Over the past two terms, we mastered important financial skills, from quick calculations to long-term planning. We learned that being financially literate means being a detective
(spotting deals), a planner
(making budgets), and a critical thinker
(avoiding money traps)!
We improved our ability to handle complex transactions and calculate costs and change accurately. We became Discount Detectives, learning how to apply percentages to find the sale price, and even how to work backward to find the original price!
- Precision Tip: When calculating the total cost of multiple items, I found it most helpful to add the total every time and keep track of the amount of money we were spending.
- Discount Strategy: If a jacket is 40% off, one way to find the sale price is to subtract 4 of the tenths or divide the total by 10 to get 10% and then multiply that number by 4.
We moved on to creating financial plans! We used spreadsheets to build budgets and learned how to convert amounts between weekly, monthly, and yearly timeframes. We also critically examined financial options like phone plans and ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ (BNPL) services.
Budgeting Check: If my expenses are consistently higher than my income, I have a Deficit. This means I must balance my income and my expenses.
BNPL Danger: The biggest financial risk of using BNPL services is that it makes it very easy to overspend.
Our group project required us to plan a significant financial event Dream Trip
Project Summary
- Our Project Goal Was: Our goal is to plan a dream trip to Singapore.
- The Biggest Expense We Budgeted For Was: It was hard to find cheap hotels to stay at.
- The Most Important Math Skill We Used Was: Converting decimals, percentages and fractions.
My Person Takeaway
Before this unit, I thought money management was just about finding activities to do and good hotels.
Now, I understand that good financial literacy also involves calculating and using money wisely.
I feel most confident now when calculating budgets and converting prices.
Here is our project
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