Good opportunity for students to write a persuasive essay or even a few paragraphs disagreeing with the premise of this column:

“If you think you can save your way to wealth, you’re wrong. Spending less than you make is not the path to riches. Instead, wealth comes and goes as asset prices -– real estate, stocks, and bonds -– rise and fall.”

Encourage your students to use data, compound interest calculators and other expert advice to persuade the reader.  My hope is that this activity would help students understand difference between saving and investing (and the need for both!), the need to have an emergency savings account and the power of compound interest (or compounded returns) achieved through investing in assets such as stocks and bonds.

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Check out Next Gen Personal Finance’s lesson on Savings Basics to reinforce these key concepts.

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.

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