Here are a few good programs by Junior Achievement to teach grade school and high school students financial literacy.
They offered both in-person and online presentation delivered by volunteers. It covers very essential and wide range of topics such as inflation, credit card, exchange rate, currency, budgeting, online shopping investing, etc. It aims to build a foundation of financial literacy for youngsters.
The presentation material was developed by Junior Achievement. A hard copy of a workbook will be mailed to the school ahead of time for each student. I have participated in the past 12 months as a volunteer.
We spent a lot of time discussing about credit card. What is the smartest way to use it? What is the consequence of not paying off the balance every month? How high the interest rates are? How important a good credit score is. We heard some many incidents that young people abused their first credit cards because they didn’t understand how credit works. This can be greatly reduced if they are educated on this matter.
The other exciting topic is budgeting by developing a monthly budget together imaging the student becoming an adult working and living on their own the first time. We go through each key expense including rent, food, utilities, entertainment, transportation, phone and internet, vacation, etc. We specifically emphasize the importance of an emergency fund.
After the monthly budget is developed, we ask the student to pick a job from two choices that have different educational requirements and income. We even explained the concepts of gross income, net income, contribution to CPP, EI, income tax, etc. Then ask the student to compare their income and expense. What are the consequences of deficit and savings? What they need to do to balance the budget and generate more savings.
Parents can reach out to the schools who can get in touch with Junior Achievements to arrange it. I would highly recommend it.
Worthfy Financial Literacy Counselling 