Middle School Personal Finance (45 Days)
This 45-day course covers the core skills of financial wellness, including how to budget, use credit wisely, and invest.
Units
A short introduction to the foundations of financial literacy: values, scarcity, and opportunity cost.
Students learn to set goals, weigh quality against cost, see through marketing tactics, and shop as smart consumers.
Students launch a neighborhood side hustle, calculate real business profit, and see how taxes actually affect a paycheck.
Students explore needs versus wants, fixed and variable expenses, emergency funds, and proven budgeting strategies.
Students compare checking and savings accounts, CDs, bank fees, and payment apps to make smarter, safer money decisions.
Students learn how credit works, how scores are built, how loans are structured, and how to escape debt traps.
Time is the most powerful financial tool. Students unpack compounding, investment types, risk, diversification, and retirement.
Every financial decision carries risk. Students explore insurance, coverage types, warranties, and identity theft protection.
Students discover careers, build skills, compare college and alternative paths, and look ahead at the future job market.
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 & Taxation · Career Paths
- SpendingConsumer Choices · Budget Basics
- InvestingInvesting Money
- Managing CreditCredit & Borrowing
- Managing RiskRisk & Protection
Bellringer: Spend $500 Today
Instruction
Activity: Map Your Needs & Wants
Discussion: Cutting the $140 Cart
Wrap-Up & Assessment
| Est. Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 6 min | Bellringer: Spend $500 Today |
| 10 min | Instruction |
| 14 min | Activity: Map Your Needs & Wants |
| 10 min | Discussion: Cutting the $140 Cart |
| 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.