Money is a tool everyone agrees to accept
It saves us from swapping one thing for another every time. We use it to exchange things, to compare prices, and to carry some of today's buying power into the future.
FORTUNE 101 · SUMMER COURSE
A 6-week summer course for 10-year-olds
THE COURSE MAP
Six weeks, practising one chain of skills that keeps getting longer
This is not a lecture about putting money away. Each week starts from a real choice a child can recognise, moves through observing, doing and looking back, and ends with something made that they can keep using.
Weeks 01–02Value and earningHelp someone first; income comes after
Weeks 03–04Planning and growthSharing out, waiting, compounding, risk
Weeks 05–06Protection and meaningScams, giving, a family plan
01
Week 1 · Value and choice
What is money? And what is wealth?
Money is a tool for making choices. Wealth is the resources that give your life more choices.
This week's question
If I get $100, how do I look after what I need now and the choices I want later?
Afterwards, the child can: Explain the difference between money and wealth with everyday examples, and finish a wealth map of your own with one smallest next step.- 01Tell apart
Start with one sentence each: money is a tool for exchange that everyone accepts; wealth is any resource that helps you live and gives you choices.
- 02Notice
Look for wealth outside the wallet: time, skills, health, relationships, knowledge and tools. Judge each by "what can it help me do", not only by its price.
- 03Choose
Practise with "two stories about $100": enjoy it now, keep it for later, or some of both. There is no right answer, but you must be able to give a reason.
Ideas to understand
Wealth is any resource that helps
Wealth is not only in the wallet. Money, belongings, time, knowledge, health, skills, tools and people you can trust may all be wealth, if they help us live, learn or get something important done.
Money is part of wealth, not all of it
Money helps us use or obtain some resources. Time, health, trust and real ability have to be looked after slowly. They cannot simply be bought.
Money has three jobs. The choosing is yours
Money helps us exchange, compare and store. It cannot decide what matters most to you. When you want to buy something, ask: what happens if I don't? How long will it last? Does it connect to something I care about?
Try another example
How does wealth help in everyday life?
Wealth is not "the more you own, the better". It is the resources you already have or can use that help you live and get important things done.Start with $100. Use it to split it into "now" and "later", and new possibilities open.
Try another example: with a different resource, what you can do and what becomes possible are different too.
Practise with an example
The same $100 can lead to different stories
The point is not to find the one right answer. It is to see what each choice leads to.$100
You get a pleasure or meet a need today. You also have fewer choices available later.
Leave room for a goal, a surprise, or a small thing that helps someone or creates value.
For example, use part now and keep part. What matters is the reason, not a fixed split.
02
Week 2 · Creating value
Where does income come from?
Help someone first. Income comes after.
This week's question
Whose small problem can I solve, and do it honestly and well?
Afterwards, the child can: Make a one-page mini business: who it is for, the problem, the idea, how you tested it, and simple income and costs.- 01Find a problem
Start close by: what small problem keeps coming up for family, neighbours or classmates? "Selling things" is not the only answer.
- 02Think of a way
Say the idea in one sentence: who I help, and the safe, honest way I make things a little better.
- 03Test first
Ask 3 people before spending on materials. Work out income, cost and profit separately.
Ideas to understand
Earning starts with making someone's life a little better
Notice a need, propose a way, put in time and materials, deliver, and listen to feedback. Income comes from real value you created.
Income is not profit: bring the costs out first
Sell 5 bracelets at $10 each and income is $50. Beads and paper cost $20, so profit is $30, and that is before counting your own time.
Practise with an example
How does creating value begin?
Income does not begin with "selling things". It begins with noticing one real small problem and making it better in a safe, honest way.Start with A messy book corner. Use it to ask the teacher, then add labels, and new possibilities open.
Ask first, then do, then listen to feedback. Practise where family and school allow, and put safety first.
03
Week 3 · Sharing out and planning
When money arrives, give it a job first
A budget is not "no spending". It is choosing ahead of time.
This week's question
If every bit of money has a job, what do I want to look after first?
Afterwards, the child can: Keep a 7-day choice diary and find one time when pausing before deciding changed what happened.- 01Share it out
Use three jars for a real or pretend amount: for now, for sharing, for later. The split depends on the family and the goal.
- 02Pause
Pick one moment when you wanted to spend, and work out where the urge came from: an ad, friends, boredom, or a real need?
- 03Look back
Review after a week: what did the choice help with? Would you do it differently next time?
Ideas to understand
Three jars, not three iron rules
For now: meet needs and enjoy planned treats. For sharing: family, community or something you care about. For later: saving for goals, surprises and bigger choices.
A budget puts the important things first
Before a plan, everything you want feels urgent. After a plan, you know what matters most, and what you will give up for a while to get it.
Practise with an example
Give every bit of money a job
A plan is not "no spending". It is deciding first what this money should look after now, and what you want it to do for you later.Start with $30 pocket money. Use it to split it: now, sharing and later, and new possibilities open.
There is no right split. Try another situation, see whether your plan changes, and say why.
04
Week 4 · Patience and growth
How does time help money grow?
Growth is not magic. It is time × a steady rule.
This week's question
From the same start, why does leaving it longer and following the rule more times give a different result?
Afterwards, the child can: Run the paper cup growth experiment and explain in your own words that "the starting amount and its past growth both join the next round".- 01Build a model
Use chips or beans: add 10% each round and leave the new ones in the cup too. This is to understand a pattern, not a promise of returns.
- 02Change one thing
Change the starting time, the growth rate, or take some out midway, and record the total each round. Let the child guess first, then count.
- 03Talk about risk
Discuss why the real world does not grow every round: results can be bad, and money needed soon should not join a game with big swings.
Ideas to understand
Compounding is like planting a tree: growth joins the next round of growth
In the toy model, 100 growing 10% a round for three rounds becomes 110, 121, then 133. The earlier you start, the more time can do.
Investing is not guessing the answer: meet risk first
A return is what someone pays for using your money. Risk means the result may be worse than expected, and you may even lose what you put in. Spreading money out reduces the risk of having it all in one place. Money needed soon should not be exposed to big swings.
Practise with an example
How do time and a steady rule bring growth?
This is a toy model for understanding a pattern, not a promise of returns: what you leave in, and what it has already grown by, both join the next round.Start with 100 early chips. Use it to add by the rule and leave them in, and new possibilities open.
Change the starting time, the growth rate or take some out midway, and the result changes. In the real world it can also fall or be lost.
05
Week 5 · Protection and judgment
In the digital world, slow down first
When you cannot see the cash, you need to see the rules.
This week's question
What signals tell me not to tap right now?
Afterwards, the child can: Make a scam detective card and rehearse one sentence for saying no that you can really say out loud.- 01Spot signals
Look at three familiar cases: a limited-time game item, automatic renewal and a "guaranteed profit" message. Circle the pressure, exaggeration, secrecy and requests for private details.
- 02Practise pausing
Practise four steps: leave the screen for 10 minutes, take a screenshot, check a second source, tell an adult you trust.
- 03Role-play
One person plays the seller, the other practises saying no: "I won't decide now. I need to check with my family first."
Ideas to understand
Every tap is a real choice
Paying on a screen is real spending. Limited-time offers, prize draws and automatic renewals in games and live streams are designed to rush you. Borrowing and credit mean using today and paying back later, usually with an extra cost.
At "right now", "guaranteed" or "don't tell an adult", stop
Pause for at least 10 minutes. Find a second source and check the real price and conditions. Have an adult you trust look with you. Never send verification codes, passwords, your address or payment details.
Practise with an example
When you are rushed, how do you slow down?
"Limited time", "guaranteed" and "keep it secret" are not signals to act at once. They are reminders to pause, check, and look with an adult you trust.Start with A "10 min left" item. Use it to leave the screen, screenshot and check, and new possibilities open.
Try the four steps on another case: leave the screen, take a screenshot, check a second source, tell an adult you trust.
06
Week 6 · Meaning and responsibility
What kind of life is wealth for?
Real plenty: enough, and a direction.
This week's question
If wealth works for what matters, where does my family want to use it?
Afterwards, the child can: Agree a small three-month plan with your family: one goal, one waiting rule, one conversation and one way of giving.- 01Tell apart
Discuss what wealth can do for us, and name what it cannot buy: time, health, trust and relationships all have to be looked after.
- 02Set a goal
Choose one three-month goal the whole family is willing to work on. It can be an experience, learning, preparing for surprises, or helping someone.
- 03Keep a ritual
Agree on a 20-minute talk each month: check progress, tell the story of one choice, adjust the plan. The plan can change. The reasons should be kept.
Ideas to understand
What wealth can do, and what it cannot replace
Wealth can cover basic needs, pay for learning and experiences, handle surprises, and help the people and causes we care about. Health, time, trust, ability and relationships need continuing care and cannot simply be bought.
Practise with an example
How does wealth serve what matters?
Having wealth is not about comparing who has more. It is for looking after needs, moving towards goals, handling surprises, and leaving room for the people and things you care about.Start with A shared family goal. Use it to agree a small 3-month plan, and new possibilities open.
Goals can change. The reasons should be kept. Try choosing one small thing with your family that is worth doing together.
GRADUATION CHALLENGE
Teach one idea to someone else
Pick Choose the one idea you most want to keep.
Ask Give your audience a real choice to answer.
Show Use a story, an object or a small game.
I will make money work for what matters.
Create value first, then make choices I can give reasons for, and leave some room for the future and for others.
For the teacher: course design and reference books
The course is heavy on activity and light on jargon. Between 6 and 12, children are forming money habits and a sense of what counts as normal. Goals, waiting, self-control, comparing and looking back transfer further than memorising product names. Children need to explain their reasons, not guess the adult's answer. What adults say and do every day becomes the rule children observe.
- Finance 101 for Kids: a systematic frame for money, income, saving, investing, credit and giving.
- How to Turn $100 into $1,000,000: templates for goals, budgets, starting a business, saving and taking action.
- Rebel Girls Money Matters: budgets, credit, saving, investing and business plans in a warm, conversational voice.
- Everything Money: pictures, fun facts and currencies around the world as a way into questions.
DISCUSSION
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