Financial Literacy Challenge

Challenge outline

In this challenge, students will follow Alex, who is trying to save up a decent amount of money. Alex is faced with financial challenges, such as expenses that pop up every now and then—and it’s difficult for them to properly organise where their money goes.

Throughout this challenge, students help Alex to:

• Take better notice of the money that comes in each month, in particular the maximum and minimum that they seem to make.
• Understand what the expenses are that they have to pay, tell the difference between essential spending and discretionary spending.
• Make some changes to their spending habits, like cutting back on things they don’t need, and changing some of their behaviour.

Learning includes:

• Investigate ways to plan for an irregular income, so that expenses can be met with some money left over for saving.
• Understanding the difference between discretionary spending and essential spending, and investigate ways to reduce discretionary spending
• Use persuasive writing (with a PEEL paragraph) to develop arguments about improving spending habits

‍At a glance

Year level - Stage 5

Duration - 40 to 80 minutes

Learning areas - English, Mathematics

Financial literacy themes - managing money, making informed financial choices

For further financial literacy learning opportunities with strong links to maths, try Moneysmart's "Getting Paid" series of activities