Personal Finance Reading and Comprehension, Math, and Sim Game! (Flex/Semester)

Students will be able to:
Week 1: Simulation Tutorial and Math Concepts Reference
-Understand how the course works and how the simulation is played
-Review math concepts (percentages, compound growth, probability & statistics, single variable equations, geometry)
Week 2: Time Management and Health
-Monitor Key Health Factors
-Allocate Time and Make Smart Purchases to Improve Health
-Plan and Alter Schedules to Allow Them to Balance Health, Work and Educational Goals
Week 3: Finding a Job
-Research and compare potential job openings
-Understand how experience and education qualify them for different levels of jobs
-Understand how payroll taxes and income tax deductions cause their net pay to be less than their gross pay
-Understand that some jobs provide health insurance and some don’t
-Experience how working at one job can give them the experience necessary to get a better paying job with more benefits
Week 4: Paying Your Taxes
-Read and identify key information on a W2 wage and tax statement
-Read and identify key information on a 1099-Int interest statement
-Fill out a 1040 form
-Use a tax table to compute tax owed
-Compute whether they owe tax or should receive a refund
Week 5: Education and Advancement
-Research job opportunities and determine what education is needed to obtain specific jobs
-Understand the importance of education in furthering their careers
-Understand how student loans work
-Analyze the cost of particular courses and determine how quickly an investment in education is likely to pay back
Week 6: Finding an Apartment
-Understand how apartment location, transportation, and their schedule must work together
-Compare costs of different apartments, including related costs such as transportation
-Explore different apartments in order to facilitate a schedule that accomplishes their goals
Week 7: Buying a Car
-Assess the type of car they can afford based on income and expenses
-Compare the cost of buying vs. leasing a car
-Understand key elements of a car loan, including down payment, monthly payment, and term
-Understand auto insurance, including mandatory coverages, optional coverages, and deductibles
Week 8: Shopping
-Identify and purchase goods that help their productivity, and therefore, improve their financial security
-Understand how to comparison shop to get the most for their money
-Understand how to utilize periodic sales to expand their purchasing power
Week 9: Budgeting and Saving
-Read a pay stub and understand gross pay, payroll deductions and net pay
-Estimate monthly income and expenses based on their pay stubs and their bills.
-Determine whether they expect a surplus or deficit in their budget.
-Read a bank statement to determine their actual income and spending and to compare that to their budget.
-Understand how to open a savings account.
-Recognize the importance of saving money for an emergency fund.
Week 10: Choosing and Balancing a Checking Account
-Understand that cashing checks without a checking account can be costly.
-Correctly enter deposits (credits) in a check register.
-Correctly enter expenditures (debits) in a check register.
-Balance their checkbook against a recent bank statement.
Week 11: Using Online Banking
-Understand how online banking can help them manage their finances more effectively and efficiently.
-Understand how to check account balances.
-Understand how to set up and monitor recurring bill payments.
-Understand how to transfer money between accounts.
Week 12: Getting a Credit Card
-Understand APR, credit limits, and credit card fees.
-Compare credit card offers.
-Understand the benefits of paying off a credit card bill fully.
-Understand how quickly finance charges and late fees can raise the amount owed on a credit card.
Week 13: Fixing Your Credit
-Read a credit report and identify problem areas.
-Understand the impact of poor credit on major purchases such as an automobile.
-Understand how paying off overdue bills will improve their credit score.
-Learn to build a good credit history by using credit responsibly.
-Understand the concepts of a credit score, including what constitutes a good and a bad score.
Week 14: Intro to Investing
-Understand how to invest in FDIC-insured savings accounts.
-Understand how to compare money market funds.
-Understand yield, loads, and expense ratios.
-Understand that returns on mutual funds vary over time.
Week 15: Risk vs. Return
-Understand the difference between a money market mutual fund and a stock fund.
-Compute percentage return based on the beginning and ending value of an investment.
-Understand the concept of volatility (risk) in an investment.
-Grasp the relationship between risk and return in investing.
Week 16: Diversification
-Understand the concept of diversification in investing.
-Understand that diversification can reduce risk while maintaining return levels.
-Compute risk (volatility) of individual investments vs. their entire portfolio.
-Use diversification to reach an investment goal.
Week 17: Investing for Retirement
-Understand that the tax code offers incentives to save for retirement.
-Understand the concept of a 401K plan.
-Understand company matching in a retirement plan.
-Understand how tax-advantaged retirement plans can help them reduce current taxes and make their investments grow over time.
Week 18: Buying a Home
-Understand how key percentages are used to determine how much housing expense a person can afford based on their gross income.
-Understand how other loan payments affect how large a mortgage they can get.
-Understand PMI and how it relates to down payments.
-Understand points and how they relate to interest rates and monthly payments.
-Understand how the term of a mortgage affects monthly payments and total interest paid.
Week 19: Insurance
-Understand the importance of insurance in protecting themselves financially.
-Understand what a deductible is and how it relates to premiums.
-Understand how premiums vary with coverage sought.
-Understand how medical insurance works and the relationship between co-pays, deductibles and premiums.
Week 20: New Career Project
-Manage their time to achieve a healthy, prosperous balance.
-Find employment and pay bills effectively.
-Understand how to use banking, debit cards, and credit cards wisely.
-Use higher education to advance their careers.
-Use insurance to reduce financial risk.
-Invest wisely to build wealth without taking on undue risk.
-Understand home ownership and opportunities in real estate investment.

I am from the United States and have been teaching various business, marketing, and finance courses for 13 years. I have taught both at the high school and collegiate level. I teach both in person and online but online is my favorite! I have a Bachelor's degree in Marketing and Business Information Technology Education, a Masters in Business Administration and a PhD in Online Education. 
I am very excited to work with all of you through Outschool!

Reading Quiz
Math Quiz
Simulation Score

No live meetings, and maybe some time outside of class.