Economics and Personal Finance is a free course that teaches high school students how the economy works and how to manage money with confidence. This personal finance for teens course covers scarcity and opportunity cost, supply and demand, earning income, taxes, budgeting, banking, saving and compound interest, credit and debt, investing basics and consumer protection.
Many adults say they wish they had learned about money earlier. Decisions made in the late teens and early twenties, such as taking on a phone contract, a credit card, a student loan or a first job, can have effects that last for years. This course explains the key ideas in plain language with step-by-step worked examples, so students understand not just what to do, but why.
What you will learn
- Use opportunity cost and incentives to analyse choices
- Explain how supply and demand set prices
- Read a pay slip and understand how progressive income taxes work
- Build a realistic budget and an emergency fund plan
- Calculate simple and compound interest and use the rule of 72
- Use credit responsibly, understand investing basics and avoid common scams
Who this course is for
This course is for students in Grades 10 to 12 (about ages 15 to 18), as well as young adults starting to manage their own money. Basic arithmetic and percentages are all the maths needed.
A note for parents and teachers
This course is educational only and is not personal financial, tax or legal advice. Tax systems, bank protections, credit rules and minimum wages differ between countries and change over time, so worked examples use clearly labelled fictional numbers or note the country they refer to. Encourage students to look up current rules where they live using official government and regulator websites. Conversations about money can be personal; examples avoid assumptions about family circumstances and focus on transferable skills.
How the course works
There are ten lessons of about fifteen to twenty minutes each, with worked examples, key takeaways and practice questions with answers. The final lesson guides students through building a complete first-job financial plan.