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Let's cut to the chase and talk about
the real problems with financial education
the way students learn has changed
Teachers are competing with content creators.
Not only do students consume their entertainment and get much of their social interaction digitally -- after the last 2 years -- they also became accustomed to receiving education digitally.
1
Students don't care about financial education
Learning about finances can be overwhelming.
Most "financial experts" talk way above students' heads and don't take the time to help students understand why this information should matter to them. If students don't care, they won't pay attention.
2
Financial literacy classes "don't work"
Schools are required to teach finances but lack guidance.
Most financial literacy courses give students the knowledge, but don't give them the steps and resources necessary to put that knowledge into action immediately. As a result, students forget what they learned and never apply it.
3
If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s the fact that we would have struggled less as young adults if we’d learned about finances in high school.
We incorporated a crawl-walk-run concept that will apply to every student, no matter what socioeconomic background they come from.
crawl
The crawling phase is where your students will learn about the financial information they need to know. If students DO currently learn about financial literacy, this is where it usually stops.
WALK
The walking phase is where the students start doing the research they need to do in order to make well informed decisions.
RUN
The running phase is where the students take ACTION and DO the things they learned about. This is where the rubber meets the road and they CREATE the financial systems they will use in real life.
This program not only teaches your students about finances, it walks them through setting everything up and helps them get started with a real financial system that works.
Topics Covered Inside Rethink Financial Education
BANKING
▶︎ Why Using a Bank is Important
▶︎ Checking Accounts vs. Savings Accounts
▶︎ Understanding Interest & Inflation
▶︎ Comparing Banking Options
▶︎ Why Having Multiple Accounts is Important
▶︎ Choosing the Right Bank for You
▶︎ How to Open a Bank Account
▶︎ How to Write a Check
▶︎ Understanding How
EFT & ACH Works
▶︎ Digital Wallets & Payment Apps
▶︎ How to Setup Direct Deposit
▶︎ Bank Account Alerts
BUDGETING
▶︎ What is a Budget & Why You Need One
▶︎ The 70/10/10/10 Rule
▶︎ Fixed vs. Variable Expenses
▶︎ Needs vs. Wants
▶︎ Budgeting for Your Lifestyle
▶︎ Prioritizing Your Expenses
▶︎ Creating Your Budget
▶︎ Automating Your Savings
▶︎ Tools for Tracking Spending
CREDIT
▶︎ Why You Need Credit
▶︎ What Makes Up Your Credit Score?
▶︎ What is a Credit Report?
▶︎ Credit Card Debt
▶︎ Debt Collections
▶︎ Secured vs. Unsecured Credit
▶︎ Ways to Get Your First Credit Card
▶︎ Cash Advances, Interest Rates, and Penalties
▶︎ Comparing Credit Cards (Not All Created Equal)
▶︎ Applying for Your First Credit Card
▶︎ Building Credit on Autopilot
▶︎ Buy Now, Pay Later
DEBT
▶︎ Good Debt vs. Bad Debt
▶︎ Credit Card Debt
▶︎ Auto Loans
▶︎ Student Loans
▶︎ Medical Bills
▶︎ Payday Loans
▶︎ Court Issued Debts
▶︎ Debt Consolidation
▶︎ Ways to Get Out of Debt
TAXES & INCOME
▶︎ What Are Taxes & Why Do We Pay Them?
▶︎ Types of Income
▶︎ How Taxes Affect Your Paycheck
▶︎ How to Read Your Paystub
▶︎Tax Brackets
▶︎ Form W-4 Explained
▶︎ Other Tax Forms You Need to Know About
▶︎ Filing Your Own Taxes vs. Hiring a Tax Professional (CPA)
INVESTING
▶︎ Investing Basics
▶︎ The Power of Compound Interest
▶︎ IRAs and 401(k)s
▶︎ Risk Tolerance and Your Personality
▶︎ DIY vs. Hiring a Professional
▶︎ Investment Strategies
▶︎ Order of Operations for Investing
▶︎ The 5 Step Process to Start Investing
▶︎ What is a Custodial Roth IRA? (Video for Parents)
Show lesson details
Topics Covered Inside Rethink Financial Education
BANKING
We have a lifelong relationship with banks, so it's important to understand how they work.
BUDGETING
Creating a budget that's relevant to your lifestyle is essential for financial success.
CREDIT
Credit is a tool that can make your life easier --
if you know how to use it without going into debt.
DEBT
Understanding how debt accumulates, how to avoid it, and what happens when you have it will make debt less overwhelming.
TAXES & INCOME
Taxes are your biggest lifetime expense. Knowing how they affect your paycheck will help you avoid unpleasant surprises.
INVESTING
Time is on your side when you're young and investing early is the best way to reach your long-term financial goals.
Show lesson details
6 Modules
This course covers
Banking, Budgeting, Credit, Debt, Income & Taxes, and Investing.
59 Video Lessons
Because attention spans are shorter than ever, each video lesson is under 10 minutes.
PDF Downloads
Guides, Checklists, and Worksheets for your students to reference and work through everything they learn.
Teacher's Guide
A road map of what students will learn and questions to foster engagement.
What's Included in Rethink Financial Education
Captions & Transcriptions
We offer a variety of ways for the content to be consumed to meet the needs of different learning styles.
Pre & Post Assessments
Students will be evaluated on how prepared they feel managing their own finances after graduation.
Auto-Graded Quizzes & Tests
Each lesson requires a passing grade of 80% in order to unlock the next lesson.
Auto-Graded Final Test
Once all six modules have been completed, students will be tested on what they learned throughout the course.
By the end of this program, your students will have...
A clear understanding of how to apply financial education in their own life.
Your students won’t just be LEARNING about financial literacy, they will immediately put that information to work and apply those concepts to their life.
The ability to make intentional decisions with their money.
Your students will skip the struggle of trial and error and go straight to making good decisions using the action plans we outline in this course. You'll be setting your students up for financial success as young adults.
A solid foundation for their personal finances.
Putting all of this information into action will take time. The action plans that go along with the lessons are designed to take the guesswork out of finances and help your students graduate with a solid financial foundation.
A system that works.
They’ll learn how to automate their finances and maximize their ability to save for future goals and build credit without going into debt.
GET ACCESS NOW
what makes us different?
WE TEACH A REALISTIC APPROACH TO BUILDING AND USING CREDIT
It's nearly impossible to get by without credit as an adult. We provide strategies for building credit on autopilot, to help them avoid going into debt.
STUDENTS set up a real financial system
Using a Crawl-Walk-Run method, students not only learn about finances, but setup a system that can be utilized throughout their life.
individual, on-demand access
Students can access the content at any time, from any place, on any device, which enables them to get their parents involved in the process.
PRISCILLA WAGNER
Non-Profit Financial Program Manager
"Alex makes deep connections with the students that he teaches. Educators consistently request his presence in the classroom, and he makes the lessons personal and relatable for students of all backgrounds. He has educated well over 10,000 students on financial topics in classroom settings and also help guide students on how to finance their higher education."
HOLLY MULLER, MBA, NBCT
High School Marketing & Finance Teacher
"Alex is a very entertaining speaker who has a unique way of keeping students engaged while teaching personal finances. He makes complicated topics easier to comprehend by sharing a variety of stories that help students from all types of backgrounds relate to what he’s teaching. Alex emphasizes what real life is like after graduation and gives practical ways that the students can start preparing for their future right now."
LISA HARVEY, NBPTS CERTIFIED
Work Site Learning Coordinator,
High School Business & Marketing Teacher
"Alex is a naturally gifted communicators who use an entertaining and enjoyable teaching style that allows him to explain complicated information in a clear and effective message that is well received. The combination of images, metaphor, story style teaching, and practical information gives students a realistic awareness of life events that they can relate to, which increases their retention rate."
DAVID SHOUP
High School Assistant Principal
"Learning Personal Finance was always a highlight for my seniors each spring. Alex came to my class about 4 or 5 times each year, and his lessons and teaching style kept my students engaged. He made their learning accessible, relevant, and interesting. Once students knew what days he was coming, we would have “guest” students ask to sit in the class because they had heard that he was at school to teach."
We'll be in touch soon!
Thank you
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Rethink Financial Education curriculum was designed for Juniors and Seniors in High School, but ultimately ANYONE wanting to learn the basics of personal finance would benefit from it. You do have to be 18 years old (or have help from parents) to complete some of the action steps, but you're never too young (or too old) to start learning about finances and saving money.
No. Because we handle the "teaching" side of the curriculum through videos and other activities, hiring a teacher who specializes in finances is not necessary to facilitate this course. Teachers do not need to be financial professionals or have extensive personal knowledge about personal finances.
Rethink Financial Education is an on-demand, digital platform. It can be utilized in a pre-existing class or as an independent study. There are a number of ways that a school or district can implement this program, but here are a few examples...
Example 1: A teacher plays the lesson video for the class. The quiz questions and activities are done as a group, and the worksheets and other supporting documents can be printed and distributed to be completed in class or as homework.
Example 2: Each student has the ability to log into the course on a laptop or tablet, and watch the videos and complete the auto-graded quizzes independently. The additional activities can be done together in the classroom or issued as homework.
Example 3: Students take the course independently. Videos, quizzes, and activities are completed on the student's own device (whether that be a computer, tablet, or phone) and submitted online to the teacher for grading.
what resources are necessary to access RFE?
Rethink Financial Education an online, digital course, so an internet connection is required. The course can be accessed via web browser on a computer or laptop, or a tablet or mobile device.
how is your course different from dave ramsey?
One of the biggest differences between Rethink Financial Education and Dave Ramsey's Foundations in Personal Finance® course is the fact that we use a realistic approach to building and utilizing credit. He teaches that a credit score isn't necessary, but the reality is, a decent credit score is needed to rent an apartment or home, get a cell phone plan, and even get a job with some employers!
We provide students with strategies to build their credit on autopilot, as well as how to avoid going into debt. Dave Ramsey specializes in helping people get out of debt. Our goal is to give students the knowledge and tools to never need a Dave Ramsey course.
Like every other financial literacy course, Dave Ramsey's course only teaches students about finances. Rethink Personal Finance goes beyond just teaching and helps students actually create a financial system they can start using immediately, and continue using in the real world post graduation.
Dave Ramsey's Foundations in Personal Finance® course appears to consist mainly of seminars he conducted for general audiences or clips from The Rachel Cruze Show™ on YouTube. These segments were then repackaged into smaller clips and used throughout the Foundations in Personal Finance course. We feel that their content speaks more towards adults, and wasn't created specifically for high school students.
The entire Rethink Financial Education course is original content created specifically to help high school students. Our crawl-walk-run concept can be applied by every student, no matter what socioeconomic background they come from, and we're proud to say we meet them where they're at.
Why would we pay for your curriculum, when there are free financial literacy resources online?
As the saying goes... "you get what you pay for." Most free online resources require teachers to sift through documents covered in links to a random YouTube video here, a random blog post there, and multiple online platforms feels like the remote learning nightmare from the Spring of 2020. Teachers have enough to worry about without having to piece together makeshift financial curriculum.
Other programs require teachers to go through extensive training to become qualified to teach the financial topics, rely heavily on volunteers, or just lack depth needed to help students fully comprehend what it takes to make well informed financial decisions.
DOES RETHINK SUPPORT DIFFERENT LEARNING STYLES?
Yes! Every lesson comes with a video, subtitles, and transcription to accommodate for different learning styles.
do we pay annually or is there a one time fee?
Rethink Financial Education is a one year license that will be billed annually.
