Free Financial Literacy Program For Teachers: Teach Money

InCharge is pleased to support America’s teachers with free financial literacy education and classroom resources.

Teach Money is a program designed for teachers, with a mission as simple as its name: Teach Money.

Answering the call to help teachers embrace financial literacy education, Teach Money provides the knowledge and resources next generation teachers need to make financial literacy part of their language arts, math and social studies curriculum.

Promoting Financial Literacy In The Classroom

Before America’s teachers can answer the call and improve the financial knowledge of their students, they need basic financial literacy education of their own. The Teach Money workbook provides teachers with financial literacy education they can use in their own lives, as well as free resources they can use in their classrooms.

Teach Money Financial Literacy Workbook

The Teach Money Financial Literacy Workbook is available to download, free of charge.You will need Adobe Reader to view the PDF Download Adobe Reader This PDF covers the following topics:

• Financial literacy lesson plans to use in elementary, middle school and high school classrooms
• Financial literacy standards
• Understanding student loans and repayment programs
• How to budget
• How to be a savvy consumer
• Reproduce-able worksheets for your classroom

Teach Money Financial Literacy Program Survey Data

InCharge has provided the Teach Money Financial Literacy Program to over 300 future educators, and 100 current educators. Additionally, 900 Teach Money Financial Literacy Workbooks have been distributed.

The lack of financial literacy education for college students and teachers was highlighted by the fact that for 89% of attendees, Teach Money was the first and only financial literacy workshop they had taken in the past 5 years.

Financial Literacy Workshop content for future teachers:

• Budgeting your first year paycheck (as a teacher)
• Setting financial goals
• Incorporating consumer savvy into the classroom
• Understanding credit, debt & credit scoring
• Teaching kids about money, career planning and banking
• Teaching kids ROI on education spending
• Classroom currencies
• Where to continue learning about financial literacy education (conferences)
• Where to find financial literacy materials

Financial Literacy Workshop Content for Current Teachers:

• Importance of demonstrating financial modeling in front of students
• Importance of demonstrating use of financial tools in front of students
• Helping students understand higher education costs
• Helping students understand higher education choices
• Helping students navigate student loans
• Helping students understand opportunity cost

Each workshop attendee receives  a course pack with financial literacy education resources that can be used in the classroom as well as workbook pages teachers can use for themselves to set financial goals, budget and improve their understanding of credit, debt, and money management.

Prospective Teacher Workshop Attendee Data

Below are results from surveys with future teachers:

• Approximately 97% of attendees plan to be a K12 classroom teacher within the next 5 years
• 57% of workshop attendees carry student loan debt. Nationally, about 60% (source: Chronicle of Higher Education) of students carry student loan debt. The lower number in our population may be due to the significantly lower cost of education in Florida (which ranks 49^th in public tuition cost, source: College Board).
• 32% of workshop attendees carry credit card debt
• 22% of workshop attendees carry auto loan debt
• 4% of workshop attendees have a personal loan
• 8% of workshop attendees have a mortgage
• Of those who have student loan debt, 69% admit to being concerned about making their future student loan payment.
• Of those who have student loan debt, 48% have never attempted to calculate their future student loan payment.
• For 89% of attendees, this is the first and only financial literacy workshop they’ve taken in the past 5 years.
• 55% of workshop attendees currently use a budget to track monthly expenses.
• 100% of attendees agreed: Financial Literacy is an important life skill that should be taught in schools 100% of respondents with student loans answered yes to the question: I’m concerned about making my student loan payments after graduation. As graduation becomes imminent for many of these workshop attendees, the reality of student loans likely sets in and thus this becomes more of a pressing concern than a year prior.
• More than half of respondents have attempted to calculate their student loan monthly payment. This is something that is taught in the workshop. Thus, there’s been a 10% rise in workshop attendees who have attempted to calculate their future student loan balance.
• 66% answer yes to the question “I currently use a budget to plan my spending” (up from 56% at time of workshop).
• One year after the workshop, the largest 2 concerns registered by respondents are retiring comfortably and making ends meet.

What do participants remember about the workshop one year after attendance?

• The budget worksheet. I still have it and refer back to it.
• The amount of people who struggle with payment plans and saving. I also remember the importance of saving and being aware of your input and output, financially.
• Only using money I actually have rather than using credit all the time
• Credit card information
• Don’t want to take out more loans than your total tuition
• Smart proportions of what each expense should range from (i.e. rent should be around 25% of your income, but avoid 40%)
• How to budget
• I will have a lot of debt
• “How fun you ca make money management for the student in elementary school”
• “how to calculate repayment”

When asked whether the workshop they attended one year prior if it affected their behavior, respondents answered:

• Yes, it was made more aware and helped me mentally prepare for a budget
• Yes, I am more serious about saving now
• I make sure to only use money I have rather than taking out loans and using credit.
• Yes, I now save
• Makes me think more about future payments
• It was made me more conscious on how I spend my money
• Yes, limiting credit card spending

Respondents were asked what financial topics they’d like to learn more about:

• How to calculate all the money I make from different sources
• Insurance issues
• The potential benefits of using credit cards
• Investment
• How to pay off debt
• Budgeting
• Options other than student loans
• How interest works on my savings plan at my bank
• Investing
• Repayment