Personal finance education plays a critical role in preparing incarcerated students for successful reentry and long-term stability. This page provides teachers with practical, correctional-appropriate resources to help learners build essential financial knowledge they can use immediately and after release.
The materials here focus on real-world skills such as budgeting, managing income, understanding banking basics, responsible use of credit, debt awareness, and planning for future financial goals. Lessons are designed to be clear, relevant, and adaptable for diverse learning levels, including students with limited prior financial experience.
By teaching personal finance, educators empower students to make informed decisions, reduce financial stress, and increase their chances of independence and success beyond incarceration. These resources are intended to support instruction that is realistic, respectful, and focused on building confidence through financial literacy.
Lesson Bank
- Focus on Reentry – Criminal Justice /Your Money, Your Goals
- The CFPB developed the Your Money, Your Goals: Focus on Reentry guide to help frontline staff working with individuals affected by the criminal justice system address financial challenges
- EconedLink: Council for Economic Education
- EconEdLink is the highly-rated go-to-place for economics and personal finance resources, providing high-quality lesson plans, videos, assessments, activities, professional development webinars, and more for educators.
- How the Market Works
- Free stock market game featuring real-time stock prices and rankings that allows users to learn about the stock markets and practice investing in stocks, ETFs, bonds, and mutual funds.
- Insurance Fundamentals –
- Book excerpt with lessons and quizzes for financial literacy
- Money Smart for Adults – FDIC :
- Curriculum for financial literacy that consists of 14 modules that cover basic financial topics. Each module guides teachers on what to say and do. The materials are available for immediate download below.
- NGPF (NexGen Personal Finance) :
- Comprehensive personal finance course a teacher can use with their students. The course includes lessons from the Semester Course, Mini-Units, and features 19 unique lessons
- National Financial Educators Council
- Free adult financial education resources for individuals and organizations. The process begins with an assessment of current finances and goals, moves to a clear plan for accomplishing that vision, and then empowers learners with the knowledge, systems, and tools needed to follow the plan.
- Take Charge Today
- Provides educators with ready-to-teach, activity-based lesson plans free of charge
- The Finance Teachers
- Lessons, interactive activities, and real-world examples, to equip learners with the practical knowledge and skills they need to navigate the complexities of personal finance – free