Investing isn't just for adults. Investing in one's future is a key part of life and starts long before someone becomes an adult or enters the workforce. This is why it's so important to help kids understand the complicated ways finance works in the world, and how with a little bit of thought and application starting now, they can begin to plan and invest in the bigger future they want for themselves.
Simplifying Complicated Investing Concepts
As we've seen over the last couple of blog posts, the fundamentals of investing come with a lot of complicated concepts. From stocks and bonds to low- and high-risk investments to mutual funds, it can be a little challenging for kids to grasp the concepts and to wrap their heads around the nuances of investing. What matters most is to help kids understand that investing can be such a beneficial process for their future. That's why we’re pulling the curtain back even more to showcase the power-packed Investing strand of the FUTURES: Financially Literate Kids for a Financially Literate Society™ program.
In these lessons, students learn to define not only what investing is, but how to understand the myriad complex investment opportunities that are available today. This is crucial engagement that helps kids to begin to develop their own point of view and awareness of the many different life factors that can so easily influence the value of various investment options such as stocks. Life factors also influence us, as investors, making it a good time or not-so-good time to take a risk or make a move. By teaching kids about investing, we’re underscoring vital life choices that kids will make as they move forward in school, their careers, and life itself. It’s always about choices.
This rich, scenario-packed program Investing strand is ideal for kids from grades K through 8—and beyond. These sections also make for a quick and easy review for grad students, MBAs, entrepreneurs, and anyone who’s curious about what it takes to successfully invest in one's own future. Financial education knowledge is key to planning a bigger future, increasing your financial literacy, and working to become a wise and seasoned investor. The detailed Investing strand covers a wealth of topics in this stand-alone section of the program:
Fundamentals of Investing
Stocks
Mutual Funds
Bonds
Purchasing Investments
Portfolio Managements
Through easy to understand, engaging lessons involving real-world scenarios, helpful worksheets, fun activities, and even some games and everyone who explores this strand will discover:
how to define investing and learn why investing is a beneficial practice.
how to determine what it costs to own a stock and how one might go about choosing a stock.
More about mutual funds, it's advantages and disadvantages, and how to evaluate mutual funds as an investment option.
the characteristics of a bond and what key information is need to evaluate a bond as an investment choice.
how to plan to make their investments grow by learning to manage risk.
the role of the stock market, the roles of financial advisors, how to make a self-directed investment purchase, and how to buy certain stocks directly from the company.
As with the other strands in this powerful financial literacy program, each section is organized around an engaging Focus Question and divided into five parts, providing a spiraled, progressive presentation of the topic. Five levels of instruction move from a basic to advanced understanding of topics concerning entrepreneurship, helping teachers “meet their students where they are.” Adult learners will also be able to learn from the ground up with this progressive instructional model.
Just check out a few of the sections to get a first-hand look at the wealth of information. The supplemental activities help all of us to apply our skills and talents from other experiences. Students can make cross-curricular connections with other subject areas, too—including math, art, writing, science, and social studies.
No Such Thing As A Free Program?
Guess, again. During this Financial Literacy Month of April, we've shared a substantial preview of the informative worksheets and engaging exercises that make up the Investing strand from the FUTURES program. That said, nothing can compare to actually going through the whole program with your kids. That’s why this program is FREE.
Investing is a substantial part of financial literacy and with the Investing Strand, kids have access to over 300 pages of easy-to-digest content and exercises to help expand their world view on stocks, mutual funds, risk and most importantly, themselves. From hard-to-understand key concepts and definition breakdowns to fun and memorable games that help bring out the FUNdamentals of investing, kids will begin to understand the trickier concepts involved with investing and will begin to develop their own personal investing philosophy. By allowing kids the time to think and respond to the worksheets, FUTURES helps promote an inspire kids to think for themselves and starts them off on the path to better understand the world around them.
Investing in YOUR Future
Not only does the Investing strand offer many stable stepping stones to help kids along the path of financial literacy and sound investing, it also provides kids with the necessary materials and examples to begin to engage in investing and to see the value of investing in their own future.
FUTURES Investing Strand helps kids understand that investing requires resources including time, money, and talent. FUTURES helps kids begin to self-actualize their own personal investment philosophy and provides them with a framework to understand complicated investing concepts.
Visit Us Every Day in April
Check back tomorrow for our next financial literacy post. For more information about FUTURES: Financially Literate Kids for a Financially Literate Society™, this amazing (and FREE!) financial literacy program for students in kindergarten through eighth grade, or to download sections from the program, please click below.