Twelve short chapters with Jordan, Maya, and Chris. Cartoons, money stories, calculators, and challenges — finish all twelve to earn your Money Starter certificate.
Go beyond memorizing terms. Use the tools below to connect cash flow, trade-offs, uncertainty, and long-term compounding.
Money decisions have an opportunity cost: choosing one use of a dollar means giving up another use. A purchase can be worth it, but a learner should be able to explain what the dollar is doing today and what future goal it delays.
Choose a priority and see how a fixed monthly amount could be assigned. The result is an educational scenario, not a recommendation.
Explore how regular contributions can accumulate under a chosen illustrative annual return. Actual results vary, and returns can be negative.
Assumption: monthly contributions at month-end, monthly compounding, before taxes and fees. This is an educational model, not a forecast.
This short questionnaire describes a learning profile. It does not determine a suitable investment allocation.
Turn a vague intention into a measurable target. The result is a planning exercise, not individualized financial advice.
Choose a learning profile, set target weights, and introduce a market move to see drift. This tool teaches diversification and rebalancing mechanics; it does not recommend an allocation.
Educational assumptions: three asset buckets, one stock shock, no taxes, fees, transaction costs, or changing correlations.
Meet the academy’s fictional coaching group. Each person asks a different question before acting.
Have you ever had money and then wondered — wait, where did it all go? Money usually doesn't disappear. It leaves in small pieces. Today you'll learn how to control where it goes.
Jordan helps his uncle clean out a garage and earns $80. By Sunday: pizza $16, game add-on $12, snacks $8, phone case $20, convenience trip $11 — $67 spent. Jordan has $13 left and says, "How did I spend almost all of it?" Nothing mysterious happened — Jordan just spent without a plan first.
Save at least $10 this week — skip one purchase, earn extra, or save part of money you receive.
Before you can manage money, there's another question: where does it come from? Money usually starts with solving a problem for someone.
Maya wants $300 for a tablet. She lists what she's good at, then tries dog walking at $15 a walk, 4 walks each weekend. $15 × 4 = $60 per weekend. After 5 weekends: $60 × 5 = $300. Goal reached.
Always follow local laws, platform age requirements, and parent/guardian rules.
Choose one safe, age-appropriate way to earn $20. What will you do, what will you charge, how many customers do you need?
Saving doesn't mean never having fun, and spending doesn't mean you're bad with money. The goal is balance.
Chris has $150. Sneakers cost $140. He's also saving for a $400 gaming system. Buying the sneakers leaves only $10. Chris's choices: buy now, wait and save more, or find a cheaper pair.
For something you want but don't need: wait 24 hours, then decide. You may still want it — or you may realize you don't.
Choose one thing you want this week. Wait 24 hours before buying it. Did you still want it? Did you buy it? What did you learn?
Budget sounds boring, but here's what it really means: a plan for your money. You're telling your money what to do.
Maya earns $120 and decides: Spend $60, Save $40, Grow $20. Now Maya knows exactly where her money is going.
Create a plan for the next money you receive, split across Spend, Save, and Grow.
Banks are tools. You don't need every banking term — just what the basic tools do.
Jordan opens his first account with a parent and deposits $300. He spends $45 with his debit card. New balance: $255. The debit card didn't give him extra money — it used money he already had.
Compare two pretend bank accounts by fees, minimum balance, ATM access, and savings options. Choose the better one.
Here's the most important credit lesson: credit is borrowed money. It is not extra income. You have to repay it.
Chris wants $200 headphones and uses credit. Now he owes $200 — and if interest is added because the balance is carried, he could repay more than $200.
Look at a sample credit offer and find the APR, late fee, annual fee, and payment due date.
You worked 10 hours and earned $150 — then your paycheck arrives smaller. Welcome to taxes and deductions.
Maya earns $300 gross pay. After taxes and deductions, she receives $257 net pay. Lesson: plan spending with the money you actually receive, not gross income.
Review a sample paycheck and identify gross pay, taxes, deductions, and net pay.
Big goals become easier when you turn them into small steps. You don't save $1,000 all at once — you save $10, then another $10.
Laptop costs $600. Jordan has $120 saved, needs $480 more. Saving $40/month: $480 ÷ $40 = 12 months. Now the goal has a plan.
Name your goal, its cost, a deadline, and your weekly savings target.
Saving is important, but there's another skill: investing — putting money into something that you hope will grow in value over time. Investing also involves risk.
Maya has $500 pretend dollars. Instead of one company, she spreads it among several investments — she learns spreading risk can help protect you from relying on one investment.
Pretend you have $1,000. Divide it across 3 investments and explain why.
Scammers want you to act before you think. They use fear, pressure, excitement, and urgency. Your job is to slow down.
"Congratulations! You won $5,000. Pay a $50 fee to receive your prize." Chris never entered a contest. Red flags: unexpected money, payment required, urgency, unknown sender.
STOP — don't rush. CHECK — look carefully. VERIFY — contact the real organization another way. DECIDE — only act after checking.
Find three warning signs in a pretend scam message.
A business begins when someone solves a problem for someone else and gets paid — it can start with one skill, one customer, one sale.
Maya offers $20 digital flyers and gets 5 customers: $20 × 5 = $100 revenue. Costs total $20. $100 − $20 = $80 profit.
Create one safe, age-appropriate way to earn $20. Name your idea, your customer, and your price.
You've learned how to earn, spend, save, bank, use credit, read a paycheck, invest, spot scams, and run a mini business. Now let's put it together.
Write your three money rules and your first big money goal in your Money Starter Planner.
Twelve chapters down. You now know how to earn, budget, bank, use credit, save, invest, and spot a scam. Enter your name for your certificate, then keep going with your Money Starter Planner.