Course Description

This full year (1 credit) Personal Finance and Investments course will provide students with the tools necessary to make smart financial and investing decisions. Students will learn to develop strategies for budgeting, managing money, using debt wisely, maintaining a good credit score, and retirement planning. We will also discuss renting/leasing vs owning housing and vehicles, and insurance including health, life, property, and disability. We will cover income, employer benefits, withholding and income taxes. The full year course  allows us to do more active learning activities and dive deeper into the basic personal finance topics as well as go in depth with savings beyond traditional bank products. Students will learn about different ways to save and invest money including High Yield Savings Accounts, Mutual Funds, Exchange Traded Funds, cryptocurrency (Bitcoin), Stocks and Bonds.  Students will also learn about historical stock market returns, fees and commissions, earnings ratios, and diversified portfolios.  Students will put their new knowledge to practice by participating in a stock market simulation project. We will cover internet safety and protection from fraud and identity theft. We will wrap up the year by preparing for summer job searches with resumes, thank you letters, and mock job interviews. We will do all we can to help our students learn to be good financial stewards, savers and investors, and prepared for life after graduation.

To be successful in this class:

Students should plan to spend 2-3 hours per week outside of class to complete required assignments and projects for the class.

Grades: 9th Grade, 10th Grade, 11th Grade, 12th Grade

Fees: $465

Course Credit: 1 Honors Elective Credit