Plan, Save, Succeed!
Achieving Financial Literacy Goals
Welcome to "Plan, Save, Succeed!" a new financial literacy program designed to address important personal finance concepts—such as budgeting, income, saving, and credit—in a real-world context that middle school students will find meaningful.
Developed by The Actuarial Foundation with Scholastic, the program provides knowledge and skill-building activities through a fun, relatable story line about two siblings saving to buy a car. They construct a budget and learn about earnings and deductions from work, interest from saving, and the cost of credit.
In addition to engaging lesson plans, the program includes:
- A classroom poster (PDF) to reinforce that budgets help realize financial goals.
- Alignment with National and Common Core State Standards (PDF)
- A fun online challenge in which students race against the clock to answer real-world financial literacy and math questions.
Lesson Plans
Lesson 1: Budget Basics
Students will begin to consider the role saving plays in financial planning by creating monthly budgets for siblings saving to buy a car.
Students will begin to consider the role saving plays in financial planning by creating monthly budgets for siblings saving to buy a car.
Lesson 2: Gross and Net Pay
Students will learn about voluntary and involuntary salary deductions. Using a teen's sample paycheck, students will calculate the dollar amount of deductions by applying the relevant percentage to gross pay.
Students will learn about voluntary and involuntary salary deductions. Using a teen's sample paycheck, students will calculate the dollar amount of deductions by applying the relevant percentage to gross pay.
Lesson 3: Interest and Bank Accounts
Students will learn about various interest-bearing bank accounts, and use fractions, decimals, and percentages to calculate interest.
Students will learn about various interest-bearing bank accounts, and use fractions, decimals, and percentages to calculate interest.
