Ideas for Teachers

The need for money management skills
This site is designed to help you teach 6-12 graders to manage money. The need for such practical instruction is a serious one. Both test scores and the current money management behavior of young people prove that they lack the basics in this, one of the most important areas of their lives. And because the facts about a great many Americans' spending and saving habits are troublesome, many adults appear ill-equipped to teach their offspring.

Consequently, while young people may look to their parents as role models, our nation's adults may not have the mentoring skills needed to give our youth good financial habits. Two cases in point:

• The average age at which Americans expect to retire is 61, yet they expect to live to an average age of 83, translating into 22 years in retirement. Yet if Americans don't change their money management behavior, most will be forced to live on only $28,000 (current dollars) a year in retirement — relying on a combination of Social Security, pension, and savings.*
• 34% of Americans have not even begun to prepare for retirement. And 55% say that the major obstacle to saving is a continuing focus on today's expenses rather than their financial future.*

As a country, we have to reverse this trend. We have designed The Mint to help you lay the groundwork for a responsible approach to teaching students about personal money management. You'll find that The Mint is divided into two major areas: pages for students and pages for mentors, teachers and parents.

The areas of The Mint designed for students are located in the orange navigation bar at the top of your screen.

1. Earning
2. Saving
3. Spending
4. Tracking
5. Investing
6. Owing
7. Try It! (A group of interactive exercises)

The areas of The Mint that present facts for adults, lesson plans and instructional activities, as well as pointers for parents are found in the violet navigation bar above the main navigation bar on your screen.

Within the Ideas for Teachers section, you will find four lesson plans based on ideas provided by the National Council on Economic Education —

1. Financial Planning: Budgeting Your Financial Resources
2. Consumer Credit: Buy Now & Pay More Later
3. Scarcity, Choice, and Decisions: Planning the Prom
4. The Stock Market: Risk & Rewards

Each lesson plan is supported by class activities that illustrate the concepts introduced in the lesson plans. Depending on your classroom situation, students can work on activities online, or you can print out the activities, and students can work with hard copies.

Please browse through the student sections of The Mint. The pages provide information, examples, and interactive experiences to illustrate money management principles. Student pages can supplement your class work. We hope they provoke a lively discussion — and help further your goals in educating young people about short and long-term consequences of money management.

* Money Maladies, A national survey sponsored by Northwestern Mutual Financial Network and conducted by Harris Interactive, 2001.