Personal Finance examines the decision-making processes behind earning money, spending money, saving and investing to build wealth, use credit, insure one’s self and one’s possessions, and invest in an education. This course is aligned to the Michigan’s K-12 Personal Finance standards adopted in 2023. It is designed to fulfill a 1/2 credit in personal finance that meets subject area content expectations developed by the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) and approved by the State Board of Education (SBE) required for high school graduation. Prerequisites: Middle School Math
Course Objectives: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
- Conduct research regarding potential income, non-income factors that may influence career choice, benefits and costs of obtaining the necessary education or technical skills, taxes a person is likely to pay, and other possible sources of income
- Describe the factors that consumers may consider when purchasing a good or service
- Identify the incentives people have to set aside income for future consumption
- Evaluate the impact of time, interest rates, and inflation upon the value of savings
- Evaluate the benefits, costs, and potential impacts of using credit to purchase goods and services
- Analyze the risks, expected rate of return, tax benefits, impact of inflation, and the importance of diversification when investing in financial assets
- Assess the financial risk of lost income, assets, health, or identity, and determine if a person should accept the risk exposure, reduce risk, or transfer the risk to others by paying a fee now to avoid the possibility of a larger loss later
Course Outline:
Unit 1: Getting Started with Financial Decisions
Unit 2: Earning Money
Unit 3: Spending Smart
Unit 4: Save, Invest, and Build Wealth
Unit 5: All About Credit
Unit 6: How Insurance Works
Unit 7: School and Money
Resources Included: Resources are numerous and sourced from the real-world of personal finance as well as from the Hands on Banking? from Wells Fargo & Company, from the National Council of Economic Education, and many other practical resources presented through multimedia.
Additional Costs: None
Scoring System: Michigan Virtual does not assign letter grades, grant credit for courses, nor issue diplomas. A final score out of total points earned will be submitted to your school mentor for conversion to their own letter grading system.
Time Commitment: Semester sessions are 18-weeks long: Students must be able to spend 1 or more hours per day in the course to be successful. Summer sessions are 10 weeks long: Students must be able to spend a minimum of 2 or more hours per day, or about 90 hours during the summer, for the student to be successful in any course. Trimester sessions are 12-weeks long: Students must be able to spend 1.5 or more hours per day in the course to be successful.
Technology Requirements: Students will require a computer device with headphones, a microphone, webcam, up-to-date Chrome Web Browser, and access to YouTube.
Please review the Michigan Virtual Technology Requirements: https://michiganvirtual.org/about/support/knowledge-base/technical-requirements/
Instructor Support System: For technical issues within your course, contact the Customer Care Center by email at [email protected] or by phone at (888) 889-2840.
Instructor Contact Expectations: Students can use email or the private message system within the Student Learning Portal to access highly qualified teachers when they need instructor assistance. Students will also receive feedback on their work inside the learning management system. The Instructor Info area of their course may describe additional communication options.
Academic Support Available: In addition to access to a highly qualified, Michigan certified teacher, students have access to academic videos and outside resources verified by Michigan Virtual. For technical issues within the course, students can contact the Michigan Virtual Customer Care by email at [email protected] or by phone at (888) 889-2840.
Required Assessment: Online assessments consist of formative and summative assessments represented by computer-graded multiple choice, instructor-graded writing assignments including hands-on projects, model building and other forms of authentic assessments.
Technical Skills Needed: Basic technology skills necessary to locate and share information and files as well as interact with others in a Learning Management System (LMS), include the ability to:
- Download, edit, save, convert, and upload files
- Download and install software
- Use a messaging service similar to email
- Communicate with others in online discussion or message boards, following basic rules of netiquette
- Open attachments shared in messages
- Create, save, and submit files in commonly used word processing program formats and as a PDF
- Edit file share settings in cloud-based applications, such as Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides
- Save a file as a .pdf
- Copy and paste and format text using your mouse, keyboard, or an html editor’s toolbar menu
- Insert images or links into a file or html editor
- Search for information within a document using Ctrl+F or Command+F keyboard shortcuts
- Work in multiple browser windows and tabs simultaneously
- Activate a microphone or webcam on your device, and record and upload or link audio and/or video files
- Use presentation and graphics programs
- Follow an online pacing guide or calendar of due dates
- Use spell-check, citation editors, and tools commonly provided in word processing tool menus
- Create and maintain usernames and passwords
Additional Information: None