Financial Literacy Education Series · Session 2
Saving and Investing for the Future · Apex Learn × House of Friendship
Save for soon. Invest for later. Write each goal with a date and an amount — a goal with no date never gets funded.
| Goal | Amount | By when | Soon · Later · Far | Where it should sit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Soon = under 2 years → savings account · Later = 2–5 years → savings or a CD with a matching date · Far = 5 years or more → investing can fit. Monthly money to family is a budget line, not a goal.
Safety-net check (from Session 1)
Do I have debt with interest above 15%? Yes No — rate: %
Investing comes after the safety net and the employer match, and after high-interest debt.
The one question to ask my employer
“Do we have a retirement plan? Is there a match?”
Plan: Yes No I will ask on
Match: % of pay I put in: %
If there is no plan at work, Session 5 covers the account you can open yourself (an IRA).
Financial Literacy Education Series · Session 2
A private map. Amounts are optional — the questions are the point.
| Place | Insured? (FDIC / NCUA) | Earns interest? (APY %) | Yearly fee? | What it is for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash at home | ||||
| Checking account | ||||
| Savings account | ||||
| Retirement plan at work | ||||
| Other: |
Don’t know an answer? That is the homework: call, or look at the account’s page. “Insured” — look for the letters FDIC (bank) or NCUA (credit union). Insurance covers up to $250,000 per person, per bank.
Interest math
$ × % = $ a year
Example: $1,000 × 4% = $40. Next year the $40 earns too — that is compound growth.
Inflation check
When I arrived, cost $.
Today it costs $.
Cash that sits still buys less every year.
Fee check
Account: fee: % a year
Under 0.5% a year is low. Over 1% is high. $200 a month for 30 years: a 1% fee costs about $38,000.
Time is the biggest ingredient — $100 a month (illustration, not a prediction)
| 10 years | 20 years | 30 years | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your money in | $12,000 | $24,000 | $36,000 |
| At 4% a year (like a savings account today) | $14,700 | $36,700 | $69,400 |
| At 7% a year (long-run average of a broad mix of investments) | $17,300 | $52,100 | $122,000 |
Real results differ every year; some years lose money. The lesson is the pattern: the years you wait cost more than the money you skip.
Financial Literacy Education Series · Session 2
A fictional person. Work through it with your table.
Farah is 29 and has been in the U.S. for three years. She is a nursing assistant at a hospital: $40,000 a year before tax, $2,900 take-home each month. She has a $1,000 emergency fund. Her hospital’s retirement plan matches 100% up to 3% of pay. She sends $150 a month to her mother — already in her budget. After her budget she has $150 a month of room.
| Goal | When | Soon · Later · Far | Where should it sit? |
|---|---|---|---|
| A certificate course — $1,500 (it would raise her pay) | 18 months | ||
| A home | “someday” | ||
| Retirement | ~35 years |
Contributing 3% to the plan takes about $85 from her monthly take-home pay (it comes out before tax) and brings $100 a month from the hospital.
1 · Sort her goals
Fill in the table. Which goal needs a date before it can be sorted?
2 · The match
Employer money per year at 3%: $
Per month: $
3 · Farah has $150 a month of room. What would you suggest — and what is the trade-off?
| Option | What is good about it | What it costs or risks |
|---|---|---|
| A · All $150 to savings for the course | ||
| B · Take the 3% match; save the rest ($65) | ||
| C · A coin that will “double by summer” | ||
| D · Invest all $150 for the far future |
Our suggestion:
With option B, months to $1,500 at $65 a month:
4 · Ten years from now
If Farah keeps 3% + the match going for 10 years at 7% growth (illustration), roughly how much is in the account? Use the table on page 2 as a guide: her own $85 + $100 from the hospital ≈ $185 a month.
About $ — of which the hospital put in about $.