Budgeting Strategies for Teens (Flex)

This 7-week flex course will cover needs and wants, how daily choices impact a teens budget now and in the future, the importance of creating a budget, how to create a budget using various strategies (50/30/20, zero-based, cash envelope), how to budget in the gig economy,  factors to consider when budgeting for a home, transportation, and food. This course will be filled with hands-on learning!  My course is a great way to prepare students for handling their own finances! 

Many learners start with little knowledge about handling finances.  After the course, they will grow to enjoy learning about money and will be much more confident in their finances!

This course will include presentations, videos, reading, writing, activities, and projects.  I'm a firm believer in creating engaging learning experiences.  I'm excited to begin a journey of discovering finances with your learner!

Students will collaborate through the Outschool platform through various projects including: budgeting as roommates, finding an apartment together, comparison shopping, selecting who will pay each utility bill, and finding a city they want to live in.

This is a FLEX course, which means that there are no live meetings, but I will still be interacting frequently with students electronically and ask that they interact with each other as they are comfortable. We will interact using the classroom page and using Nearpod, a collaboration website that is fun, easy to use, and requires no email login information.

A Nearpod will be provided every week with my voice as an audio guide. There will be multiple interactive activities throughout the lesson so students can synthesize what they are learning and keep track of it. I will ask students to share their work with me and/or the class and give them feedback on this work. I will pose a weekly discussion question for students to answer in the classroom or Nearpod via video, picture, or chat and I will ask that classmates respond to each other's submissions. There will also be a review quiz after each lesson on Nearpod as a check for understanding.

Agenda:
Week 1: Budgeting for Teens
*What is a Budget
*Needs vs. Wants
*How Do I Budget?
Week 2: Budgeting Strategies
*Reasons Why You Should Budget Your Money
*Organize Budget Expenses
*Building a Budget
*50/30/20 Budget Calculator
*Zero-Based Budgeting
*How to Use the Cash Envelope System
*Pay Yourself First
Week 3: Complete a Budget
*Gross Pay vs. Net Pay
*Create a Budget
*Budget Apps
*How to Fix Your Budget When It Isn’t Working
Week 4: Budgeting in the Gig Economy
*What is the Gig Economy?
*Difference Between Freelancing and Being an Employee
*Keys to Finding Success as a Gig Worker
*How to Make it in the Gig Economy
*Can You Make It as an Uber Driver?
*Ways to Save Money with a Fluctuating Income
Week 5: Budgeting for Your Home
*Where Should I Live?
*What is the “Cost of Living”?
*The Pros and Cons of Having a Roommate
*Budgeting with Roommates
*Finding an Apartment
*Select Your Utilities
*Should You Buy a House?
Week 6: Budgeting for Transportation
*The Basics of Transportation Choice
*Leasing vs. Buying a New Car
*Buying New Cars vs. Choosing Used Vehicles
*Monthly Cost of Car Ownership
*How Much Does Commuting Cost?
Week 7: Budgeting for Food
*How Much Should I Spend on Groceries?
*How to Save Money on Grocery Shopping
*Unit Pricing
*Coupons
*How Eating Out Keeps You Poor

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