Taxes, inflation, risk, and why a brand is worth more than a product.
Ages 12–13
The one idea
The number you're paid is not the number you keep, and the money you keep loses value if it just sits there.
Twelve and thirteen year olds handle taxes and inflation well once shown with real receipts and real prices from the year they were born.
One per pillar. Each has what to teach, a ten-minute thing to do, and the exact words you can say — so you can start right now without preparing anything.
The wage on the advert is gross pay. What lands in your account is take-home pay, after tax and other deductions. The gap is usually 20–30%, and nobody warns you the first time.
Do this
Take a $1,000 monthly wage. Subtract 20% tax. Then work out what that leaves per week.
Say this
"They offered you $1,000. What actually shows up? Always ask about take-home, not the headline."
Prices creep up about 2–3% a year. Money in a jar earning nothing loses buying power every single year, quietly. Saving isn't safe by default — it's only safe if it at least keeps up.
Do this
Look up what a cinema ticket, a loaf of bread, and a game cost the year they were born. Compare to today.
Say this
"That $100 in the jar buys less every year. Where does the missing value go?"
$9.99 a month feels like nothing. It's $120 a year. Six of them is $720 a year, mostly for things you forgot you were paying for. Small and recurring is how money leaves without anyone noticing.
Do this
List every subscription in the household. Multiply each by 12. Add up the total and sit with it.
Say this
"That's not $9.99. That's $120 a year. Is it worth $120 a year to you?"
People who give consistently set it up once and stop deciding. Mood-based giving is bigger on good days and zero on the rest, and the average ends up far lower than they'd guess.
Do this
Set a standing monthly amount, however small, and leave it alone for six months.
Say this
"Set it once. Don't renegotiate with yourself every month — that's how it ends up at zero."
Higher possible returns always come with higher chances of loss. Anything promising big returns with no risk is either misunderstood or a lie — and it's usually a lie.
Do this
Rank five options — savings account, index fund, single stock, crypto, lending to a friend — by both risk and possible return. Notice the ordering matches.
Say this
"If it's safe and pays 30%, why isn't everyone doing it? What's the catch you can't see?"
Most prices and most offers are more flexible than they look. The people who ask get better terms than the people who don't — and asking politely costs nothing at all.
Do this
Practise three sentences: "Is that your best price?", "What could you do if I took two?", and then say nothing.
Say this
"Ask, then stop talking. The silence after the question is where the discount lives."
8 questions. You get the reasoning either way — being wrong is where the learning is.
A job pays $1,000/month gross with 20% tax. Take-home?
$100 sits in a jar for a year with 3% inflation. What's it worth?
Six subscriptions at $9.99/month cost how much a year?
Someone promises 30% returns with no risk. What's the right response?
Why does a savings account pay less than a stock fund?
Why set up giving as a standing amount?
Best thing to do after asking "is that your best price?"
Why can two near-identical products sell at very different prices?
Move the sliders and watch what each jar becomes. Only the Grow jar is invested, so only Grow compounds — that is the whole reason the numbers separate.
$156 a year → $1,560 after 10 years
$234 a year → $2,340 after 10 years
$78 a year → $780 after 10 years
$312 a year → $4,612 after 10 years
You put in
$7,800
You end up with
$9,292
Grew on its own
+$1,492
That extra $1,492 is money nobody worked for. It came from the Grow jar earning 7% a year on a balance that keeps getting bigger.
For parents: About $15 a week. Shift them onto a monthly payment this year — budgeting across four weeks is a much harder and more useful skill.
The 7% is a rough long-run stock market average used for illustration. Real returns vary, some years are negative, and nothing here is investment advice.
Defined the way a 7th grade child would explain them — not the way a bank would.
This week's mission
Inflation stops being a word from the news and becomes a number about their own lifetime.
"Same thing others sell — but people want mine."
What it costs to start
$20–40
What to charge
Price 30–50% above the unbranded version, and be able to say exactly what justifies the gap.
The business lesson underneath
Brand is a price premium you earn by being consistent. Consistency is the cost of entry.
The money lessons only stick if these are running underneath them.
The 20–30% gap is where most first-job budgets break. Doing the subtraction before accepting an offer is a lifelong habit.
Multiply every monthly charge by twelve and re-decide. Most people find at least one they'd forgotten entirely.
The single most valuable negotiating move is silence after the question. It's uncomfortable and it works.
Tick these off through the year. If one is still open in June, that's the lesson to go back to.
Everything on this page is free and always will be. If you want structured worksheets to go alongside it, the 7th Grade packs cover the whole year across maths, reading and writing, and study skills.
The number you're paid is not the number you keep, and the money you keep loses value if it just sits there. Concretely: converts gross pay to take-home pay; explains how inflation reduces the value of idle cash; calculates the annual cost of any recurring charge. The six lessons on this page cover each of those, and the money check tells you which ones have landed.
Around $15 a week is a reasonable starting point at ages 12–13. About $15 a week. Shift them onto a monthly payment this year — budgeting across four weeks is a much harder and more useful skill. The calculator on this page lets you try different amounts and splits.
The Branded Product: "Same thing others sell — but people want mine." Startup cost is $20–40. Brand is a price premium you earn by being consistent. Consistency is the cost of entry.
Yes — all 6 lessons, the 8-question check, the vocabulary, the mission, the starter business, the allowance calculator, and the milestones are free with no signup. The 7th Grade printable packs in the shop are optional.
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