Financial Literacy Month (sometimes referred to as Financial Capability Month) includes events and activities that focus on raising public awareness about the importance of financial literacy and the need for financial education.

Financial literacy is an essential component of effective career planning and development. If you’re using Kuder Navigator® with your students, be sure to direct them to the Financial Literacy 101 curriculum, which contains nine modules that provide accurate information, introduce concepts and ideas, spark awareness, and empower them to take control of their financial lives.

Where to Find Free, Unbiased Financial Literacy Lesson Plans

If you’re looking to integrate an interactive lesson plan or unit on financial literacy, here are some free, unbiased sources that we like:

• The High School Financial Planning Program is an excellent source for K-12 financial literacy content aligned with national academic standards.
• The Council for Economic Education offers the comprehensive Financial Fitness for Life® program to help K-12 students gain a better understanding of economic concepts.
• The National Education Association has extensive lesson plans for K-16, plus teacher preparedness resources to supplement your curriculum.
• The U.S. Mint website offers lots of fun, engaging activities for K-12, including the game “Change Mixer,” which challenges students to skip, slide, gallop, run, and jump as they add coin values.
• The U.S. Treasury offers up a dynamic four-lesson curriculum for middle school students, “Money Math: Lessons for Life.”
• CashCourse, from the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE), is a complete postsecondary curriculum that also includes articles and self-guided tools for secondary students.
• Junior Achievement’s JA Personal Finance® curriculum for high school students focuses on spending money wisely through budgeting, saving and investing, using credit cautiously, and protecting personal finances.

Leverage the Kuder System

In addition to Financial Literacy 101, here’s an activity to get your students thinking about occupations as they relate to potential income. The next time you use Navigator® with your students, have them log into their accounts and direct them to do the following:

1. If they haven’t already done so, have students complete the three Kuder assessments to find occupations aligned to their interests, skills confidence, and work values.
2. Ask students to explore three occupations of choice, based on their assessment results.
3. For each occupation, ask students to record:
   • How much they might earn. (What is the projected salary and outlook?)
   • How much education or training might they need.
   • What a day might be like in that occupation.
   • If that occupation is likely to have openings in their state.

Financial Literacy Month Hashtags

• #FLM2018
• #FinancialLiteracyMonth
• #FinLitMonth
• #dollarsense
• #afinlitfuture
• #MySavingsStory

Learn More

If you’d like to learn more about Financial Literacy Month, Jump$tart Coalition is a great place to start. As the original promoter of Financial Literacy Month, their site offers an abundance of resources and event listings.

Have a free financial literacy resource you’d like to share? Let us know!