There is no better time to start saving than right now! We have gathered dozens of savings lesson plans together to help your students see exactly how saving and investing will impact their future. All too often young people get started in the “real world” saddled with so much debt that it is hard to grasp what is really going on around them. Avoiding the worst crunches of credit card debt is a great place to start, so give your students a taste of what it means to take out a loan with some of these lessons!

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Savings Lesson Plans For Elementary School And Up

Why Money?

Source: Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank

Description: In this lesson students look at their purchases, and see the difference between paying with cash, checks, credit cards, or other money instruments

Using This Simulator: The reasons why we use different kinds of money is the same as why we use different kinds of investments. Once your students have a portfolio, you can talk about the different types of stock, and why different investors might prefer different classes even for the same company.

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Savings Lesson Plans For Middle School And Up

Banking Basics

Source: Boston Federal Reserve Bank

Description: In this scenario, students find that their piggy bank has started to fill up. The lesson plan goes through the decisions of spending the cash, finding a bigger piggy bank, or how they can even open their first savings account, along with the advantages and disadvantages of each scenario.

Using This Simulator: All accounts earn 3% interest on the cash that has not been invested. Have your students pick stocks they want to buy, but make sure they consider the trade-off of the 3% they can earn with just the cash, or the extra growth they might get by investing in their preferred stocks.

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Calculating Simple Interest

Source: EconEdLink, by Mike Fladlien

Description: This is a basic introduction to interest and its calculation for students. It covers a few different interest rate levels and time periods.

Using This Simulator: We make it interactive! Have your students use our Investment Return Calculator to calculate the growth of savings over time, showing the difference between simple interest and compound interest, and even adjust according to inflation!

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Learning About Credit Card Use

Source: EconEdLink, by Charlotte Higler

Description: This lesson is designed to teach students about what exactly credit cards are and how they work, with time spent on their risks and why people use them.

Using This Simulator: Our Credit Card Payments Calculator is a perfect supplement to this lesson plan, where students can see the debt repayment of up to 4 credit cards! It is interactive, so they can see the differences in interest rates, minimum payments, and starting cash.

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Your Credit Card

Source: EconEdLink, by Mike Fladlien

Description: This is somewhat similar to the lesson above, but focusing more on picking a credit card based on how long it would take to pay off a hypothetical purchase, given its interest rates and the size of the purchase.

Using This Simulator: Just like the lesson above, our Credit Card Payments Calculator is great for comparing multiple credit schemes, since it can have up to 4 credit cards with different interest rates calculating at the same time to show how long it would take to pay off a purchase!

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The Benefits Of Investing Early

Source: EconEdLink, by Julie Trivitt

Description: This lesson focuses on the benefits of investing early, and how compound interest plays a huge role even with small amounts.

Using This Simulator: Our Compound Interest Calculator will show how much interest students would earn with their savings over time, our Investment Return Calculator can show the difference between Simple and Compound Interest, while adjusting for inflation, and our Millionaire Calculator can show students what rates of return they will need to achieve to earn a million dollars with the amount of money they can save every month!

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A Penny Saved

Source: EconEdLink, by Mike Fladlien

Description: These lesson plans walk students through the basics of interest growth and compounding. The second half goes through more complex topics like Real interest rate, returns on investment, and nominal interest rate, but the first half of the lesson is appropriate for younger students.

Using This Simulator: Our Compound Interest Calculator is great for the first half of the lesson, where students can see how their savings grows over time, while our Investment Return Calculator is great for the second half, since it can be used to control for inflation to find Real and Nominal interest rates.

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Fed Boy And The Catastrophe Clan

Source: Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank

Description: This lesson is designed to help students know the biggest pitfalls people fall into with credit card debt, along with the biggest government programs designed for consumer protection with credit.

Using This Simulator: Give your students a balance they need to pay off, like a new TV or some new furniture, and ask them to split it between credit cards with different interest rates using our Credit Card Payments Calculator.

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Credit Cards

Source: Practical Money Skills For Life

Description: This lesson plan is designed to introduce students to basic credit card terminology, and learn the basics of shopping for a credit card. They will also be given an opportunity to analyze a credit card statement.

Using This Simulator: Have your students look up several credit card offers and use their advertised rates in our Credit Card Payment Calculator to see how long it takes to pay off!

Access This Lesson Plan: Teacher Resource, Student Activities, Presentation

Savings Lesson Plans For High School And Up

Earning Credit

Source: EconEdLink, by Martha Rush

Description: This project has students work through a series of activities and provide them with a simulated credit score and auto loan interest rate. They can then use interest rates and amortization schedules to see the full cost of buying a car, and compare the difference between someone with a high and low credit score.

Using This Simulator: We have a great Car Loan Calculator that your students can use to find the full cost of buying a car, using various interest rates, cash down, and trade-in values.

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Car Loan Project

Source: EconEdLink, by Wendy Clark

Description: This is a basic exercise examining the process of getting a car loan. Students will look at buying a car using financing, exploring different options for how they will pay for it

Using This Simulator: Our Car Loan Calculator has a bunch of different financing options, so you can make this whole lesson interactive!

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Loan Amortization – Mortgage

Source: EconEdLink, by Mike Fladlien

Description: This is a lesson plan walking through the basics of what a mortgage is, and how to calculate payments using Excel. This is perhaps the most advanced lesson plan on this list, but one that will give students the most hands-on application of using spreadsheets, interest rate calculation, and more tools that are so vital to a healthy understanding of personal finance.

Using This Simulator: You can use our Buy Vs Lease Calculator to get amortization schedules for annual or monthly mortgage payments, and see the break-even points with renting. It updates automatically, and includes tons of different fee types and rental costs!

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The Credit Card Mystery

Source: EconEdLink, by Dave Koenig

Description: This lesson is centered around giving students a better idea of how credit cards work, some of the biggest risks surrounding them (especially for people with multiple cards), and even some of the current government aid programs designed to help consumers manage their credit.

Using This Simulator: Our Credit Card Payments Calculator allows up to 4 different credit cards, each with different parameters, to see how long it can take to pay off a balance!

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