Broke is a documentary about sports stars who went from having millions of dollars to being broke and the mental anguish that comes along with this. The movie explores why this happens, mostly due to how many of the individuals lacked basic financial literacy skills. Students will develop 5 lessons / take-aways that they learned from the movie that the rest of us can learn from? They will discuss the themes and lessons shared regarding making responsible financial decisions, ways to gather information and explore how financial security (or lack of it) can have a major influence on mental health and well-being. 

Students will examine current personal money management habits by answering budgeting questions. This activity can help students realize that they are “throwing away” or saving real money based on their choices and actions. You could collect the money that “costs” them and add up the total class amount “spent” on making poor budgeting decisions. Discuss as a class how much has been wasted. Ask the students to reflect on how much money they have left. Did they “spend” all their money or end up with lots of money.

Outcome: FL10.5 Examine the role of personal budgets and their importance for financial planning. Indicator: i. Create and justify a personal budget for a hypothetical scenario that includes income and expenses. Students will read Gabrielle’s story and examine her budget.  Use the table or budget sheet to set up and maintain Gabrielle’s budget. Then the students will need to re-do her budget for the next month to make it work that she doesn’t spend more than she earns. There is a final reflection and analysis for the students to learn from this budget activity and how it will help them in the future to budget unanticipated items as well. 

This lesson includes full classroom sequence including suggested intro activities, timing, formative and summative activites, and context for teaching. In this lesson, students will identify and review their expenses and income and learn to create a budget. At the end of this lesson, students will: know, understand and/or can distinguish between needs and wants and create a personal budget. According to a FCAC’s 2024 Canadian Financial Wellbeing Survey, 53% of Canadians have household budgets. 62% of respondents say their debt increased by more than $5000 in the past 12 months and only 54% had an emergency fund to cover 3 months of expenses (down from 64% in 2019) 32% of Canadian say they are short on money at the end of the month (vs. 19% in 2019), which means budgeting isn’t going as well as it should be. So, since budgeting seems to aid in your financial health, why don’t most Canadians follow their budget?

Students will work through a budgeting workbook, choosing their expenses and overcoming unexpected items each month. Step 1, the student will use a dice to determine their future job, which will be used throughout the activity. Step 2 guides the students to calculate their take home pay using step by step guide to take off deductions from the paycheck. Step 3 allows the students to make life decisions for how they want to live and determine how much those decisions will costs (tracking the happiness points that go along with each choice). Step 4 is a fun part of the budget where "stuff happens" which impact their monthly finances and happiness points. There is a summary activity to find out if students are able to fund their monthly budget, even with the unexpected. There is a final reflection and analysis for the students to learn from this budget activity. Students will need this workbook, a dice (could be virtual), and a calculator

This collection features resources to support teaching Module 6C: Applying Personal Spending Plans from the Saskatchewan Financial Literacy curriculum.  In Round 1, students learn to allocate their "20 bean salary" according to which options they want to spend their beans on. Round 2 forces the students to reduce their salary to 13 beans and make decisions about where they should make their "cuts". Round 3 includes some "life happens" challenges that allow students to make more decisions on where to move the beans in order to deal with the situations. This activity completes with some reflection questions on how this activity relates to budgeting with real income.

This resource provides a listening guide, presentation and student assignment on the topic of "Buy Now, Pay Later", which has become a very popular way to finance everyday purchases. Students are challenged to identify the rise of BNPL programs and how they can "hurt" your credit score and lead to irresponsible borrowing in the future.  

Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services have rapidly transformed the way many consumers approach online shopping, offering an alternative to traditional credit cards by allowing immediate purchases with deferred payments. These services have gained popularity for their ease of use and the perception of increased affordability, especially among younger consumers. However, it's crucial to understand the financial implications of BNPL, including the risks of overspending, debt accumulation, and potential impacts on credit health, to make informed and responsible financial decisions. 

This humorous vignette points out the necessity of taking care when we purchase something online. More and more we are making purchases online and avoiding the bricks and mortar stores. While this is proving to be an increasingly popular choice for people, there are cautions that need to be taken. As with any financial practice, there are safeguards and checks to be made, prior to any purchase, in order to ensure that we don’t wind up with something we don’t want – or worse – that we have been taken advantage of by unscrupulous people. So how do we safeguard ourselves as we shop online? There are certain things you can do.

Learning About Money Doesn’t Have To Be Boring!
A series of short vignettes produced for CFEE by Just For Laughs Gags focusing on money and highlighting money challenges, along with supporting tips and teaching material and suggested classroom activities and lesson ideas.
- Mind Your Money (PIN and password security)
- Buying Online: Be Safe. Be Wise (identifying secure websites, public WIFI and password security)
- Do They Have the Right Stuff (Trusted Advice, Selecting Financial Advisors, Good Money Decisions)
- If It Sounds Too Good To Be True (suspicious offers, risk/reward, credible investment sources)
-Catch It If You Can - In the Small Print (contracts, documents, verbal agreements, protect yourself)
- Why Pay More? (credit card offers, payments and interest charges, statement information, credit score)
- Need it, Want it, It's Your Call (need vs want, spending choices, compulsive buying, influences on buying)
- Take The Time (spending decisions, pressures to spend, comparison shopping, budget your money, return policies)
- Get the Credit You Deserve (credit score, paying off debt, credit rating accuracy, importance of a credit score)
- Scam Alert! (scams, fraud, personal information, protect your identity)

Use the course content in your own program and help your students develop an understanding of how the Canadian tax system works. Modules: Purpose of taxes, Starting to work, Lesson plan: Working for an employer, Lesson plan: Working for yourself, Lesson plan: Preparing to do your taxes, Lesson plan: Completing a basic tax return, Lesson plan: After sending us your tax return, Lesson plan: Using My Account, Lesson plan: Accessing your benefits and credits

In this activity, students will explore a job as an Uber driver. There are some clear perks of working in the gig economy, such as being your own boss and working flexible hours. But it might not be as easy as it seems. You’re a full-time Uber driver with two kids to support and a $1000 mortgage payment due in a week. Can you earn enough to pay the bill -- and make more than other players?Students will keep track of their activities in the game, their choices (to pick shifts or spend money) and how they did during the game over (able to pay bills, balance life with a job that side hustle and varying hours). 

This funny vignette stresses the importance of reading the fine print. Many times the “small print” is hard to read.  Warranties, contracts, policies, agreements and guarantees can be so long that it is human nature to skim over the text and sign without fully reading all the details. It is likely we have all done it. Think about it, if there is something that a seller wants to hide from you knowing, where would you put it? Often the information or exceptions that you really need to be aware of are placed at the end of the agreement. By that time, you are tired of reading and often agree without finishing reading all of the terms.  A buyer needs to be aware of his or her rights and have the confidence to stand up for them.

Smart money management requires building a foundation in strong, healthy financial habits. In this activity, we’ll learn about how habits work and then apply that knowledge to a financial habit that you’d like to change.Have students think about a financial habit they would like to change, and then answer the questions in the booklet. 

There are several interesting articles written by Anne Gaviola on Vice focused on Canadian finances, debt, and correlations between money and a person’s well-being. Keeping your debt a secret can mess with your mind and body. The culture of secrecy around debt causes young people to suffer in silence, making it even harder to manage debt. Use this content for case-based learning opportunities.

More than four million barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico during the 87-day period following the explosion at the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig on April 20, 2010. The environmental and social effects of the Gulf Oil Spill will continue to draw the attention of educators for years to come as scientists continue to learn more about The Deepwater Horizon blowout and its impacts over time. Help teach your students about this event using PLT activities.

A money story is developed through the impact of your childhood and core memories of money. It is influenced by the impact of those around you as you watched, listened and absorbed money discussions and behaviors of others. The people around us and those we interact with, all help us develop our own money story and values regarding financial descisions. In this activity, students will:Draw their visions regarding spending, saving and giving moneyReflect on one 6 promots regarding personal influences and experiences on moneyWatch a Ted Talk on a personal money story for Tammy Lally "Let's get honest about our money problems" https://youtu.be/jlhtTKPkg5M?si=-qpm70n3Jwki5hYA Develop some future thinking ideas of what will impact them in the future Confirm their own "money story" now

This is an online lesson with built in quizzes, videos and explanations. Students can use this to supplement the learnng happening in the classroom on the credit card unit. Topics covered include: How do credit cards work?When should you use a credit card?Credit Card TerminologyWhat are some factors to consider when choosing a credit card?What are the costs of using a credit card?What are credit scores and how can you build your credit score?There is also a mini case activity included at the end with questions and feedback for the student.

In this lesson, students will learn how to read and interpret a credit report, and in the process they willdevelop an understanding of how their spending affects their credit history. They will learn about the credit bureaus in Canada, what information they track and who can review the report. An important question the students will investigate is "what does the credit file tell others about them?" There is also a sample credit report from Equifax on Jane Doe for the students to review and analyze.  

Teachers can use this resource to debate as a class or have the students reflect and answer on their own. It works well to divide the class into four groups and assign the students a topic (for or against). They may not agree with the topic they have been given, but that's the importance of debate- to allow a person to see both sides and why someone would support an argument different than your own.