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Financial Literacy Program

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Our financial literacy programs aim to change how young people think about their personal economics and their financial management. We teach financial literacy as a Life Skill something that everyone regardless of their job or career needs to know and understand while also encouraging informed decision making. We currently serve over 500 young people every year. We offer year-round classes in Brockton (and by Zoom to other places in Massachusetts) we teach economic and financial literacy concepts including budgeting and savings. We offer programs for a range of ages, but the focus is middle school. In addition, our Investment Club, run during the school year for middle and high school students in partnership with BASE Chicago, provides students an opportunity to simulate investments in real stocks and participate in a nationwide stock investing competition.

Students at Bentley University's Trading Room
Students at Bentley University's Trading Room

In 2024, Empower Yourself students took the top five positions in this competition with over 300 participants, our students won over 18k in prize money that they used to fund their investment portfolio and college planning. A lot of our student success can be accredited to the tremendous relationship we have Bentley University. Bentley allows our students to come to their trading room multiple times a year and teach our students how to trade and too understand financial markets. More importantly, Bentley provides our students opportunities within the Bentley Community.

Beyond the impact we have by working directly with students from lower-income families, we advise schools and train teachers on how to deliver their own year-round financial literacy classes. We also support schools in creating their own investment clubs.

These programs are intentionally designed to drive towards our intended outcomes and overall goal as an organization.

 Financial Literacy Program Schedule

 

Week 1
 
  • Financial Assessment Test

  • Overview:

  • What Do You Know About This Topic?

  • Program Overview

Week 2 & 3
  • The Secret to Becoming a Millionaire

  • Save Early/Save Often

  • Spending Money

  • Save as Much as Possible

  • How You Earn Compound Interest

  • How to Earn a High Interest Rate

  • Leave Deposits and Interest Earned in the Account As Long As Possible

  • Accounts Where Interest is Compounded Often

Week 4

  • Interactive Exercises

Week 5
  • Test 1:

  • Test Review

  • Test Covering Week 1 – 3

Week 6
  • Wallpaper Woes

  • Story of Tom

Week 6 – 8
  • Your Own Wallpaper Woes

  • Plan to redecorate your bedroom at home. List everything you want to have and measure their rooms at home

  • Income: where will the money from to pay for your wallpaper? Create a budget and a financing plan

  • Go online and look for all the items you desire for your wallpaper exercise. Capture cost for these items and put them in your budget

  • Review your constraints, and trade-offs, since you now know you can’t afford all your desires.

  • Let’s discuss what you ended-up with. Each student will present their plan from beginning to end. Classmates will ask questions about your experience

Week 9 – 11
  • Math and Taxes: A Pair to Count On
  • Careers: Students examine careers that they want to aspire to and will reflect on how workers use math in their occupations.

  • Occupation: Students will research the occupation online, learn about the required jobs skills needed (human capital) that different workers possess and the salary that those workers earn.

  • Taxes: Students learn about how taxes are paid on income that people earn and how income tax is calculated. They learn how the progressive federal income tax is based on the ability-to-pay principle.

Week 12
  • Test 2:

  • Test Review

  • Test Covering Week 4 – 11

Week 13 & 14
  • Spreading the Budget

  • Looking Deeper Into Budget Components

  • Develop a budget for a college student, using a spreadsheet

  • Assets/Income: What kinds of income can a person have? What Assets Does this student have? Enter them into your budget

  • Expenses: Kinds of Expenses: What are the student’s fixed, variable, and periodic expenses and revise to adjust for cash flow problems that

Week 14
  • Class Q & A

  • Allowing your peers to help your understanding of the lessons

  • Interactive exercises.

Week 15
  • Test 3:

  • Test Review

  • Test Covering All

Week 16
 
  • Financial Assessment Test

 

Outcomes

With a good financial education our students has a good grasp on their own financial & economic outcomes but also a good grasp of financial markets and how they work.