Questions:

• Do you think that making New Year's resolutions are a good idea? Explain. 
• How would you categorize the items that typically show up on a list of popular resolutions? 
• Do you have any New Year's resolutions? If so, what are they? If not, why not?
• What are some strategies that you can use to make resolutions stick? Have you had success with these in the past?

Here's the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.

Behind the numbers (Yougov.com):

As the clock struck 12:01 on January 1, many people resolved to make a change in their diet, exercise habits, or personal finances. Others are committed to improving their relationships, spending more time doing what they love, or learning something new.

According to a survey conducted in December 2019, nearly three in 10 (28%) Americans said that they plan to make New Year’s resolutions for 2020.

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Looking for activities to help your students see the importance of personal finance on that first day of class? Here are a few teacher favorites:

• In the simulation, SPENT, students experience what it feels like to live paycheck to paycheck and also can see the value of education to avoid being stuck in minimum wage jobs. They will immediately understand why having an emergency fund is important as they struggle to survive for 30 days. 
• Alexa Van Tobel, an entrepreneur who sold her company Learnvest for over $250 million provides a convincing answer to the question of why personal finance matters in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jkri0AeZWQ
• I did a podcast with an educator, Elizabeth Justema, who describes how she sets the tone in her first class (go to 17:22). Here's the unit that she created on money values which she describes in the podcast. 
• Here are some activities that other teachers like for the first day of class. 

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.