This video (updated source Jan 2022) will be useful in your savings unit and exposes students to key terms including emergency savings, credit card debt and financial security. As you watch this two minute video from Bankrate.com, note the factors that their survey measures to determine whether consumers feel financially secure:

Here are a few questions to get the conversation started:

• What are the recent trends around consumer financial security? Are Americans feeling more or less secure? Why?
• Which factors are considered in putting together this Financial Security index? Do they all make sense to you?
• Why is Emergency Savings important? What is a common rule of thumb about how much you should have in Emergency Savings?
• What do you think is the relationship between Emergency Savings and Credit Card Debt? Would you expect someone with large amount of Emergency Savings to carry high amounts of credit card debt?  Why or why not?

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.