Last Updated on July 12, 2024 by Sarah McCubbin
The Beyond Personal Finance course is one of the most practical online courses teens can take to help them launch successfully into adulthood. The combination of academic and life skills taught in an engaging format is sure to be one of your student’s favorite classes.
When I was a teenager in school, personal finance education mostly centered on how to write a check, how to balance a checkbook and of course micro and macro economics. In other words, there were HOLES, lots of holes in my financial education. My husband and I married young. I was 20 and he was 23 during our senior years of college.
Being married and having bills to pay was a complete shock to my system. I actually had no idea how much things cost…the big ticket things like rent, car repairs, insurance and more. Somehow I had very high grades but almost no idea on the practicalities what it took to financially manage a household. Thankfully both of us had been raised in frugal homes, be we had a lot of financial challenges simply because we were not making the best choices.
Because of that, we knew that early on our kids NEEDED to learn how to manage their money in incremental steps. It was too much to have all financial decisions served up at age 20 all at one time. Instead, we mapped out a timeline for our kids where they started earning as young teens and also started paying for different things incrementally so they would develop a baseline of understanding by the time they graduated from college or moved out.
In our house, that has meant our kids started jobs around age 14 and began paying for things like cell phones, shoes, clothes, insurance, drivers ed, cars and college. Everyone has a unique financial situation. Helping our teens become confident adults is about helping them manage what they have, no matter how much money they are earning.
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Beyond Personal Finance offers an engaging and comprehensive approach to financial education for teens, particularly high school students. This curriculum stands out due to its interactive nature, allowing students to design and budget for their future lives, making crucial financial decisions along the way. My decision to review this curriculum stems from its innovative approach to teaching personal finance, which promises to equip young adults with essential financial planning and money management skills.
Table of Contents
Personal Finance Course Overview
Recently I had the chance to review the teen version of Beyond Personal Finance. Currently in our house, we have 5 teenagers so this topic is very relevant! I was eager to fill gaps in our current understanding of personal finance. As other homeschool parents can probably appreciate, I feel like I’m still learning some of these things…and I’m 45 years old!!
Beyond Personal Finance was developed by Charla McKinley, a retired CPA who homeschooled her own kids. The course is designed to teach financial literacy to teens by teaching concepts in a fun, way that makes good financial choices seem logical. I liked that the format was a combination of full color spiral workbook and engaging videos through an online platform. Purchasing Beyond Personal Finance grants a 365-day online membership to the student and teacher portals. This includes access to self-paced video teaching, lesson plans, and additional resources.
The course materials are designed to be completed in 1 semester but you have access to the online portion for a year. (Note: If you have a younger child wants to take it later, you can reactivate your online course portion for only $50.)
They also offer a 60 day money back guarantee. If your teen doesn’t love this curriculum, send it back for a full refund! As a mom with lots of partially used curriculum on my shelf….I appreciate this offer!!
Structure and Content of Beyond Personal Finance Course
The curriculum consists of 20 lessons, each less than 2 hours long, designed to be completed in one semester. Students explore various financial topics, from career choices to investment decisions. Key components include the student workbook, teacher resources, and self-paced instructional videos. The optional teacher workbook provides completed answers for ease of instruction. The teaching approach combines interactive and practical methods, allowing students to make informed decisions about their financial future. This methodology aligns with experiential learning principles, emphasizing real-world application. Topics covered include mutual funds, estate planning, investment risks, risk management, and the time value of money.
As a mom of 9, one of the biggest challenges teens face is to get a big picture of life. They are young…that is normal. But having course that bridges the gaps between current relevant personal finance skills (like getting a 1st job) and things far off in the future like retirement is so helpful. Because in reality, there are things they can do when they are young that will affect them 40 years later!!
I also appreciate how this curriculum talks about the importance of family finances and how financial decisions affect family members. Mixed into these “financial math lessons” are conversations about marriage, divorce and other life situations. This holistic approach helps students appreciate the broader implications of their financial choices, promoting a deeper understanding of personal financial literacy.
Pros
One of the strengths of Beyond Personal Finance is its interactive learning approach, where highschoolers actively engage in financial planning, making the learning process dynamic and enjoyable. The curriculum offers comprehensive coverage of topics like careers and education, budgeting, savings accounts, insurance coverage, purchasing a car, renting an apartment and much more. The first unit focuses on basic financial knowledge and then progresses toward topics related to debt, marriage, insurance, investments and much more as part of bigger personal financial goals.
It truly provides a well-rounded financial education. By simulating real-life financial decisions, students gain practical insights and skills. Unique features include self-paced learning, allowing flexibility to complete the course at one’s own pace, and extensive resources, including video teaching and lesson plans. Many high school students have reported increased confidence in handling their personal finances, and educators have praised the curriculum for its thorough and engaging content.
Cons
While the curriculum is robust, it may be complex for younger students, such as middle schoolers, without additional guidance. In my opinion this curriculum is going to make the MOST sense if a student is earning some of their own money to provide context to what they are learning. However, Beyond Personal Finance does have a “tween version” for 8-12 year olds called “Before Personal Finance” that is perfect for middle school!
User Experience
As a mom of teens, I absolutely love how easy it is to use the online portal of Beyond Personal Finance. The dashboard has easy navigation for both students and teachers. The interactive nature and real-world relevance of the content keep students highly engaged. The curriculum is adaptable to different learning styles, with a mix of visual, auditory, and hands-on activities.
But beyond the basics, I think what sets this curriculum apart are the little nuggets that are tucked into each page. In the chapter about career options, it talks to students who DON’T want to go to college and offers students a list of choices for non-degreed jobs that pay more than $45,000 a year on average. As a mom, I appreciate that. Teens often need context as they are planning for their future. But like the younger me, many young people don’t have all the information they need to make well-informed decisions.
And the best part for parents is that the personal finance content in this course leads to genuine discussions with teens. Suddenly, when someone else says “the thing” out loud, parents don’t seem quite so crazy! (Or maybe that’s just how it works in my house!)
Another thing I really like about this book is the full color pages. I would say that’s one of the more unique elements of the course. Normally textbooks for high school are mostly black and white with limited color. The full color pages though make this so much more engaging especially for a visual learner. I think it would also work with for students who struggle with ADHD or focus because the text is large and limited to one idea/topic per page.
From One Mom to Another…and Another
I love that this curriculum was written by a mom who mixed her background in finance with her experience of raising teens. I’ve used a couple of other personal finance curriculums. They were good, but they lacked the idea that teens actually have to “buy in” to the wisdom being shared in order for it to benefit them.
In that sense, there are a lot of places in the Beyond Personal Finance curriculum that feel like a trusted mentor having a conversation with your kid. You know…those people your teen will listen to when they won’t listen to you. The course has a conversational tone…not overly academic.
At this point in our parenting journey, we have 3 adult children, 4 in middle and high school and 2 in elementary. We are seeing the fruit of years of preparation of teaching our kids financial independence. Our oldest son just graduated from college without student loans. Because of our own mistakes, we have had the privilege of using our mistakes to act as our kids financial advisors and help them make better choices than we did.
While this course is an actual academic course, I think the biggest benefit of this course is the way it prompts valuable conversations with teens in the course of day to day life. Talking about the stock market, retirements savings, consumer credit and the basics of personal finance are not really things most teens want to talk about. That’s normal because they don’t have a framework. This course lays a strong foundation.
So check out Beyond Personal Finance because it is an excellent curriculum, but the long term benefits are much greater as you build trust with your kids and develop conversations around various topics related to finance.
Sarah McCubbin and her husband and 9 kids live in Ohio. She loves talking about all kinds of education topics and is passionate about helping families find the best education options in each season! Socially awkward growing up, she loves to help families teach life skills, social skills and leadership.
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