Building Better Money Habits
Building Better Money Habits
Throughout April, we are celebrating Financial Capability Month by featuring a variety of financial education programs and resources that you can put to use in your classroom right away. The second of these programs is Better Money Habits - a partnership of Bank of America and Khan Academy which includes a variety of resources including videos, articles, infographics, and worksheets. While the site was designed for the general public, many teachers find its resources useful when presenting different financial topics to their students.
- Ten Primary Topics: The content in Better Money Habits is divided into ten areas: credit, debt, saving and budgeting, home ownership, auto, retirement, college, privacy and security, personal banking, and taxes and income.
- High-Quality Videos: Khan Academy is known for its high-quality videos that present complex information in an easy to understand manner. There are three different types of videos found throughout Better Money Habits:
- Animated ones like The True Cost of a Car and Preparing Your Tax Return for the First Time
- “Whiteboard” style videos such as Keeping Your Financial Information Safe and What’s the Difference Between Secured and Unsecured Credit
- Traditional Khan Academy videos like Withholding Tax and How Credit Scores Affect Interest Rates
- Infographics:
Today’s teens appreciate content that is delivered in an engaging and visual manner. The infographics throughout the Better Money Habits site help explain concepts. Some are for a general audience, while others such as How to Handle Your First Debit Card and What It Really Costs to be in the Driver’s Seat are written specifically for teens.
- Tools: The site includes interactive tools which help students to customize information and worksheets that can be printed. For example, the Spending Analysis Tool directs users to enter a zip code, age range, number of people in the family, and an income range. Based on this information, an average monthly budget is shown with categories for housing, transportation, food, medical, dining out, personal care, and more. The Organizing Your Bills worksheet provides a place to list upcoming bills, expected amounts, and due date.
- Articles: Many of the topics within Better Money Habits include brief articles that explain topics which might be helpful for students such as Building Your Credit With a Secured Credit Card, How to Secure Your Smartphone, or 9 Tips for Buying Your First Car.
- Careers, Finance, and Life: Better Money Habits recently added a series of videos that interview 19 people about their careers - and their personal finances. Each person explains a little about what they do and how much they earn. For example, Sam, a 27-year-old salon owner in Los Angeles, discusses her gross pay, monthly expenses, and saving for the future.
- Use in the Classroom: To help teachers make use of the Better Money Habits resources, the Council on Economic Education’s EconEdLink website offers 18 lessons that demonstrate how to pair Better Money Habits videos with Financial Fitness for Life lesson plans to teach concepts for students in grades 6-12. In addition, there is a free archived webinar that demonstrates two of the lessons and associated videos.
Look for more featured resources throughout April: Financial Capability Month.