American History - Mr. Powell's Classes



Maryville High School

Personal Finance Syllabus

Instructor: Nathan Powell

Periods: 1st, 4th, and 5th Planning Period: 2nd hour

Email: nathanpowell@maryville.k12.mo.us

Website: mhshist.maryville.k12.mo.us

Course Materials: Financial Peace School Curriculum – Foundations in Personal Finance: Dave Ramsey

Classroom Expectations

• Have a great attitude! Just like life, this class is exactly what you make of it

• Respect and responsibility*

• Be on time

• Listen and participate

• Be prepared: You should come to class with something to write with and something to

write on. Very few exceptions will be made in allowing you to return to your locker.

• Academic honesty: anyone caught giving or receiving information during quizzes or tests

will receive a zero for that assessment

* If you are absent from class, YOU are responsible for getting your missed work from me. I

spend enough time chasing my own kids, I will not be chasing you.

Course Description:

Understanding and managing personal finances are key to one’s future financial success. This one-semester course is based on the Missouri Personal Finance Competencies and presents essential knowledge and skills to make informed decisions about real world financial issues. Students will learn how choices influence occupational options and future earning potential. Students will also learn to apply decision-making skills to evaluate career choices and set personal goals. The course content is designed to help the learner make wise spending, saving, and credit decisions and to make effective use of income to achieve personal financial success.

Graduates from this course will be able to:

• Explain financial literacy and how sound financial decisions can increase a person’s standard of living and wealth.

• Develop a career path based on rational decision making, appropriate research and self-reflection.

• Apply decision making to personal financial choices (planning, maintaining and analyzing money management) throughout various stages of financial status.

• Evaluate the sources and resources of financial systems that are available throughout various stages of financial status.

• Evaluate sources of credit, as well as the rights and responsibilities of credit, and be able to apply a decision-making process to ensure appropriate purchases.

• Evaluate investments and create a plan for the future.

• Apply the rights and responsibilities of consumers to personal living and financial choices.

UNITS OF STUDY

Unit 1: Basics of Econ

• This unit will answer the basic questions about how our economy works. We will discuss opportunity cost, supply and demand, types of businesses and how our government impacts the way our system operates.

Unit 2: Saving and Investing

• We will be emphasizing the importance of saving and allowing that money to work for you towards college, retirement, further investment opportunities or whatever you can imagine.

- Chapter 1: Savings

- Chapter 2: Investment Options

- Chapter 3: Wealth Building and College Savings

Unit 3: Credit and Debt

• Our government is not the only person or group in our country that cannot manage their finances. This unit will show you how easy and dangerous debt can be and open your eyes to how the burden of debt can destroy you.

- Chapter 4: Dangers of Debt

- Chapter 5: Consumer Awareness

- Chapter 6: Credit Bureaus and Collection Practices

Unit 4: Financial Responsibility and Money Management

• You do not have to be a “grown up” to know how to take care of your money. You will learn what a budget is all about, how it works, where to find deals and understand why making a plan should be a priority.

- Chapter 7: Budgeting 101

- Chapter 8: Bargain Shopping

- Chapter 9: Relating with Money

Unit 5: Income and Careers

• While you will not be asked to decide what to do with the rest of your life, in this unit you will hopefully be able to narrow some of your options down. We will utilize personality and interest profiles, as well as your educational preferences to get you started. We will also address how your income will affect how popular you are with our government.

• Chapter 10: Career Choices and Taxes

Unit 6: Insurance and Risk Management

• Auto, Home and Life insurance will be discussed in this unit, as well as how to buy a house. All of these topics may seem like things to worry about in the future, but when we complete it, this unit will have given you a strong foundation to move forward with.

• Chapter 11: Ins and Outs of Insurance

• Chapter 12: Real Estate and Mortgages

What Are We Going To Do?

This class is broken down into six units. Unit 1 is a crash course in basic economics, while Units 2 – 6 will be centered on saving money and using that to become financially stable and hopefully wealthy. Each chapter is set up the same way. We will utilize videos and case studies, as well as complete research activities. The videos for the Dave Ramsey units are broken down into 4-8 sections; each section is no more than 15 minutes in length. Students will follow along with the videos by filling in their notes pages in their binders. Your job in this entire process is to set/establish some personal goals you wish to accomplish in the class and to come up with a plan to make them happen. To succeed, you need to take advantage of everything we do in class and observe the world around you to put the material into perspective.

After each chapter there will be a quiz over the material we covered in class, with tests following each unit. Each test will have a study guide for you to complete which will have you absolutely prepared for the test. Quizzes and tests will contain matching, multiple choice and short answer questions.

The Maryville R-2 grading scale is included below:

Grading Scale

A 95-100 C+ 77-79 D- 60-62

A- 90-94 C 73-76 F 0-59

B+ 87-89 C- 70-72

B 83-86 D+ 67-69

B- 80-82 D 63-66

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