1. Building the value and benefits of saving into the public education
curriculum
2. As the oldest of eight children, one would
think saving would have been impossible.
BUT my father always saved – even if only a
small amount each payday.
When I asked my parents how did you start
saving, they answered with some of the
lessons about daily living they learned in
school.
To raise the individual savings rate in
America, let’s bring those lessons back!
3. Learn to recognize pennies, nickels, dimes
and quarters.
Buy small items at the classroom store where
everything costs less than 25 cents!
It’s special to be shopkeeper for the day.
4. Learn to recognize paper money.
Use play money in $1.00, $5.00, $10.00 and
$20.00 denominations
Play games with a pretend savings passbook
and enter how much you earn each game
day.
5. What’s that dot? Learning the decimal point.
Do I NEED it? Or do I just WANT it?
6. A visit fromTIAA-CREF
A savings game withTIAA-CREF –
everyone starts with $1.00
Add to yourTIAA-CREF account during
the year
Celebrate the best savers at year end
(not the amount because that would
disadvantage some students) but the
consistency of saving
7. YourTIAA-CREF rep returns – everyone
knows the rep by now and is excited
A new savings game begins – the
students who are most diligent about
saving are in a contest for a prize at
year end.
Add toTIAA-CREF accounts during
the year
Students write about and discuss ways
of making money and ideas for
balancing saving and spending.
8. Continue saving with theTIAA-CREF passbook
Conversations with adults – parents or others –
and class discussions:
How do you decide how much to save and how
much to spend?
How do you avoid spending money you want to
save/have saved?
What are some things you do to manage your
money? How do you keep track?
How do you decide when something is a need or a
want?
TheTIAA-CREF rep attends 8th grade graduation
and awards a prize to the student who wrote the
best essay on the value of saving money!
9. Practical matters – how to balance a checkbook,
how to create a spending/saving budget, how to
make saving a lifelong habit, how to keep saving
(even a little) despite pressures to spend.
Jobs, perhaps at the school, babysitting, dog
walking, mowing lawns and so forth. Does half
go into savings?
Practical discussions around “value” and “sale”
and “need” versus “want” – there’s a lot of
pressure in high school to wear expensive,
trendy clothes. How do you keep up without
going broke? Do you have to keep up?
10. What’s a stock?What’s a bond? How is a
bank different from other places to save?
How do you chooseTIAA-CREF or Fidelity or
another vendor?
What is a risky investment versus a safe one?
What mix of savings is good at different
ages?
At graduation, theTIAA-CREF rep awards a
scholarship to the senior(s) who have
consistently saved throughout K-12.
12. Double Fudge by Judy
Blume
Money Hungry by
Sharon Flake
True Believer by
Virginia EuwerWolff
The Kid’s Guide to
Money: Earning It,
Spending It, Growing
It, Sharing It by Steve
Otfinoski
Smart-Money Moves
for Kids by Judith Briles
Ultimate Kids’ Money
Book by Neale Godfrey
13. Short term need or want:
Movie ticket & popcorn
$15.00
Think about:
If I take $15.00 out of my
savings, can I still save
enough on time to go on
the camping trip?
Is there another way to
make some more money?
Long term need or want:
Camping trip $150.00
Think about:
How much can I save each
week?
How long will it take me to
save this much?
The trip is in 3 months –
can I reach this goal by
then?
14. Once you put money into savings, you may
be tempted to spend it because you know it is
there.
Keep some money to spend and let the
money you’ve saved grow.
Check out your monthly statements and
watch the interest and your additional
savings contributions add up!
