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Clear & Simple Home > Educators > College (Ages 18 and up)
College (Ages 18 and up)**
Lesson Overview
"The month's too long for our budget. If the month was
only 20 days long, we'd have enough money to last." This is a common
dilemma faced by households when it comes to budgeting and managing money.
Effective money management starts with goal setting. If you don't know where
you are going, you may end up somewhere else and not even know it. Financial
goals should be realistic, specific, have a time frame, and imply an action to
be taken. Encourage students to take some time and effort to develop financial
goals.
Most people could not tell you how their money is spent. All they know is
that the money is gone all too soon. In this chapter students will monitor
their spending habits (in writing) to learn how to better obtain the most value
for their available dollars. This chapter will also demonstrate that by
carefully considering needs and wants, an individual or family will spend
appropriate amounts for living expenses while saving and investing for
long-term financial security.
Lesson
Goals
Assist in identifying and prioritizing personal and financial goals, create
a plan to achieve those goals, and provide practice setting up and maintaining
a personal budget.
Lesson
Objectives
- Identify and prioritize some
of your personal and financial goals
- Identify the steps you can
take and the resources you will need to achieve your goals
- Identify and examine your
current spending behaviors and patterns
- Understand what it means to
budget, and identify the reasons to maintain a budget
- Create and maintain a
personal budget that supports your personal and financial goals
Lesson Overheads |
PDF files
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All Lesson Materials | Download
(PowerPoint Format)
- 1-A
(PDF) -- Budgeting Process
- 1-B
(PDF) -- Goal-Setting Guidelines
- 1-C
(PDF) -- Setting Up and Maintaining a Budget
Lesson
Activities
Print
All Lesson Materials
1-1
(PDF) -- What Are Your Goals?
- Ask students what some of
their goals are based on their life situations. List the answers at the
front of the room, separating them into short-, intermediate-, and
long-term goals.
- Pick one goal from each
group. Have the class brainstorm what steps they could take and what
resources they would need to achieve those goals.
- Have students individually
work through "What Are Your Goals?" and "Working with Your
Goals."
1-2
(PDF) -- Where Does Your Money Come From?
- Have students identify their
current or potential (new job, career change)sources of income.
- Discuss the feelings of being
financially dependent vs. financially independent.
1-3
(PDF) -- Where Does Your Money Go?
- Have students keep a record
of everything they spend during a one-month period based on their life situations.
- Ask students what patterns
they can see in their spending habits.
- Discuss topics such as how to
avoid impulse buys, how to decide what to purchase, and the factors that
influence purchasing decisions.
1-4
(PDF) -- Set Up a Personal Budget
- Have students set up a
personal budget that supports their personal and financial goals.
- Ask students to try to stick
to their budget for one month.
- After the month has passed,
discuss what it was like to stick to a budget. Was the budget realistic?
Where did they overspend? In which areas did they spend less than they had
planned? Were they able to make progress toward their financial goals?
What would they change about their budgets?
1-5
(PDF) -- Rework a Budget -- Answer
Key (PDF)
- Have students set up,
maintain, and rework a budget for the scenarios and then for themselves.
1-6
(PDF) -- Lesson One Quiz -- Answer
Key (PDF)
**Content courtesy of Visa's Practical Money Skills for Life  program. |
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