Teaching Personal Finance

A triple whammy

the chalkboard after my personal finance class on investing

This post is probably more of interest to teachers, or those with children.

Last year I taught an optional English class for advanced students at my university. I used a discussion format (the PDR method) and we talked about personal finance topics like earning, spending, insurance, investing, life planning, etc.

I had a great time, and the (five) students seemed to as well.

More importantly, they were exposed to concepts that could make them happier and more successful in life.

This year I’ll be trying something similar with a larger class for normal students. I’ll have to adapt the content slightly and find new reading and video resources, but hopefully it will work in this new context as well and I’ll be able to reach even more students.

Based on the reactions of students last year, I would recommend introducing some personal finance topics into classes (if you are a teacher) or conversations (if you have kids).

I never had anything like this growing up, and most of the people I speak to didn’t either. Given how valuable and life-changing this knowledge can be, we really owe it to people to at least give them the chance to acquire it.

How about you? Have you successfully helped anyone with personal finance? One simple way to do so would be to tell them to check out this website 😉

3 Responses

  1. I love the concept. Under the disguise of teaching them one topic (English), you actually teach them two (Finance + English). That’s an awesome idea 🙂

  2. I sat down with my brother and sister (separately) and talked to them about personal finance. We all live in different countries so I had researched institutions and products local to them. They seemed keen but we all know how difficult it is to follow through on things. I’ll be trying again, next time we’re face to face. This time I’ll actually take them to the bank