High School Personal Finance (90 Days)
Over one semester, students will learn to manage a paycheck, build a budget, use credit wisely, invest for the future, and plan for college or a career. It ends with a Reality Fair, a live simulation where students put it all together.
Units
Students learn what financial literacy is, how it shows up in everyday moments, and the mindsets that shape their money.
Students become informed consumers: comparison shopping, receipts, sales tax, marketing influences, and deceptive practices.
Students learn about jobs, paychecks, benefits, purchasing power, and entrepreneurship.
Give every dollar a job. Students build budgets, compare strategies, plan for housing and transportation, and set up safety nets.
Students learn to navigate the modern banking system: what it costs, where it fails, and how to protect themselves.
Students learn how credit works, how debt accumulates, and how the decisions they make now shape their financial options later.
Students learn why investing matters, how markets work, and how to grow wealth over time without costly beginner mistakes.
Students learn how compound interest builds wealth, how to diversify, and how to use employer plans, IRAs, and Social Security.
Students learn how risk works, what insurance actually covers, and how to spot the scams and gaps that leave people exposed.
Students explore what it actually takes to build the career they want.
College costs more than tuition. Students explore savings, scholarships, grants, and work-study, and compare schools by cost.
Students prepare for and take part in the Banzai Reality Fair, a live simulation of how much the real world costs.
Certificate of Completion
Students who finish the course earn a printable Certificate of Completion.
Covers All Six Jump$tart Standard Areas
Mapped to the National Standards for Personal Financial Education and aligned to every state’s standards.
Check Your State’s Standards- Earning IncomeEarning Income · Career Design
- SpendingConsumer Fundamentals · Budgeting
- SavingBudgeting · Banking · Planning for College
- InvestingInvesting · Retirement
- Managing CreditCredit & Debt
- Managing RiskInsurance & Risk
Bellringer: Dream Purchases
Instruction
Discussion: The Adventure Funding Dilemma
Activity: Values & Future Vision
Wrap-Up & Assessment
| Est. Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 5 min | Bellringer: Dream Purchases |
| 10 min | Instruction |
| 10 min | Discussion: The Adventure Funding Dilemma |
| 15 min | Activity: Values & Future Vision |
| 5 min | Wrap-Up & Assessment |
Bell-to-Bell Structure
Every lesson has a bell-to-bell agenda, slide deck, and teacher notes, so you can teach with no prep.
Free Printed Workbooks
Challenge your students to practice critical thinking, math, and vocabulary through physical workbooks shipped directly to your school.
How do Banzai lesson plans work? See the FAQ.