Grade 6-8, 9-12
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Activity
Is It Worth It?
Objective
Students will be able to:
- Compare spending and saving.
Standard
National Standards in Economics
Decision Making
Standard: 2
- Students will understand that: Effective decision making requires comparing the additional costs of alternatives with the additional benefits. Many choices involve doing a little more or a little less of something: few choices "are all or nothing" decisions.
- Students will be able to use this knowledge to: Make effective decisions as consumers, producers, savers, investors, and citizens.
National Standards in Financial Literacy
Spending
Standard: 2
- Students will understand that: A budget is a plan for allocating a person’s spendable income to necessary and desired goods and services. When there is sufficient money in their budget, people may decide to give money to others, save, or invest to achieve future goals. People can often improve their financial wellbeing by making well-informed spending decisions, which includes critical evaluation of price, quality, product information, and method of payment. Individual spending decisions may be influenced by financial constraints, personal preferences, unique needs, peers, and advertising.
Concepts
![](https://preview2.econedlink.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/iStock-1212489143-1024x684.jpg 1024w, https://preview2.econedlink.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/iStock-1212489143-300x200.jpg 300w, https://preview2.econedlink.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/iStock-1212489143-768x513.jpg 768w, https://preview2.econedlink.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/iStock-1212489143-1536x1026.jpg 1536w, https://preview2.econedlink.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/iStock-1212489143-2048x1368.jpg 2048w, https://preview2.econedlink.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/iStock-1212489143-100x67.jpg 100w)
In this personal finance activity, students will consider the costs of saving to make a purchase.
Resources
Procedure
This is an individual activity where students research the price of a new phone or tablet and establishing a savings plan to purchase it. Owning a new cell phone or tablet is often a high priority for teens and young adults. However, few really understand the cost of purchasing one because parents will generally pay for it. The parent bears the costs, and the young person gets the benefits. This activity changes the rules, requiring you – the teen or young adult – to bear the cost. To complete this activity, students need to follow the instructions below:
- Search online for a phone or tablet you would like to purchase.
- Then, complete the questions in the Quizizz Activity, worksheet, or ReadyAssessments Activity
- The purpose of this game is to help you calculate the number of months needed to save to purchase the item you selected and determine if the purchase is really worth saving to buy.