Core Financial Competencies
Carefully designed exercises and activities move your teenager step-by-step toward each of the program’s seven core competencies:
- Creating their own financial plan.
People who “have it all” didn’t get there by accident. They made a financial plan and followed it. In this unit your teen will learn to create his or her own personal financial plan and stay on track to achieve it.
- Creating their own budget.
The best way for an individual to gain control of his or her money is to start by answering the question, “Where should my money go?” In this unit your teen will learn to create a personal budget, a tool that helps channel his or her money toward goals that were established in the financial plan.
- Proposing a personal saving and investing plan.
You may have heard the saying, “It takes money to make money.” The periodic process of investing a portion of one’s money can actually earn additional money for the future. In this unit your teen will learn about two very powerful tools—savings and investing. An individual does not need a lot of money to begin investing, and now is the time for your teen to begin!
- Selecting strategies to use in handling credit and managing debt.
Many people use credit (borrow money) to help purchase a car, pay for college, and for many other reasons. Credit can be helpful and good at times, but unwise use of credit can be very dangerous. In this unit your teen will learn about the cost of using credit, and how to use credit wisely to help achieve his or her goals.
- Demonstrating how to use various financial services.
There are many financial service providers (e.g., credit unions, banks) that can help an individual manage, save, and spend his or her money. In this unit your teen will learn about the various financial service providers and how to choose a provider to best meet his or her needs and goals. He or she will also learn how checking and savings accounts work, and how debit and credit cards work. Additionally, your teen will learn that there are deceptive people that want to take his or her money through various fraudulent practices, such as identity theft.
- Creating a personal insurance plan.
When an individual is young and healthy the chance of something bad happening seems remote. As one goes through life, however, there are many risks involved—illness, disability, theft, accidents, and death. Risk management is a means of dealing with potential personal and financial loss. In this unit your teen will learn about various forms of insurance that offer protection from large financial losses.
- Examining how choice of career and lifestyle will affect the financial plan.
For most people, a career is the method of earning income. Career choices definitely affect an individual’s future earnings potential, but one should realize that a career provides satisfaction beyond money. In this unit your teen will learn about career choices and income potential, the value and cost of career preparation, and to predict how career options may impact his or her long-term financial goals and future budget planning. Your teen will also identify specific intermediate- and long-term goals related to preparing for his or her desired career.
