some jobs provide health insurance and some don't.
- experience how working experience how working at one job can give them the experience necessary to get a better paying job with more benefits.
Lesson 3 - Budgeting and Saving
You will
You will
- be able to read a pay stub and understand gross pay, payroll deductions and net pay.
- be able to estimate monthly income and expenses based on their pay stub and their bills.
- be able to determine whether they expect a surplus or deficit in their budget.
- be able to read a bank statement to determine their actual income and spending and to compare that to their budget.
- understand how to open a saving account.
- recognize the importance of saving money for an emergency fund.
Lesson 4 - Finding an Apartment
You will
You will
- understand how apartment location, transportation, their schedule must work together.
- be able to compare costs of different apartments, including related costs such as transportation.
- be able to explore different apartments in order to facilitate a schedule that accomplishes their goals.
Lesson 5 - Buying a Car
You will
You will
- be able to assess the type of car they can afford based on income and expenses.
- be able to compare the cost of buying vs. leasing a car.
- understand auto insurance, including mandatory coverages, optional coverages, and deductibles.
Lesson 6 - Shopping
You will
You will
- learn how to identify and purchase goods that help their productivity, and therefore, improve their financial security.
- understand how to comparison shop to get the most for their money.
- understand how to utilize periodic sales to expand their purchasing power.
Lesson 7 - Choosing and Balancing a Checking Account
You will
You will
- understand that cashing checks without a checking account can be costly.
- be able to correctly enter deposits (credits) in check register.
- be able to correctly enter expenditures (debits) in a check register.
- be able to balance their checkbook against a recent bank statement.
Lesson 8 - Getting a Credit Card
You will
You will
- understand APR, credit limits, and credit card fees.
- be able to compare credit card offers.
- understand the benefits of paying off a credit card bill fully.
- understand how quickly finance charges and late fees can raise the amount owed on a credit card.
Lesson 9 - Fixing Your Credit
You will
You will
- be able to read a credit report and identify problem areas.
- understand the impact of poor credit on major purchases such as an automobile.
- understand how paying off overdue bills will improve their credit score.
- learn to build a good credit history by using credit responsibly.
- understand the concepts of a credit score, including what constitutes a good and a bad score.
Lesson 10 - Education and Advancement
You will
You will
- be able to research job opportunities and determine what education is needed to obtain specific jobs.
- understand the importance of education in furthering their careers.
- understand how student loans work.
- be able to analyze the cost of particular courses and determine how quickly an investment in education is likely to pay back.
Lesson 11 - Using Online Banking
You will understand how
You will understand how
- online banking can help them manage their finances more effectively and efficiently.
- to check account balances.
- to set up and monitor recurring bill payments.
- to transfer money between accounts.
Lesson 12 - Paying Your Taxes
You will be able to
You will be able to
- read and identify key information on a W2 wage and tax statement.
- read and identify key information on a 7099-int interest statement.
- fill out a 1040EZ form.
- use a tax table to compute tax owed.
- compute whether they owe tax or should receive a refund.
Lesson 13 - Introduction to Investing
You will understand
You will understand
- how to invest in FDIC-insured savings accounts.
- how to compare money market funds.
- yield, loads, and expense ratios.
- that returns on mutual fund vary over time.
Lesson 14 - Risk vs. Return
You will
You will
- understand the difference between a money market mutual fund and a stock fund.
- be able to compute percentage return based on the beginning and the ending value of an investment,
- understand the concept of volatility (risk) in an investment.
- grasp the relationship between risk and return in investing.
Lesson 15 - Diversification
You will
You will
- understand the concept of diversification in investing.
- understand that diversification can reduce risk while maintaining return levels.
- be able to compute risk (volatility) of individual investments vs. their entire portfolio.
- be able to use diversification to reach an investment goal.
Lesson 16 - Investing for Retirement
You will understand
You will understand
- that the tax code offers incentives to save for retirement.
- the concept of a 401K plan.
- company matching in a retirement plan.
- how tax-advantaged retirement plans can help them reduce current taxes and make their investments grow over time.
Lesson 17 - Buying a Home
You will understand
You will understand
- how key percentages are used to determine how much housing expense a person can afford based on their gross income.
- how other loan payments affect how large a mortgage they can get.
- PMI and how it relates to down payments.
- points and how they relate to interest rates and monthly payments.
- how the term of a mortgage affects monthly payments and total interest paid.
Lesson 18: Insurance
You will understand
You will understand
- the importance of insurance in protecting themselves financially.
- what a deductible is and how it relates to premiums.
- how premiums vary with coverage sought.
- how medical insurance works and the relationship between co-pays, deductibles and premiums.
PROJECT: NEW CAREER PROJECT