Financial Health

Financial wellbeing includes understanding how emotions, peer influencers, advertising, personal money habits, financial decision-making processes, lifestyle choices, and personal financial values influence choices that are made involving finances. In addition, it includes topics that relate to planning and aligning career opportunities and possible entrepreneurial objectives with financial goals.

Financial Landscape

Financial landscape incorporates building an awareness of the various forms of money, financial institutions, and the role of economic and government influences has on one’s personal finances. Within the economic and government categories are topics such as consumer protection laws, taxes (e.g., impact on income and/or investments), a general understanding of inflation, and how government policies can affect one’s personal finances.

Money Management

Money management includes examining various aspects of budgeting, building and maintaining a credit profile, loan and debt planning, identifying and managing potential risks and investments, and understanding various insurance options.

• Banzai! is an online learning platform that teaches real-world finance through interactive courses, printable workbooks and a lesson library for students ages 8 through 18.
• EconEdLink is the leading economics and personal finance resource for K–12 educators, providing high-quality lesson plans, videos, assessments, activities, professional development webinars, and more.
• Everfi Money Matters: Financial Education Courses for Kids is an interactive K–12 curriculum that includes quizzes in video-game format. It offers web-based tours of the New York Stock Exchange and explanations of compounding interest and savings, the pitfalls of bad credit and consumer fraud to teach students the core concepts of financial literacy.
• Financial Fitness for Life is a comprehensive K–12 personal finance curriculum teaches students how to make thoughtful, well-informed decisions about important aspects of personal finance, such as earning income, spending, saving, borrowing, investing, and managing money.
• FDIC's Money Smart financial education program can help people of all ages enhance their financial skills and create positive banking relationships.
• FoolProof Academy provides teachers a free, online consumer life skills and financial literacy curriculum for mddle and high school students.
• Hands on Banking offers lesson plans, instructor guides, activities and  video-based student courses for elementary, middle, and high school students to explore and practice money skills.
• Hard Core Financial Education Boot Camp website contains videos and PowerPoint slides for a full-day financial education training program for teachers. Printed PowerPoint handouts to accompany the videotaped presentations can be downloaded free of charge.
• Junior Achievement of New Jersey (JA) is the world's largest organization dedicated to educating young people about business, economics and free enterprise. Through a dedicated volunteer network, JA offers in-school and after-school programs for students in grades K–12. JA programs focus on seven key content areas: business, citizenship, economics, entrepreneurship, ethics/character, financial literacy, and career development.
• MoneySKILL provides educators with the tools to create high-quality, custom, personal finance courses. The curriculum covers a broad range of personal finance topics and can be used in a variety of learning environments.

What is the 2.5 credit high school graduation requirement for Financial, Economic, Business and Entrepreneurial Literacy?

N.J.A.C. 6A:8-5.1(a)1v requires "At least 2.5-credits in financial, economic, business, and entrepreneurial literacy, effective with the 2010-2011 grade nine class."  The goal of this requirement, adopted by the State Board of Education on June 17, 2009, is to ensure that students demonstrate understanding about how the economy works and their own role in the economy, and also develop the necessary skills to effectively manage personal finances by the time they graduate.

In what ways can a student meet the high school graduation requirement for Financial, Economic, Business and Entrepreneurial Literacy requirement (N.J.A.C. 6A:8-5.1(a)1v)?

The 2.5credit requirement at N.J.A.C. 6A:8-5.1(a)1v may be met in the following ways:

• By completing a stand-alone, half-year course based on performance expectations from Standard 9.1.
• By completing Option Two through N.J.A.C. 6A:8-5.1(a)2, (educational experiences that are meaningful and relevant, that meet the needs of all students, and that provide students with opportunities to explore and achieve at high levels). Option Two may include, but is not limited to, one or more of the following: independent study; online learning; study abroad programs; student exchange programs; and structured learning experiences.
• By completing one or more elective courses that integrate the content and skills required by N.J.A.C. 6A:8-5.1(a)1v taught by staff holding a Social Studies; Business: Finance, Economics, and Law; Comprehensive Business; Comprehensive Family and Consumer Sciences; General Business certificate; or Math certificate.

Is this graduation requirement assessed by and/or reported to the NJDOE?

School districts remain responsible for assessing and publicly reporting on the progress of all students in developing the financial literacy knowledge and skills specified by the Core Curriculum Content Standards, no matter how learned, according to N.J.A.C. 6A:83.1(a)3.

Is Financial Literacy taught in middle school?

On January 3, 2019, legislation was enacted (N.J.S.A. 18A:35-4.34) that requires school districts to incorporate financial literacy instruction in each of the grades six through eight to pupils enrolled in those grades, beginning in the 2019-2020 school year.

The law states that the instruction must:

1. be appropriate to, and reflect the age and comprehension of, the students enrolled in the particular grade level; and
2. include content on budgeting, savings, credit, debt, insurance, investment, and other issues associated with personal financial responsibility as determined by the State Board.

New Jersey Student Learning Standard 9.1 outlines clear and specific benchmarks for student achievement in Personal Financial Literacy in grades 6–8.

Which teachers are eligible to teach financial literacy?

Staff holding any one of the following certificates are eligible to teach financial literacy:

• Social Studies
• Business: Finance, Economics, and Law
• Comprehensive Business
• Comprehensive Family and Consumer Sciences
• General Business (still held by many staff, but no longer issued)
• Math (for consumer math programs)

Additionally, elementary certificates enable an educator to teach financial literacy in the grades in which they are certified to teach.