Investing Unit

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Decide whether to buy, sell, or hold stocks from Ravioli Den
• Experience how current events shape the market and calculate their portfolio value after each round
• Available in English & Spanish

In this activity, students will be able to: 

• Explore annual returns for 9 asset classes over a 15-year period using an online tool
• Compare the relative performance of asset classes and consider risk vs return in investment strategies

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Make over 40 investment decisions as they allocate their savings between a multitude of investment options
• Receive short in-game lessons explaining the details of the specific investment
• Practice diversifying their portfolio to yield the highest return

In this activity students will be able to: 

• Try to time the market on the Initial Public Offering (IPO) for 7 well-known tech companies using an online interactive
• Calculate their return on investment if they sold their shares today
• Decide whether they think investing in IPOs is a sound investment strategy

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Use an online compound interest calculator to calculate the total amount an individual would have in a savings or retirement account
• Identify what factors impact compounding and how 
• Explain why compounding can be a powerful saving and investing strategy
• Available in English & Spanish

In this activity, students will be able to: 

• Use an online interactive to investigate what stocks and industries make up the S&P 500
• Analyze the returns of the S&P 500
• Grasp the idea of diversification and the value of investing in index funds 

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Explore reasons why many people don't invest
• Analyze investment trends by income, race, and investing experience

In this activity students will be able to: 

• Analyze the data in 3 different types of graphs 
• Explain the importance of investing early for retirement 
• Understand the power of compound interest over time 

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Use an inflation calculator to think about the relationship between interest and inflation.
• Learn why long term saving might not be enough for large purchases in the distant future.
• Available in English & Spanish

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Use an online retirement calculator to explore the relationship between time horizon, income, and savings rate on an individual’s retirement savings goals.
• Available in English & Spanish

In this activity, students will be able to: 

• Examine a number of cartoons about timing the market and choose one to analyze in more depth
• Explain the cartoon's key message about timing the market and how it depicts that message

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Determine what features they value in a brokerage account and then conduct online research to determine which accounts best meet their needs.
• Compare and then select which brokerage account would be best for them.
• Available in English & Spanish

[This activity has no answer key]

In this activity, students will be able to: 

• Compare mutual funds, index funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and target date funds (TDFs)
• Conduct research on these investment funds and present their findings to the rest of the class
• Reflect on which investment funds they may be interested in and why

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Learn about pensions, IRAs, Roth IRAs, and 401(k) plans
• And will be able to determine distinguishing features of each.
• Available in English & Spanish

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Walk step-by-step through an example of how dollar cost averaging works
• Conduct online research of historical stock prices
• Use a spreadsheet to examine effects of dollar cost averaging
• Understand how dollar cost averaging benefits them as investors.

With this activity students will be able to:

• Understand how to read a bond market index fund fact sheet from Vanguard
• Identify important elements of a bond, such as level of risk, expense ratio, and interest rates

With this activity students will be able to:

• Read a stock index fund fact sheet
• Understand the most important elements on the fact sheet, including fund description, fees, performance and composition

With this activity students will be able to:

• Read a target date fund fact sheet
• Understand the most important elements on the fact sheet, including fund description, fees, performance and composition

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Represent a company on Down Jones
• Combine with other companies
• Assess risk and return
• Create an index fund comprised of the Dow

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Learn about the structure of a popular index composed of the largest companies in the U.S. -- the S&P 500
• Apply their knowledge of index funds through a fun, out-of-their-seats, whole-class challenge

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Hypothesize how many items are in the jar and collaborate with classmates on strategies
• Analyze averages and compare to the actual value
• Explore behavioral finance in a fun and engaging activity

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Play game that elicits various emotions when we gain, lose, or miss out on investment opportunities
• Reflect on the psychology behind some of the investment decisions we make

You can find the Spanish version(s) of student materials linked in the activity under "Materials & Prep".

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Look up historical stock prices on Yahoo! Finance
• Create charts and graphs using spreadsheets to compare the yearly values and return on investment (ROI)
• Write a final report on which stock would be the best option
• Available in English & Spanish

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Work in teams and design an investment portfolio appropriate for a 23-year-old
• Conduct online research and present their portfolio either as a written report or a slideshow presentation
• Use investment strategies learned in this lesson/unit

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Read an article summarizing the basics of bonds
• Summarize the article into 10 facts about bonds

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Read an article of 25 things to know about investing and categorize the items based on their prior knowledge
• Exchange knowledge with a partner to further the learning

[This activity has no answer key]

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Read research on the internet to answer basic questions about retirement age, Social Security, and pension programs.

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Complete a mock 401(k) enrollment form
• Decide how much of their pay to invest
• Assess their own risk tolerance and select funds for their investment

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Determine which type of IRA to sign up for and their contribution amount
• Choose whether to invest by using a robo-advisor, target date fund, or creating their own investment portfolio
• Select a brokerage firm and their IRA investments

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Use function notation
• Calculate how long it will take an investment to double using the rule of 72

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Calculate return on investment (percent growth) using order of operations.

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Use percentages to calculate an investment’s annual growth.
• Apply the compound interest formula to calculate the growth of investments over multiple years.
• Analyze how investment fees impact long-term returns.

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Write and solve exponential equation about investment growth over time.

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Calculate standard deviation from a data set
• Use standard deviation to compare the risk of investing in stocks and bonds.

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Use function composition
• Determine what percentage of an investor’s portfolio should be invested in stock based on their age

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Use a calculator to find the line-of-best fit for a data set.
• Analyze the key values in a linear regression, including the slope, y-intercept, and r-squared value.
• Use linear regression to analyze and compare short-term stock returns.

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Solve multi-step equations using order of operations.
• Apply the formula for yield to maturity to find the rate of return, coupon rate, face value, price, or years to maturity for a bond.

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Use a chart of historical stock market returns to analyze the risk of investing over different time horizons.

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Compare the best, worst, and average annual returns over a 20 year period for portfolios with a different allocations of stocks and bonds.
• Consider the risks and returns of investing in stocks and bonds.

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Analyze a bar chart of the historical returns of different asset classes
• Compare the average investor’s returns to the S&P 500 and other investment options.

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Analyze a historgram of stock market returns over 90 years.

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Analyze the annual returns of small stocks, large stocks, government bonds and treasury bills over 90 years, compared to inflation.
• Interpret the potential risk of an investment type based on the graph of its long-term returns.