In any society with a market-based economy, the government must: ensure the common defense, promote economic growth, and strive to maintain a just society. All three of these tasks are related to the economy in one way or another, meaning everything the government does will have an impact on the economy.
The way the government organizes taxes and their spending to influence the economy is called the Fiscal Policy. Fiscal policy is controlled by congress and the president, and boils down to how they adjust spending federal money to encourage economic growth
The Time Value of Money is a concept that a dollar in your pocket today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow – because you can use it right away. The time value of money is determined by interest rates and opportunity cost – what else could you be doing with that money?
See our collection of personal finance, economics, investing, savings, business, math, and social studies lesson plans to kick start your class. Includes over 50 lesson plans ranging across every grade level, with suggested class activities and ways to integrate the stock game and other learning resources, both for in-class activities and homework.
If you would like to set-up your Market Insight Widgets on any display screens in your classroom, this tutorial will walk you through the first set-up! Prefer “Text and Image” guides? Keep reading! What You Need To get started, there’s a few things you’ll need: A Smart TV with a web browser If you have Read More…
This is a library of Google Slides and PowerPoint presentations designed to accompany lessons built into the Personal Finance Lab assignments.
“Building Wealth” combines exercises from budgeting, spending plans, savings strategies, credit cards, and all points in between in a life-long strategy to build financial security
Raising a family is expensive. According to CNN, it costs over $230,000 to raise a child from birth to age 17 in the United States! Some say that no one is ever prepared to be a parent until it happens, but with a bit of wise financial planning, you can at least worry a bit less about money during the journey.
Your home will probably be the biggest purchase you make in your lifetime. Buying a home not only saves money on rent, but is a serious asset that can appreciate over time. Since homes are so expensive, (almost) no-one buys them in cash. Instead, homes are typically purchased with a special type of loan, called a “Mortgage”, that breaks the principle and interest into equal payments over the entire term of the loan.
Want to buy a car? Stick to your budget! Besides the base price of the vehicle, keep in mind fuel costs, insurance costs, how much it would cost to replace commonly damaged parts (like the front and rear bumpers), and even things like vehicle registration!
“Spending Shocks” are large, irregular expenses. Many people do not budget enough to successfully deal with spending shocks, which can be detrimental to their personal financial health. If you don’t want to get struck with a shock, invest in your rainy day fund!
There are a variety of unemployment programs, and other assistance programs, that exist in order to help with people facing hard financial times, and low incomes. Some of these include Unemployment Insurance, SNAP Food Assistance and Housing Assistance, and more. If you find yourself in a tight financial spot, knowing about these programs can be the difference between a quick recovery and a spiral of debt
Building a budget or spending plan is tough. Sticking to the plan is even tougher. Remember to “Pay Yourself First”, and don’t lose your head – stick to the plan!
Budgeting, and trying to grow your savings, can be extremely challenging. However, there is one easy technique you can use to make sure your savings are always growing: Pay Yourself First. This is where you set aside your savings immediately after getting your paycheck – reducing your temptation to over-spend throughout the month.
Bankruptcy is a type of forced debt settlement, and is a legal procedure. When you declare bankruptcy, the courts will gather all your unsecured creditors together, and hear the debts you owe. They will then examine all your assets, and pay out as much as they can to settle as many debts as possible.
There are a variety of Debt Management Services that are available via credit counselling such as debt management plans and debt settlement. Different services have different impacts on your credit score, but they can help avoid bankruptcy and get your life back on track.
Consolidating your debt means taking out one big loan, and using that to pay off all outstanding balances from all your previous loans. This can make the debt easier to manage, and stop late fees and interest payments from building up.
Everyone has had financial emergencies – when a huge spending shock breaks your budget or spending plan into pieces. If you have more than one emergency in a short time, such as if you lost your job, your outstanding debt balances might start to spiral out of control. But, you can try to ease these troubles by calling your creditor to discuss debt negotiation.
It happens to everyone: a monetary emergency happens, such as a car breakdown, draining your bank account. Bills are still coming in, and you already know that you will not even be close to paying off everything this month. How can you get out of this situation with the least pain?
One of the cornerstones of strong personal finances is knowing why you buy what you do, and knowing how to research your purchases in advance. What are some of the ways that you would research a purchase? What types of purchases demand the most research effort?
Every high school student makes a choice when they are about to graduate – enter the job market right away, enter a trade school, or enroll in a university? While you can always switch paths later in life, the year immediately after graduation will have a ripple effect that can last a lifetime!
When deciding whether a product is worth it or not people typically think that if the benefit of the item is greater than the cost, they should go ahead with the purchase. However, there are more factors at play here that should play a role in buying decisions, tread carefully!
Health Insurance is usually the most complicated and expensive insurance you need. Unfortunately, it is also usually the most important, making it very difficult to avoid the cost. With very few exceptions, health insurance is mandatory for all citizens in the United States.
The most challenging aspect of starting to invest is picking the first few stocks to add to a portfolio. Every investor has their own techniques and strategies, but some fundamentals remain – buy what you know, do your homework, and don’t overthink your first steps!
Use this tool to search for jobs and internships, either near you or around the world. A great way to get introduced to the job market, and identify what qualifications you need to build to land your dream job!
Experienced workers have a job search lasting about 43 days, and fresh graduates can expect a longer wait. Your search will be much harder if you make one of the following very common mistakes. Avoiding all 5 of the mistakes described in this article will not promise an interview, but hitting any might mean you are missing out.
Internships are an increasingly popular phenomenon, with a little over 1.5 million positions per year in the United States. But not all internships are created equally – students with paid internships typically get a lot better experience and better job prospects than those with unpaid positions!
Have an interview coming up? Looking to improve your interview skills? Show up on time. Be neat and clean. Know exactly what you’re there for, take notes, and ask questions!
How can you get your resume read, let alone rise to the top of the pile? Enter keywords – your new job search best friend. In big companies, your resume will have to get past a robot filter before human eyes ever see it, so pay attention to key words to get past the gatekeeper!
Life Insurance is an insurance policy designed to pay out if the insured person dies. They were created to make sure that if the main income holder of a household dies, the payout from the policy can be used to help continue to support his or her family.
Homeowner’s Insurance is a broad type of insurance coverage designed to cover a home and the property it sits on. This insurance is very broad, wrapping many different types of coverage into one package.
“Rental Insurance” is taken out on property you rent to insure against damage. Rental insurance works like a lighter version of Homeowner’s Insurance. This is usually much cheaper, just covering your “stuff” in case of break-ins, water damage, or other mishaps.
Car insurance is very important, but it can be hard to know which one to pick! Liability coverage is required everywhere, which just covers the cost if you do damage to someone else’s property or person. Collision covers your stuff too, but can have a big impact on cost!
An “Audit” is what happens when the IRS picks your return out from the pile for extra scrutiny. The auditing process is designed to catch errors in the tax returns, verify the correct amount of tax or return is being paid, and preventing fraudulent tax claims.
Most young people are perfectly capable filing their own taxes, such as filing the Form 1040. As personal finances grow and become more complex, knowing when to ask for help can get tricky.
Everyone loves getting tax breaks, but what can really ruin your finances in the long-run is forgetting about tax additions – extra taxes and fees that you need to add on to your tax bill. In the Gig Economy, these can add up fast, so make sure to include taxes in your budget!
When you file your income taxes, you can “write off” certain expenses, and get extra tax credits based on your living situation. This can make a big impact on your bottom line, but only if you have proper documentation to back up your claims!
Income tax is the tax you pay on your income, usually directly taken out of your paycheck. Additionally, if you earn rents from rental properties, investment income, interest on your savings account or bonds, or any other revenue stream, you will probably owe some income tax on it.
“Sales Tax” is a tax that is charged on goods sold to end customers, and is a set percentage of the price of the good. Different states and countries have different sales taxes – some have none at all!
“Short Term” financing means taking out a loan to make a purchase, usually with the loan term at less than a year. Short-term financing usually has a higher interest rate than long-term loans – and can even include credit card debt.
Credit cards is a form of unsecured credit (meaning a loan without collateral) that you can use to make everyday purchases. All credit card purchases are made using a loan – you borrow money from your credit card issuer, and later pay it back with interest. Read this article for information about the differences between credit and debit cards, the types of credit balance, how finance charges and interest rates work with credit cards and gives details about the CARD Act of 2009.
Before debit cards became popularized, people had to carry cash and cheques or use credit cards or short-term financing for everyday payments. Debit cards became the most popular method since they are easier and are associated with less fees that credit cards!
Not all debt it bad debt: in fact, having a healthy amount of debt is almost an essential part of growth, but taking on lots of small debts frequently can also be very dangerous to your bottom line.
Automatic Payments can be a huge time saver, but can also be problematic for your planning processes and account reconciliations. What cases are they appropriate? Can you think of a case where automatic payments would be a bad idea?
There’s a difference between a “Project Budget” and a “Living Budget”! You’ll need a different attitude when you’re thinking about how to plan your monthly income, expenses, and savings goals compared to just how to accomplish something specific over a short time.
Reconciliation is the process of reconciling your checkbook by comparing your own written records with your bank statements. Although this process has changed drastically in the 21st century, it is still an important for your personal finances.
If you save receipts for every purchase you make the paper will pile up quickly. Think about what types of receipts you DEFINITELY need to save, and which ones you can throw out!
There are over 600 articles, videos, and calculators in the Personal Finance Lab Learn Center. However, we have selected the best 100 for use in personal finance classes, with integration with the Pfinlab Assignments feature.
This article can help you decipher options symbols into meaningful information to help you understand the option at hand!