Finly Parent Guide
Your parent guide overview + printable PDF
This page gives you the guide summary and how to use it with your child. Want a physical copy? Open the actual printable PDF below and use that PDF to print a paper copy.
Embedded Printable Guide
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The Complete Parent Guide
Finly Financial Literacy
Curriculum for Kids
A free, 540+-lesson curriculum for ages 8–17. This guide includes the full lesson list, a 12-week plan, discussion questions, and tips for making money conversations stick.
learnfinly.com
learnfinly.com
learnfinly.com · Free forever · No account required to start
1. What is Finly and how does it work?
Finly is a free, self-paced financial literacy platform for kids and teens aged 8–17. It's designed for independent learners. Your child can open it, pick a lesson, and learn without needing a teacher or parent to guide every step.
540+ lessons
Topic library plus a lesson for every national standards benchmark
Two tracks
Foundation (8–12) and Real World (13–17)
Gamified
XP, streaks, levels, and achievements
No account required to start. Kids can begin any lesson immediately. Creating an account (free) enables progress tracking, streaks, XP, and access to the Classes feature where you can monitor their activity.
2. Full Lesson List: Foundation Track (Ages 8–12)
Introduces the core language and concepts of money in a way that's concrete, visual, and age-appropriate.
Money Basics
- 1What Is Money?
- 2Where Does Money Come From?
- 3Coins and Notes
- 4Digital Money
- 5Money Around the World
Smart Spending
- 1Needs vs Wants
- 2Making Choices with Money
- 3Advertising and You
- 4Being a Smart Spender
- 5Is It Worth It?
- 6Second-Hand and Borrowing
- 7Sales and Discounts
- 8Online vs In-Store
- 9Giving and Sharing
- 10Review Your Money Skills
Saving & Goals
- 1Why Save?
- 2Setting a Savings Goal
- 3Piggy Banks to Bank Accounts
- 4The Saving Habit
- 5Saving for Something Big
Budgeting
- 1What Is a Budget?
- 2Tracking Your Spending
- 3Income and Expenses
- 4Budgeting for an Event
- 5When Things Cost More Than Expected
Economics
- 1Scarcity: Why We Can't Have Everything
- 2Goods, Services, Producers, and Consumers
- 3Resources: What It Takes to Make Something
- 4Incentives: Why People Do What They Do
- 5Why People Trade
- 6Specialization: Why Nobody Makes Everything
- 7Markets: Where Buyers Meet Sellers
- 8Supply and Demand: Why Prices Go Up and Down
- 9Your Community's Economy: Jobs, Businesses, and Public Services
- 10Trading With Other Countries
3. Key Lessons: Real World Track (Ages 13–17)
Covers the financial skills teens will need in the real world, from their first paycheck to their first credit card.
Tax & Income
- 1Understanding Your Income
- 2Your First Paycheck
- 3Reading Your First Pay Stub
- 4Taxes and Why They Exist
- 5How to File Taxes for the First Time
Credit
- 1Credit Scores Explained
- 2How Credit Scores Work and Why They Matter
- 3Building Credit as a Teen—Legally
- 4Debit vs Credit: What's Actually Different
- 5Credit Cards: How They Work
Investing
- 1What Is Investing?
- 2Stocks, Bonds, and Funds
- 3Index Funds Explained for Beginners
- 4Risk and Return
- 5Compound Interest
Debt
- 1What Is Debt?
- 2Good Debt vs Bad Debt
- 3Getting Out of Debt
- 4Student Loans and Education Debt
- 5How Mortgages Work
Finance Careers
- 1Investment Banking: What It Actually Is
- 2Venture Capital: What It Actually Is
- 3Private Equity: What It Actually Is
- 4Quantitative Finance: What It Actually Is
- 5Personal Finance / CFP: What It Actually Is
4. Suggested 12-Week Homeschool Plan
Mon/Wed/Fri sessions of ~20–30 minutes each. No preparation needed, just open Finly and follow the lesson.
| Week | Topic | Track | Lesson Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What is money? | Both | What money is and how it works |
| 2 | Needs vs wants | Both | Needs vs wants + decision-making |
| 3 | Saving basics | Both | Why saving matters + savings goals |
| 4 | Budgeting | Both | What is a budget? + pocket money planning |
| 5 | Banking | Foundation (8–12) | What banks do + debit cards |
| 5 | Credit intro | Real World (13–17) | What is a credit score? |
| 6 | Saving goals | Foundation | Saving for something big + goal-setting |
| 6 | Taxes | Real World | How paychecks work + reading a pay stub |
| 7 | Emergency funds | Both | Emergency funds + unexpected expenses |
| 8 | Interest basics | Foundation | Compound interest explained simply |
| 8 | Investing intro | Real World | Why invest? + index funds explained |
| 9 | Delayed gratification | Foundation | Waiting for what you want |
| 9 | Debt literacy | Real World | Student loans + good vs bad debt |
| 10 | Review + quiz | Both | Review any missed lessons, retake quizzes |
| 11 | Financial goals | Both | Long-term goals + financial planning |
| 12 | Graduation recap | Both | Celebrate progress, plan next track |
5. Discussion Questions by Topic
Use these after a lesson to deepen understanding. There are no right or wrong answers. The goal is thinking out loud together.
Money Basics
- If you had $10, what would you do with it and why?
- Why do you think different countries have different currencies?
- What's one thing you've bought recently? Was it a need or a want?
Saving
- What's something you'd like to save up for? How long would it take?
- If you save $5 a week, how much would you have after a year?
- Why do you think saving even a small amount regularly matters?
Budgeting
- If your pocket money was your only income, how would you split it up?
- Have you ever spent money and then wished you hadn't? What happened?
- What's the difference between a want and a goal?
Taxes & Paychecks
- What do you think taxes are used for in your community?
- If you earn $1,000 and 20% goes to tax, how much do you take home?
- Why do you think understanding your paycheck matters before your first job?
Credit
- What do you think happens if you borrow money and don't pay it back?
- Why might a bank care about your track record with money?
- What's one way someone your age could start building a good credit history?
Investing
- If you could invest $100 and couldn't touch it for 10 years, what would you do?
- Why do you think diversification (spreading money around) reduces risk?
- What does 'compound interest' mean in your own words?
6. Tips for Making Finance Conversations Fun at Home
Talk about money openly
Kids absorb your attitude toward money more than your words. Normalise talking about prices, budgets, and financial decisions at home, without stress or secrecy.
Tie lessons to real life
When you see something relevant (a sale, a paycheck, a news story about interest rates), connect it to what your kids learned. Real context makes abstract concepts stick.
Let kids make small mistakes
Letting a 9-year-old spend their pocket money on something they regret is one of the cheapest financial lessons they'll ever get. Resist the urge to rescue them from every spending choice.
Use the dashboard together
Spend 5 minutes weekly reviewing their XP and streaks. Celebrate progress out loud. Kids respond to recognition, and it reinforces that learning about money is worth celebrating.
Ask questions, not lectures
After a lesson, ask 'What did you think about that?' or 'Would you have made the same choice?' Conversations spark deeper thinking than re-explaining the lesson content.
Keep it low-pressure
Finly is designed to be intrinsically motivating. You don't need to add pressure or grades. Trust the XP system and the natural curiosity kids have when topics are explained well.