We call it “personal finance” for a reason. We all have our own relationship to money shaped by myriad influences; parents, peers, neighborhoods, culture, society writ large….

Marketplace.org developed a series of interview questions they referred to as the Marketplace quiz “because what we do for a living, spend our money on and why usually reveals more about our personalities than we’d expect.”

My thinking as I looked at the questions was “What a great way to get students talking about money.” The activity idea: have them interview another student using this sample set of questions.

So, I have compiled a series of these Marketplace quiz questions and modified several of them for a high school audience (here’s the responses from one of their interviews):

• Fill in the blank: Money can’t buy you happiness, but it can buy you _________.
• What is something you bought that you now completely regret buying?
• What is your most prized possession?
• What is the hardest part about being a student that no one knows?
• If money was no object, what’s the first thing you would spend it on?
• What is something everyone should own, no matter the cost?
• What was your first, ideally paying, job?
• If you could have any job what would it be?

Another activity idea would be for students working individually to create their own personalized 3-4 minute audio AND/OR have their parents complete the assignment titled “My Money Story,” where they tell their story about their relationship with money using the questions above as ideas.

Here are a few examples they can review to get a sense of what they might sound like:

• My money story: When family values battle happiness
• My money story: Frugality and cheese
• My money story: Boom and bust at the blackjack table

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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